Broughton residents are spoilt for choice in September, with a variety of good causes vying for attention. Energetic souls can attend all three.
The Edinburgh Forget Me Not Walk starts at 10am in Holyrood Park on 11 September, following the 3-mile Queen's Drive route to help Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research beat blood cancers.
You can sign up at Tel. 669 7862 or by visiting http://keyjaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk
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After your stroll, why not pop in and visit Marco Biagi, the new Edinburgh Central MSP, who is supporting Macmillan Cancer Support by hosting a coffee morning at his constituency office on 30 September (77 Buccleuch Street)?
Biagi is encouraging as many constituents as possible to call round. And simultaneously – for understandable reasons – encouraging as many constituents as possible to organise their own events – tea, coffee, lemonade, afternoon or evening ... it doesn't really matter – elsewhere. The aim is to beat the grand total raised last year of £8m.
To register your event, Tel. 0845 6021246 or visit: www.macmillan.org.uk/coffee
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Exercised and now refreshed, locals will be keen to focus on their four-legged friends.
Fundraisers for Canine Partners will hold their third annual Dog Show in Queen Street Gardens East. The gate in Abercromby Place (by Aitken and Nairn) will be opened at 1.30pm and classes start at 2pm.
Entrance is by donation and all classes cost £2 each. There will be 6 classes including Prettiest Pooch, Waggiest Tail, etc. and a new class for Obedience. Catch The Biscuit is always popular but you have to be a dog to compete.
For human members of the family there will also be face painting and other fun activities.
Canine Partners (CP) is a charity which trains Assistance Dogs for people with all kinds of disabilities, allowing them to live a more independent life.
Since expanding into Scotland, CP now wants to set up a new satellite in the Edinburgh area and is looking for people to have a puppy for a year before it goes on to further training to become a very special dog who will eventually be able to perform over a hundred different tasks.
For further information, contact Stephanie Scott: Tel. 0771 967 2032.
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[img_assist|nid=1772|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=200]Finally, an update from Spurtle's friends at Waverley Care. The Mansfield Place-based charity have announced the winner of their #laffoffstigma competition to find the best joke of the Fringe.
Tom Walton won £100 in Amazon vouchers for this: Tried to book an Elvis impersonator once. Got put through to a call centre. Had to press 1 for the money, 2 for the show ...
The judge was Ryan Taylor, Comedy Programmer at the Pleasance, with whom Waverley Care have enjoyed an association for the last 20 years. Taylor is also behind the charity's annual Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit, and encourages the charity's bucket shakers in the Pleasance Courtyard, who this year raised over £25,000 in cash.
The #laffoffstigma campaign was a new departure for the charity this summer. It harnessed humour and the power of social media to engage issues of stigma and discrimination experienced by people affected by HIV and Hepatitis C in Scotland. More information is available at www.waverleycare.org