Welcome to our January Newsletter.

Welcome back and Happy and healthy New Year to you all! We hope you and your loved ones had a safe and enjoyable festive period.

This extended lockdown has impacted on our common activities and delivery across the communities in and the Lothians. Our staff are continuing to be working from home. However, we are keen to keep in contact with our groups and communities and the Staff Team will endeavour to continue posting on Facebook, activities that people can do at home to help everyone stay motivated. Out and About will have daily online activities to keep you connected for which you can find more details below!

In the meantime, we encourage everyone to visit their valuable local greenspaces. They offer you the chance to take part in daily exercise, to de-stress and also to engage with nature whilst helping with your overall health and wellbeing.

Everyone at ELGT would like to take this opportunity to thank you all during these difficult times. We are having to adjust again to doing things differently and we thank you for your patience and understanding. If there is anything you think we could do, or if you would like to discuss things further, then please do not hesitate to get in touch through our contact page.

In this newsletter...

This edition of the newsletter will follow the recent activities

 Retiring Board Members  Campbell Park  Shale Trail  Thrive Project  Park  Healthy Lifestyle Activities  Survey  Tree Time

A Fond Farewell to Retiring Board Members

Join us in bidding a fond farewell and a big thank you to our longstanding trustees Donald Anderson and Keith McIntosh. They have been huge supporters and ambassadors for the Trust and played a significant and valued role in building the charity. Donald was one of the original trustees when the Edinburgh Green Belt Trust (now known as Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust ) was set up when he was in Lothian Region Council in 1991. Donald said "I think it’s an appropriate time for me to step down. I loved helping set up the Trust and it’s been a real privilege to have been asked to join the board a while back, but I think it’s time to make way for someone else. I still intend to try and organise the ‘Big Spring Clean’ in South Edinburgh, so I’ll be working with (and supporting) the team for a while yet".

Keith has been the longest-standing trustee and member of the board, first as Midlothian councillor then as an independent trustee. Keith said "As you know, I first served as an elected member of Midlothian Council. It was also during that period that the Trust changed and expanded its focus from “Green Belt” to “Greenspace” and I was pleased to be part of that. I was delighted to be asked to stay on at the Trust thereafter as an independent member, during which time the Trust has grown from strength to strength. Under its present outstanding leadership , the Trust is in great shape to face the post-pandemic future. I shall miss you all." We would like to give a heartfelt thank you to Donald and Keith for your dedication and support to ELGT throughout the years. It was a privilege to work with you both and we wish you all the best for the future.

Campbell Park

We are delighted to have raised over £1500 for the planting of new orchard trees in Campbell Park, .

The project was supported by Tori Ratcliffe Art - Pet Portrait and Wildlife Artist who offered 3 prizes through an online raffle. We want to say a massive thank you to Tori! We really appreciated her beautiful art donations and all her help in achieving our target.

ELGT would also like to thank the local community and the Co-op who also helped raise funds too.

The new fruit trees will be planted in the coming months.

Shale Trail

Are you looking for fun activities for your children during this lockdown? Why not visit the kid's section on the new Shale Trail website. There are 19 pages of fabulous and strange facts, quizzes and learning on the West Lothian unique Shale Trail heritage that will suit the whole family. Visit the kid's section here.

Written in Film has produced an animated video with amazing animation provided by Livingston Village Primary School. The video tells the amazingly rich history of the Shale industry. You can watch the video here.

We have finished installing the wooden posts along the Shale Trail. You can find wonderful stories of the Scotland's Oil Rush by using the QR code on each of the waymarker posts. There are also some exciting stories of the Shale industry which have been compiled by the children from the West Lothian schools. You can find links on the waymarker posts to these stories too.

As part of the project, ELGT have also installed beautiful steel map panels at the start/finish of the Shale Trail. It's easy to find the Shale trail and discover it's rich stories using the website at home or on the trail.

You can find more information about the Shail Trail and how to get there on the website and Facebook page.

Thrive Project

ELGT are delighted to be part of the Thrive Physical and Greenspace Collective to develop and deliver services that improve the wellbeing of people in Edinburgh. The aim is to prevent or delay the need for more intensive support by enabling people to develop their own meaningful activities using greenspaces. By providing these opportunities it will help people to stay well. For more information on Thrive Edinburgh see here The initiative will involve working in the different localities across the city to promote meaningful activities for people with mental health conditions through the use of their local greenspaces. We will be working with the Wellbeing Hub teams and other agencies to develop a process of referrals and information sharing. This will involve promoting the benefits of greenspace at community hubs including local GP practices and community centre's to help engage with the hard to reach groups.

Clermiston Park

A new path is being constructed at Clermiston Park thanks to funding from Paths for All and The City of Edinburgh Council. It will make access to the playground from the west side of the park much easier, something the community told us was much needed. We hope they find it useful!

Healthy Lifestyle Activities

Zoom and Facebook Activities The Out and About team are really missing their outdoor sessions but are happy to bring you some online activities to keep you connected! The following classes will be delivered daily on the Facebook page and zoom. Everyone is welcome to join! You can find more details about the activities in the upcoming event section below.

Storytime and Yoga It was so lovely to see the Goodtrees Families group this morning for family yoga on Zoom! We would much rather be outdoors being active but it was still lovely to see each other and get moving safely at home. We finished off the activity beautifully by a relaxing story.

Cooking Classes Edinburgh Community Food will be hosting a Zoom Cook Club shortly. Classes are open to people living in , Inch, , Fernieside, Southhouse and . Ingredient packs will be sent out beforehand and you can learn to cook together in the comfort of your own kitchen. If you would like to join the club, please message Ruth or Kim. Details can be found below in the upcoming events section.

Catch up with a cuppa It was so lovely to see the participants from our walking and gentle exercise groups on zoom. It is not the same as getting outside but it is still good to have a chat. Zoom is a new way of connecting for the groups.

Gentle Yoga We are so excited to bring you Gentle Yoga with Naomi from Yoga Health Edinburgh which started on the 13th of January. The sessions take place on zoom and there will be a chance to have a chat afterwards.

You can keep up to date with Out & About news and activities here.

Upcoming Events:

All activities must be booked in advance!

To book email [email protected] or [email protected] or alternatively contact 07824641133.

Mondays - Monday Motivation on Facebook Live Tuesday - Goodtrees families Group on Zoom Wednesday - Yoga on Zoom Thursday - Virtual Cuppa for our Walking Groups and Gentle Exercise groups on Zoom

Survey

The City of Edinburgh Council would welcome your suggestions of locations for additional landscape features through a survey which closes on 31st January

The Edinburgh Living Landscape (ELL) is a partnership project that creates, restores and connects green areas of the city to help reduce the impact of climate change and make attractive and biodiverse landscapes. As part of this project, The City of Edinburgh Council have created a significant number of biodiversity-rich landscape features, i.e. sowing floral meadows, reducing how often some areas of grass are cut to encourage naturalisation and pollination, mowing pathways through areas of longer grass so they can still be explored and enjoyed, planting trees and creating woodlands, increasing use of herbaceous perennial planting, and planting bulbs.

Click here to give your views and complete the survey.

Tree Time

We have some lovely trees available for adoption through Tree Time. Be a part of helping Edinburgh to be a place where people and nature can thrive together. Whether you want to dedicate a tree or simply help the environment, we have a range of donation packages to suit everyone.

Your donation will help to make Edinburgh greener by planting more trees and by restoring the trees we already have. Help make Edinburgh greener by donating today through the Tree Time website.

Donate Online here Donate by text: To give £10 Text ELGT01 £10 to 70070 To give £4 Text ELGT01 £4 to 70070

Tweet

Share

Forward

Copyright © 2020 Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust, All rights reserved. Company Limited by Guarantee No. 132480 A charity recognised in Scotland No. SC 018196 You are receiving this email because you have expressed an interest in receiving our bulletin. You can unsubscribe at any point below.

Our mailing address is: 109/11 Swanston Road, Edinburgh, EH10 7DS