The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Monday 1 July 2024
Postal vote panic, Summerhall update, Jazz Bar reopens, burning smell explained + Creative Circles meetup tomorrow
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. Happy election week to those who celebrate. Here’s Monday’s Edinburgh Minute.
🚨 Detectives are appealing for information after two teenage girls, aged 14 and 15, were sexually assaulted near Silverknowes Beach car park beach on Saturday evening. - Police Scotland published this press release.
🗳️ Delays in the delivery of postal votes forced Edinburgh, East Lothian and Fife councils into emergency measures to ensure residents could cast their votes at the weekend. - Caitlyn Dewar, STV News.
💨 A burning plastic smell in town on Saturday has been blamed on a fire at a landfill site 35 miles away in North Lanarkshire, reports The Daily Record.
🇹🇼 Council leader Cammy Day indicated he still plans to sign a controversial ‘friendship arrangement’ with a Taiwanese city, after the decision was hastily removed from last Thursday’s council meeting’s agenda. - Donald Turvill, Local Democracy Reporter, Evening News. Day told the meeting:
“The chief executive took a decision given the comments earlier with the political nature and lead up to elections that it would be taken off the agenda for this meeting and I’m confident that after further discussion with our partners across the city that report will be brought forward to council in the next month or two, and I’ll be happy to support that.”
⮑ Here are the results of last week’s Minute readers poll on the topic:
🎭 Property agents handling the sale of Summerhall have now suggested it is ‘highly likely’ that the venue will remain as an arts and culture hub for years to come, until ‘higher-value uses coming into the site’. Cuthbert White have set 18 September as the closing date on bids. - Brian Ferguson reports in The Scotsman this morning.
📲 Southside venue Assembly Roxy deleted a Twitter post yesterday after ‘accidentally’ reposting a Tweet by JK Rowling, sparking accusations in the replies of being ‘anti-trans’. The venue took down the post, insisting: “We do not support views expressed in the original tweet”. In a statement the venue added:
“It has come to our attention that a tweet has been accidentally reposted from our twitter account, here at Assembly Roxy. We would like to reiterate that inclusion is central to Assembly Roxy's values and we apologise for any offence caused as a result.”
🎷 The Jazz Bar reopens today as a Community Interest Company, following a successful crowdfunder. - The venue’s new co-owners Nick and Justyna Mushlin talk to Tallah Brash in The Skinny:
"It's been such a hard few months, going through the liquidation, and closing up The Jazz Bar Ltd, because I've been trying to help the old Directors out... I mean, it's a minefield,” Nick says. “At so many points we were just like, ‘It's just not worth it, let's give up’, but there's been so much support from the community. We just couldn't let all the musicians down.”
🖼️ The National Galleries of Scotland director-general Annie Lyden says they have decided to continue their relationship with Baillie Gifford “after a lot of thought and consideration”. Earlier this year Edinburgh’s book festival and the Collective, Stills and Fruitmarket galleries all ended their partnerships with Baillie Gifford. - Brian Ferguson, The Scotsman.
🏨 ‘Budget accommodation brand’ Kabannas has bought Hayweight House in Lauriston Street from the SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) charity. - Ian McConnell, The Herald.
⚽️ Having axed their women’s team last year to save money, the owners of Edinburgh City football club say they have secured their men’s team’s league status for next season, following ‘intense speculation'. - Robbie Hanratty, The Herald.
🏄♂️ More than 1,400 people applied for 100 jobs at the new Lost Shore surf site in Ratho, owners said. It’s scheduled to open ‘in Autumn’.
📆 Just published: Here’s local writer Sophia Hembeck’s monthly post of: 5 things to do when July gives early autumn vibes:
🐾 A lost dog found on a solo bus ride has been reunited with its owner. Lothian Buses staff found the dog on a number 16 on Commercial Street in Leith. - Matthew Fulton, STV News.
🗞️ July’s edition of hyperlocal paper Spurtle is here.
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📌 Tomorrow, 4.30pm, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, Palmerston Place: “Creative Circles: Writing and Designing Children's Books - This event is a casual monthly meetup for creatives, techies, makers, students, freelance folk and everyone in between who is interested in discovering more about what's happening in Edinburgh. Take a break from work, share ideas and advice, make new connections, and find your next collaborator. In July’s event, we’ll be exploring what it takes to get your children’s book off the ground. There’ll be tea, coffee and a few snacks - please bring along a keep cup if you have one!” - Thanks to Zoe Farrugia, Programme Manager, Creative Edinburgh, for sharing this.
📌 Tonight: “Derrick Guild RSA will give an online talk 'Ways of Seeing' to the Humanist Society Scotland Edinburgh Group on Monday 1 July at 7.30pm. For more information and to register to attend visit Meetup Edinburgh Humanists.” - Cathy Crawford, Edinburgh Humanist Group.
📌 “Scottish voters - is your mailbox full to the brim with election leaflets? Rather than toss them into the recycling bin, preserve them for future researchers. University of Stirling's Scottish Political Archive is doing a collections drive and looking for citizen collectors throughout Scotland. We need YOU!” - Thanks to Coree Brown Swan, Director, Scottish Political Archive, for sharing this.
📮 Is that it? Something missing? Share your local news and events here.
📈 The most-visited links from the last newsletter:
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Thanks so much for posting the election leaflet appeal!
Just to confirm, creative circles is taking place tomorrow (Tuesday) thanks for sharing!