Come along to the Power of Food Festival

PEDAL Donkeyfield Community Orchard (Brunstane Road South, just past Daiches Braes) 

Saturday 18 June from 10 am – 1 pm

Our orchard is joining in with the Edinburgh-wide Power of Food Festival that celebrates community gardening across Edinburgh.  This is a FREE event.  Please join us for:
* Tours of the orchard
* Refreshments
* Apple pressing and juice tasting at 12 noon. 

There’s a full festival programme here.

Milton Road Community Garden is also open nearby so could be a good for a combined visit with the orchard. Also see the note of events on at Bridgend below.

Join us for our SAVE BELLFIELD LAUNCH!

7-9pm Sunday 26th June 2016. Old Parish Church halls, Bellfield Street

A star-spangled evening of first rate local talent: a play, a comic, a dancer, a circus show with music and a galaxy of star turns… all in aid of our bid to keep this wonderful space for our community. 

Tickets are £12 and are available to buy NOW from Cove and The Skylark. Performances will have adult content but kids allowed. £6 under 12 years and FREE under 4 years.
 

SAVE BELLFIELD/ ACTION PORTY

Help us keep the Old Parish Church and halls on Bellfield Street open as a vital community resource.

Help ensure that children, parents and grandparents can continue using it for the everyday meetings and celebrations that make community real, and help ensure none are excluded because of cost. 

Given that the Church has decided to sell the buildings:

(1) We are raising the funds to buy it: 

We have just secured £16,315 from the Scottish Land Fund for the Stage One work needed to ascertain community needs and the state (and potential) of the buildings, and to develop a sustainable proposal that meets vital community needs; and

(2) We are seeking to become the first urban community to be granted the Community Right to Buy: 
For this we need volunteers to help secure the signatures of as many Portobello residents as possible. This door to door canvassing initiative will be launched at the cabaret. See you there!

Employment Opportunity: Local organiser for Action Aid volunteer campaigners in Scotland
Are you passionate about making a real difference? Because ActionAid’s Local Organisers will be people who want to change the world!

Being a local organiser with ActionAid involves getting more engaged in ActionAid’s Make Tax Fair and Fearless women’s rights campaigns through activities such as lobbying your MP or getting local media coverage. You could also be supporting and growing the campaigner network in your area, including delivering training and organising events.

The role involves campaigning in your local community – there are no set hours. We usually have a fortnightly teleconference call every other Monday.

You don’t need professional qualifications, just a passion to tackle the root causes of poverty. We’re looking for dedicated campaigners with good people and networking skills, and we’ll give you all the training and support you need to help take our campaigns to the next level. You’ll get to meet other like-minded people and have a lot of fun along the way! Find out more about the role and how to apply here: www.actionaid.org.uk/localorganiser

Here’s some info on two upcoming events at Bridgend farmhouse:

1. This weekend’s Power of Food Festival: A fantastic festival celebrating community growing, outdoor education and food projects across Edinburgh (more info about the festival is attached).

Our contribution to this festival will be on Sunday 19th June from 11-6 with a Bio-Blitz in partnership with the RSPB. This is a series of events throughout the day, at the farmhouse and in the Craigmillar Castle Park, exploring the Bio-diversity of the area. Activities for all the family. See the attached flyer for more info.

Then at 6pm we are having a BIG feast. To join in the feast please register atl: bridgendbuild@gmail.com

2. Bench-Building Workshop (June 26th 11-3). Come along to work with a professional wood-worker to build benches to be installed during the summer in Craigmillar Castle Park. Free and open at all. Come and learn some new woodworking skills and help increase the accessibility of the park and woodlands.

Here’s a video of Alister Hamilton’s "Price of Oil" talk for Friends of the Earth & Transition Edinburgh on 25th May 2016:

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