Archive for January, 2007
Food and family are main themes of events in our February diary. See Wednesday if you like curry, Thursday if you have views on childcare services, and Friday if you are interested in healthy food in general. (And please scroll further down our home page for more about all three stories).
Thursday 8 February
2:30-4pm
Research project – Childcare in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Refugee Centre, St George’s West Church, Shandwick Place.
Rana Syed will be running a focus group at the centre to gather information for Edinburgh University research into childcare facilities in Edinburgh for ethnic minority families. She would like to hear from parents about their experiences with their children’s doctors, nurseries, primary schools etc. See Focus on Childcare for more details.
Wednesday ‘Curry Club’
12 noon to 2pm
Dr Bell’s Family Centre, Leith
A weekly pilot scheme looks set to become a regular feature thanks to the success of a join venture between volunteers from Sikh Sanjog women’s group and Dr Bell’s equally enterprising community centre. See Out to Lunch for more details.
Friday
Cookery classes at Dr Bell’s Family Centre
There is already a waiting list for the new project at the community centre. See A Healthy Interest in Food for more.
January 31st, 2007
What is your experience of childcare support in Edinburgh?
You are invited to take part in a research project exploring how parents feel about their experiences with their children’s doctors, nurseries, primary schools and other areas of childcare.
Rana Syed is gathering information from focus groups for the Edinburgh University research projects. Although the first phase of the research programme finishes mid February Rana says she would be happy to hear from community groups who would like to take part in a new focus group discussion.
If you would like to be put in touch with Rana contact Fay Young at Leith Open Space Group by emailing leithopenspace@btconnect.com
See also details of the focus group meeting at Edinburgh Refugee Centre, Thursday 8 February 2:30-4pm at St George’s West Church, Shandwick Place.
January 30th, 2007
Friday cookery classes at Dr Bell’s Family Centre are so popular there is now a waiting list among young mothers – and at least one father – keen to try their hand at healthy recipes they can afford.
Three weeks into the scheme, Steve Cochrane, cook trainer at Dr Bell’s, is delighted with the response to the new community project that aims to help people on low incomes put healthy meals on the table.
“The present healthy eating focus on organic and fair trade food misses an essential point,” he says. “I believe in organic and fair trade too but if you have only £5 in your pocket that is not your top priority.”
Cookery classes at Dr Bell’s explore how to turn goods on sale in local shops and cut price stores into healthy soups, stews and staple meals. “The kind of thing your mum would teach you, we are trying to get back to some good basic skills.”
The cookery classes at Dr Bell’s are funded by a mixed partnership of public agencies and charitable trusts. For more information contact Dr Bell’s Family Centre on 0131 553 0100 or leave a message for Steve Cochrane on 0131 553 0105
January 29th, 2007
Wednesday is curry day at Dr Bell’s Family Centre, the thriving new community centre in the heart of Leith.
Between 12 noon and 2pm you can eat freshly made vegetarian curries, cooked and served by volunteers from the women’s group Sikh Sanjog. In the first few weeks of the scheme the small cafe in the old Dr Bell’s school has rapidly filled with young mothers and local office workers keen to try the new menu.
For the other four days of the week the cafe offers soups, sandwiches and scones. But as the kitchen was closed on Wednesdays the ‘curry club’ developed as a joint venture between Sikh Sanjog, generating income for the community centre and providing experience for the volunteer chefs.
Now Steve Cochrane, cook trainer at Dr Bell’s, says the partnership is likely to continue when the month’s trial is over. As the scheme develops, income from the very economically priced meals (around £3.50 per plate) is likely to be split between the two organisations.
“It’s the kind of cross cultural partnership we hope to develop,” says Steve, “We have financed the purchase of equipment and provided space and support while Sikh Sanjog has had the opportunity to hone their skills and gained confidence and experience in running a small enterprise.”
And local people can enjoy a delicious lunch. If there isn’t room to sit down, then you can buy a carry out meal. And traditional Scottish favourites – soup and scones – are always on the menu too.
January 28th, 2007
The Opening Doors visit to the Scottish Parliament was a first for Subash Punn. Here he describes why it made a lasting impression.
Subash Punn on the Scottish Parliament: “Never judge this building by the cover”.
My first and as yet only visit to the Scottish Parliament was full of profound surprises, the three-hour experience as monumental as the building itself.
It is a building full of contradictions almost challenging you to free up your mind and open yourself up to creative debate, the very essence of democracy itself. It is palatial but at the same time intimate. The texture is cold but framed by raw warmth. The erratic ceiling heights, though clearly defined, appear to undulate smoothly.
It is a building that seems to give you a sense of the passage of time, where history appears to be created before your eyes, in the present. I watched solitary figures pass by and as they wisped through what I can only describe as a foyer area I became curious as to where they had come from and where they were going. And as they disappeared one by one through a large door, they had already made an impression on history, and by doing – what? – something as trivial as making their way from one place to another. Had I imagined these people or did they exist? But seriously seeking the answer to this question would be a betrayal to the building’s illusion itself.
I had on many occasions walked or driven past the Scottish Parliament, always dubious about its existence and appearance. After having seen the interior I feel it has helped me gain an affinity with the exterior. Never judge this building by the cover.
The parliament also gives you an insight into the architect, Enric Miralles, who sadly died in the year 2000. His presence, I feel, is still felt in the building itself, almost making you question as to whether his presence would have been so profoundly felt had he still been alive.
January 12th, 2007
