Breaking news

Scottish  organisations can apply for up to five years' funding from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG), an organisation designed to tackle need and support disadvantaged communities in Scotland.

As detailed in Issue 186, Dance Base will start running 21 additional classes per week from its newly refurbished centre in Leith – the Thomas Morton Hall at 28–30 Ferry Road.

However, there are opportunities on two days next week for locals to get a free 'sneak preview of the space and sample the range of dance classes provided'.

Thursday 23 September

• 5:30pm  Ballet
• 6:00pm  Hip Hop
• 6:30pm  Jazz
• 7:00pm  Afro World

Saturday 25 September

Great excitement at Narcissus Flowers yesterday.

Cathedral House had commissioned Broughton Street's finest to fashion six Caledonian-themed posies for presentation to Her Majesty the Queen and His Holiness the Pope during Day One of the papal pastoral visit to the UK.

Pope Benedict was apparently seen by one staff member's mother still clutching his posy as he set off for the procession down Princes Street. Equally impartial and reliable Broughton sources claim to have seen Queen Elizabeth admiring hers as she waved from a helicopter en route to Balmoral.

Expect major traffic disruption and long delays today as Edinburgh braces itself, with pleasurable anticipation, for one of the most exciting events in the capital for years.

Staff have been working till midnight this week putting the finishing touches to their preparations, but this morning the long wait is finally over.  At 10:00am, Curiouser and Curiouser will open its doors to the public for the first time at No. 93 Broughton Street, offering a range of high-quality prints, picture frames, and gifts to suit all tastes.

Controversial plans to build two 3-storey dwellings in the garden of 27 Great King St have been approved (Ref. 10/01744/FUL).

The Edinburgh viewing for Sotheby's latest Scottish Sale of fine art began this morning in the Mansfield Traquair Centre, Mansfield Place.

The inaugural Broughton Jazz Festival brought big sounds and huge energy to Bellevue Crescent yesterday.

Individual musicians attended workshops at Broughton St Mary's Parish Church in the morning, before three of the city's largest jazz ensembles each played 45-minute sets in the afternoon.

Sound of 17 Big Band kicked off, and immediately stirred some of the audience to their feet.

The Drummond Community Big Band, which bases locally but draws support from across the capital, followed.

Following last night's club performances in bars on London and Broughton Streets, Broughton's Community Jazz Festival kicks off today in Broughton and St Mary's Parish Church on Bellevue Crescent.

There are free workshops this morning from 11:00am onwards, and a work performance after lunch at 1:00am. The Sound of 17 Big Band follows at 2:00pm, then the Drummond Community Big Band at 3:00pm. The Edinburgh School Jazz Orchestra is in the limelight from 4:00pm and a short workshop performance concludes the day at 5:00pm.

Bellevue resident Fiona Manson has contacted Spurtle in search of local photographs.

Her grandfather, Robert Bruce, ran a grocery for many years until c.1969 at the corner of No. 32 Rodney Street and Heriot Hill Terrace (currently Ravenstone Property, pictured). Now Fiona is looking for images of it.

The recently empurpled shop at 93 Broughton Street (formerly the home of Alphabet Video) is to be called Curiouser and Curiouser. It will be a framing, prints, gifts and homeware emporium.

It hopes to open around 14 September with an official launch in Ocotber.

Until then, the newly self-employed boss – with a knack for publicity – has been indulging locals' notorious nosiness with a Facebook page detailing each stage of the renovations and the ordering of stock.