EVENT: Leith Links Children's Orchard volunteer day

As this photo shows it was way back in the spring of 2010 when we established the Leith Links Children's Orchard, with the help of loads of local school kids.

This summer we got our first fruit from the orchard, with some trees doing really well.  

Each year, we try to organise at least one event to help keep the orchard well maintained. This year we've set-up something that should be pretty fun for all involved.

Our 2012 workday will provide a great opportunity to get fit, do good for your 'hood, and learn a new skill all in a couple of hours on the 11th of February.

There are three ways you can help out. You're welcome to pick and choose which parts you get involved in - but please do consider coming down and pitching in. 

The three things that we've got planned are: The Leith Good Gym Pilot, Tree pruning, and Litter Picking.

Everything will start at 10am on the 11th of February.

Taking part in the organised jog is by no means obligitory... 

The Leith Good Gym

We're working with two well kent Leithers - personal fitness trainer and Leith's own healthy living guru - Tracy Griffen - and Leith FM DJ, jogger and local blogger Leah Lockhart - to set up a regular Leith Good Gym.

What's a "Good Gym?" you may well ask - We've been inspired by the original Good Gym Project in London, and we're trying to figure out whether something similar would work in Leith.

This will be the first pilot event in Leith - so if are a regular runner in Leith, or if you've recently cancelled your gym subscription and are looking for something new - join us for the first Leith Good Gym. The meet-up is at 10am outside the Leith Franklin Cricket Club, club house on the links.  

Tracy and Leah then plan to take you on a bit of a jog - with the aim of arriving at the Leith Links Childen's Orchard in order to get stuck into one or both of the following...

Fruit Tree Pruning with the RBGE Edible Gardening Project

We're also delighted to be able to work with the Royal Botanic Gardens Edible Gardening project to offer people a chance to learn the skills of pruning fruit trees properly. 

There's space for a maximum of 20 people on this free course, led by Leith resident and Botanics professional gardener Ben Dell.

So, if you want to book a place please do get in touch as soon as possible. We've specifically reserved 10 places for people who live in postcode areas EH5-EH7 - Leith and round about. So, don't be shy.

For more information on this free training event and how to book a place click here. 

Childrens Orchard litter pick, bulb plant, and tree moving.

Council officers will be there on the day too, and they're going to bring all the kit we need to do a proper clean-up of the area. After all the winter gales - it seems that every plastic bag in Leith has ended up in the orchard.

Also, we need to move a handful of the trees we planted, to make way for a new cycle path that will be built through part of the orchard. Work is due to start on the ramp in a matter of weeks after the clean-up, so we need to save the trees.

Lastly, if we're lucky the council may have some bulbs left over that we can plant in the orchard to give it a bit of spring colour.

If we have enough people we'll also aim to do a litter pick of more than just the Children's Orchard itself.

Free Soup!

Assuming the catering gods look upon us favourably there will also be free soup from the marvelous cafe at Out of the Blue, for the first 20 people who manage to last until lunchtime. 

What you need to bring:

Please bring with you footwear appropriate to the task. If you're running, obviously some trainers you don't mind getting dirty. If you're not running something more robust might be a good idea.

As this is Scotland in February, you should probably bring with you a waterproof jacket.

If you are less than 18 years old, you are more than welcome, but you should bring an adult who you think is willing to take responsibility for you. 

In the unlikley event we get more than 20 folk then you might want to bring enough cash to supplement the free food.  

Any Questions?

If you've got any questions then please ask them in the comments below, or if they are questions that you'd rather not ask in public, please do click here to send us an email.

Leith takes stock of the storm damage

We compiled a run down of the damage caused by the storm on January the 3rd 2012 using a tool called storify. If it doesn't display properly in your browser - try clicking here. 

[View the story "Leith Storm 3rd January 2012" on Storify][View the story "Leith Storm 3rd January 2012" on Storify]

If you've got any other photos or stories you'd like to add about the storm let us know in the comments below.

The most famous flying wheelie bin on Leith Walk

Leith was battered by winds greater than 100mph today, leading the Police to call on people to avoid travelling and the MET office to declare a "red alert." Some roads were blocked in the area, with lot's of people on Twitter reporting damage to their property. 

Sandervdd, took this youtube video of a wheelie bin flying down Leith Walk:  

Within hours of it being posted, hundreds of people had viewed it.

Grant Mason also shared this photo of another flying wheelie bin, below, that took out a fence at Lambs House, just off the Shore. He also shared photos of structural damage to the Waterline pub, and damage to the signs on the Kirkgate branch of Boots.

A bus stop was uprooted out of the ground near Sainbury's at Meadowbank. Seumus took this photo. 

Concerns over debris getting blown off the old Co-operative building on Great Junction Street forced Police to close the road and divert all the traffic. Stephen took this photo. 

Local councillor Rob Munn, also spent the day surveying his ward and updating people on the storm damage he found. This included shop windows that had been blown in, downed traffic lights at Seafield Street, blown over fences in Western Harbour, blown over railings on Madeira Street and a fallen tree in Leith Links. He used the hashtag #leithstorm

Meanwhile there were countless other stories of advertising banners, rubbish, fences, sheds and roof slates being blown all over the place, with a few reports of cars being damaged by all the flying debris.

It will not be a happy new year for insurance companies. 

We put together a much more detailed review of the damage caused by the storm using Storify. You can find that here: 

http://www.greenerleith.org/greener-leith-news/2012/1/4/leith-takes-stock-of-the-storm-damage.html

Leith to Portobello cycle path improvements approved

Today councillors gave full planning permission to proposals to upgrade the cycle path from Leith Links to Portobello, with work now due to start in the new year on a new ramp out of Leith Links and up to the railway line. 

You can see a detailed map of the Leith Links end of the proposed works here.

This means that the cycle route eastwards from Leith will be much improved. The new path will be tarmac, and not mud, it will be wider, and it will connect properly with Seafield Street and a wider, shared use pavement along Seafield Road that links up with the Portobello promenade. It will also be lit at night for the length of the whole route. 

Lastly, it will also connect with the newly improved loop of path that runs from Seafield Street around Lochend and into Easter Road by Leith Academy. 

Altogether these improvements mean that the cycle routes around the Eastern half of Leith have been much improved - something Greener Leith has been campaigning for since 2007. 

The only things that look likely to cause a delay to the works are bats, badgers and archealogy - according to the planning report. 

Whilst we're assured that these improvements have just about managed to slip in before steep proposed Scottish Government cuts to active travel bugets begin to bite, if you want to see more facilities being built like this in Edinburgh it might be worth taking some action to support the SPOKES campaign to hold the SNP to their budget promises on Active Travel.

You can find out more about the proposed active travel cuts and what you can do to persuade the Scottish Government not to implement them here. 

Leith Festival 2012 could be cancelled

Leith Festival have called off the 2012 festival unless locals rally behind the event to help with fundraising and developing the organisation.

The festival has become a local institution in the eight years it's been going, not only running the legendary gala day, which itself has a 100 year history, but also putting together a 10 day programme, as well as other projects throughout the year. 

A statement released this week by Leith Festival said: 

"Due to limited finances, the volunteer board have been forced to conclude that the 10 day community arts festival will have to be put on hold for 2012. We still hope to be able to put on the Leith Festival Gala Day on Saturday 9th June 2012, however it is unlikely that the Gala Day will go ahead without an injection of ideas, finance and local support.

"Since its inception the Gala Day has been the biggest annual public celebration of Leith’s vital spirit. In these difficult times, perhaps more than ever, we need to emulate Leith’s motto and ‘Persevere.’

"The board are committed to saving the Festival and continuing to serve the local community through its work. However we are now calling for the people of Leith to come to our aid, we need ideas and support, investment, sponsorship, donations of time,money and resources and most of all we need the people of Leith to help us save their local community arts festival."

A public meeting has been called to discuss the challenges facing the organisation to coincide with the Leith Festival AGM. It will take place at Leith Community Centre at 7.30pm on December the 7th.