Share your secrets of success at The Gathering

What does success look like? How does it feel and taste? Who makes it happen? How long does it last? Maybe you have some or all of the answers. If so we’d love you to come and share the secrets of success at The Gathering.

Please help us build a ‘Wall of Success’ at Norton Park on Saturday 3 December (see details below). Ok, it will probably look more like a corridor of big display board. But the aim of The Gathering, organised by new community project Side by Side, is to inspire new community ventures by celebrating the success of local community projects which are already improving life around us.

That’s not ignoring the huge challenges many people face every day. Pressures on housing, care services and the environment – these were among the top concerns to emerge from the two community discussion events Leith Open Space took part in over the last 12 months. Workshops also produced some big and bold ideas to tackle some of the problems through community ventures and co-operative projects.

The Gathering is organised by Side by Side, a new community project which aims to turn some of these ideas into practical actions. But at the community discussion events we also discovered that there are already many inspiring enterprises in existence. So The Gathering will start the morning’s discussion by making vital connections: sharing best practice and a few secrets of success.

Flavours of success in Leith

Every year since Leith Open Space formed in 2005 we have discovered local groups and individuals who are overcoming great obstacles to make life better.

Community involvement in parks and gardens is making a difference to the good use of greenspace (look at Redbraes, Pilrig Park, Montgomery Street Park and Leith Community Crops and Pots at The Croft). What does it take to make a success of community gardens?

Alice and Meena, World Kitchen in Leith, cooking up a storm
Alice and Meena from World Kitchen in Leith at Out of the Blue

In multicultural Leith, life is full of flavour. Food offers a way to make new social and cultural connections – as well as opportunities for learning, training, improving health and wellbeing (Punjabi Junction, Pilton Community Health, our very own World Kitchen in Leith). How to create a sustainable food enterprise in hard times?

Leith Festival is an annual celebration of the creative spirit and character of Leith. But it’s happening around us every day. Not surprisingly Leith (and its near neighbours) loom large in this year’s Creative Edinburgh awards – LeithLate’s Morvern Cunningham (she of Leith’s mural project) and the Newhaven-focused collaboration of Score Tae the Toor are among many talents on the short list for 2016.

In other words, there is a great deal to celebrate about life in Leith and North Edinburgh as a whole. We’ll be back shortly with more details about Side by Side but meanwhile we’d love to hear your success stories. Join The Gathering on Facebook pages too. Help us all build a great display!

Side by Side poster advertising 3 Dec event, Norton Park

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