Breaking news

Nine senior students and two members of staff at Drummond Community High School are busy planning, organising, fundraising for and delivering activities in two Edinburgh care homes for older people: Porthaven and Marionville.

Scheduled between now and December are 'Scottish Extravaganzas', Halloween Parties, Keep Fit sessions, and Christmas Parties. The students are raising the money for all this themselves, having so far collected over £500 through a range of baking sales, 'dress-down day' sponsorship and supermarket bag-packing.

The words 'Broughton Street' and 'rock legends' don't immediately spring to mind at the same time. However, today is an exception.

This morning we stumbled across this webpage in which Radio Forth DJ Jay Crawford remembers some of the many famous guests he took round to Mather's Bar for a drink after recording his 'Edinburgh Rock Show' during the 1980s.

It may surprise some readers to know that grapes can be grown in Edinburgh. It certainly came as an eye-opener to this correspondent when I ate some yesterday.

John Ross Maclean – a Spurtle team member – has been growing them under cover in sheltered spots around Drummond Place.

Some clusters are large and sweet. The ones pictured right he correctly predicted, with some understatement, would be 'a little tart'. However, they were later excellent with custard.

Another quiet week on the Planning Front.

Calling all business owners on Broughton Street!

A helpful coordinator is required by the Broughton Street Traders’ Association to help Lucy Tanat-Jones with organisation structure and the launch of a new website.

This isn’t a huge task, she assures Spurtle, requiring just a few bits of emailing per month within the association requirements.

To volunteer or find out more, email Lucy at lulu@organicpleasures.co.uk.

Unreliable Geographies by Aeneas McHaar

No. 12: Claremont House, Esher, Surrey, England
51º 21’ N, 22’ W
 
Claremont Crescent appears in an 1821 map of Edinburgh by Knox, two years before building work began. It was the first part of Broughton to be so called, and the latest example in a time-honoured, New Town tradition of brown-nosing the Royal Family. Royal forenames, titles, origins and in this case property were all plundered in search of suitably up-market, politically correct designations for smart developments.

In Issue 187 we wrote about an intriguing stencilled pavement slab on the North Bridge.

Here is a photo of one of the Broughton Street stencilled dogs we mentioned but did not have room to publish.

Over two years ago in Issue 159, AM argued for more, better-quality graffiti rather than the (in any case impossible) aspiration to have none at all. This artist's work fits the bill.

Does any reader know where other examples of his/her work may be? Can any reader put us in touch?

It has been bleetering on the barony all day – a sure sign that the Spurtle is about to be distributed to pubs, clubs, shops, odd nooks, strange corners and all points in-between around Broughton. We hit the streets squelching on Friday 1 October.

The latest issue is the usual tartan purry of news, gossip, history, dates for your diary, arts, crafts, strong opinions and world events with a Broughton bent ... all squeezed into 4 pages of inventive typographical wholesomeness.

Schools across North Edinburgh and Leith are being urged by Mark Lazarowicz, MP to try and win solar panels in a competition run by British Gas.

There will be 750 winners across Britain, which – in addition to the panels (worth £20K–£40K each) – will receive smart meters to monitor their energy use. It's estimated that the prizes could save schools as much as 20 per cent on their annual fuel bills.

Not a lot of planning news to report this week in Broughton, although one application did catch the eye.

Permission is sought to replace 64 windows at 16 Abercromby Place (Ref. 10/02658/FUL). We realise some New Town residences are generously proportioned, but 64 windows! How much daylight do these people need?