Breaking news

Broughton History Society (BHS) now has an online presence.

A link to their new page in the Spurtle website can be found at the foot of the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.

The page is administered by Spurtle, but content is entirely decided upon by BHS. At present it includes details of committee members, aims, subscription fees and a complete programme of events for the 2010–11 curriculum. 

Also available are recent back issues of the BHS Newsletter, a mine of well-researched and anecdotal information on the neighbourhood's past.

Drummond Community High School's 'new' Head Teacher Norma Prentice outlined a year of challenges and successes at Tuesday's Celebration of Achievement and Prize Giving Ceremony.

A firm believer in the effectiveness of partnership-working between home and school, she thanked staff, students, parents, carers and friends in the community, and spoke of her excitement at joining a school which is already doing well but where the best is yet to come.

'Often, we feel: Why bother? Why go through all this study? Who cares?

A Spurtle stringer tonight contacted Mission Control with exciting news of major local interest.

The opening film at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Illusionist – already tipped as a modern animation classic – sets several scenes on the streets of Broughton, and they are clearly identifiable.

Our source, an industry insider who attended the gala and phoned Spurtle from the party afterwards, spotted 1950s versions of: the Barony Bar (Broughton Street), the Playhouse (Greenside Place), and the Broughton Hotel (Broughton Place).

Local athlete Kimberley Reed is progressing almost faster than we can report it.

Since featuring in Issue 183, she has won gold in the Girls B Hammer at the Scottish Schools Championships in Grangemouth on 11 June, not only winning her age group, but beating all other female competitors with a personal best of 46.98 metres.

This makes her 4th in the UK at under-17 level and 10th in the UK at under-20 level. She's also first in Scotland for her age group, and second at under-20.

Broughton Street Lane benefited from a 2-day clean-up on 14–15 June.

The Council Task Force and Specialist Services Team joined young people in repainting damaged areas, removing litter, and using chemicals and power washers to blast away graffiti.

The sixteen 16-18 year-olds involved attend the Right Track Project, a Broughton-based organisation which helps young people get to grips with social/behavioural or educational difficulties and prepares them for employment or further education.

Numerous animators and other former Django staff from around the world reassembled in the Cumberland Bar last night in advance of The Illusionist's opening gala at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Wednesday 16 June.

Over three years (2006–09), up to 80 filmmakers – mostly French or French-speaking – toiled at their George Street office on the 1950s, Scottish-set, animated reworking of this previously unrealised Jacques Tati script.

The lights at the Broughton Street/Picardy Place/York Place junction were out of action at 10.15am this morning. Wardens were directing traffic but expect delays until repairs are made.

The final component of Antony Gormley's 6 Times Horizon arrived in Bonnington today, in a backwater to the east of Newhaven Road.

Contractors MTEC – a firm specialising in the installation of artworks nationwide – set to work early, clearing submerged masonry from the riverbed to provide a level surface for the sculpture's base-plate. This was swung into position by a very large crane parked in Anderson Place.

Next, the figure itself was lowered into place and attached. The rubble was then restored to its former appearance midstream.

Three more components of Antony Gormley's 6 Times Horizon are now in place.

Yesterday, one figure was half-buried in the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and another positioned midstream in Stockbridge (see below).

Today, after a six-hour struggle with the current, a second figure was placed in St Mark's Park (see right, photo courtesy of Neil Jones).

In Stockbridge and St Mark's Park, the sculptures once again stopped passers-by in their tracks and prompted strangers to exchange opinions.

Draft revisions have been made to Edinburgh Planning Guidelines about Accessibility in the Built Environment. They can be seen (highlighted in yellow) at www.edinburgh.gov.uk.