An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
The Scottish Book Trust has launched awards for 3 teenaged writers aged 14-17.
Participants will be mentored over 7 months by Cathy Forde, author of Sugarcoated, SKAARS and Firestarter. She'll help them to hone their creative writing skills.
They'll also get to meet other writers and agents, visit Scholastic (the London publisher of the Horrible Histories and Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials), and attend the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
A free circus day day for children will run at Out of the Blue from 11am to 4.30pm on Saturday 10 April.
The event – to include trapeze lessons, face painting and a short show by Strangebird Zirkus – is to raise money for Edinburgh-based charity Edinburgh Direct Aid (EDA).
EDA personally delivers aid to those in dire need of it, such as Kenyan AIDS orphans, special-needs kids in Bosnia, and homeless people in Gaza.
The City of Edinburgh Planning Committee has granted permission to turn the modern office block at 73 Logie Green Road into a residential care home (Ref. 10/00228/FUL).
The scheme, reported in 'Breaking news' last month (1.3.10), accords with the City's Development Plan and non-statutory guidelines. Officials considered that installation of additional windows would improve the building's appearance.
Local rock bands Ascendant (pictured), Sneaky Monkey, and Sugar Rush will star in a concert hosted by Drummond CHS on 22 April. ESRE (Edinburgh Schools Rock Ensemble) will guest.
Event Manager Victoria Marshall says: ‘This is an event not to be missed. We need the support of the whole community to buy tickets and get involved.’
The concert is part of Drummond’s Wider Achievement Opportunity Programme, and gives musicians and their vital technical, marketing and sales supporters a chance to experience what making it in a musical career is really like.
Spotted at 4.30pm today: Broughton Street OPEN TO TRAFFIC IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.
McDonald Road Library
Friday 2 April: CLOSED
Saturday 3 April: Open 9am–5pm
Sunday 4 April: Open 1pm–5pm
Monday 5 April: CLOSED
Stockbridge Library
Friday 2 April: CLOSED
Saturday 3 April: Open 9am–1pm
Sunday 4 April: CLOSED
Monday 5 April: CLOSED
Concern about the new Picardy Place Tesco Express, and its effect on existing shops locally, is not confined to the Spurtle.
The Guardian's Edinburgh Beatblogger Tom Allan recently toured Broughton Street with Fay Young, gathering opinion from local shopkeepers such as Richard and Elizabeth Bee at Something Fishy (pictured).
Read the blog and listen to the podcast for 30 March at www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh.
[Photo courtesy of Tom Allan.]
A Broughton pensioner has been robbed in broad daylight whilst inspecting refurbishment work at Glenogle Baths on 31 March.
Una Kwiecień (75), pictured exclusively by Spurtle in the seconds before the incident, was chatting to 'mystery bathers' brought in by Council officials to test new Winter Spa facilities prior to re-opening.
'One minute everything was grand,' said Mrs Kwiecień, 'the next minute my bag was lifted.'
A banana skin, half-sucked pandrops, and empty packet of roasted cashew nuts belonging to the victim were later recovered from the scene.
Nearby residents appear broadly in favour of pre-planning application proposals for the former Martin & Frost site at 130 McDonald Rd (see 'Breaking news', 23.3.10).
They see Foremost Properties' plans for a mixed commercia/residential development as a great improvement on those of Unite in 2008–09 (Issues 155–7, 164, 168–9, 172), not least because they meet local expectations regarding sustainable/environmental issues and proposed materials.
Anyone who has lived as an adult in close proximity to a group of students will know only too well what tremendous fun it can be.
However, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has reservations about the situation. It argues that purpose-built student accommodation has failed to keep pace with increased student numbers, resulting in more and more studious citizens seeking digs in centrally located, tenemental HMOs. This in turn results in more and more HMOs, less stable communities, rapid turnover of population, and properties left empty during the summer holidays.