Porty Podcast

Send us Fan Mail As you all will know, work has started on replacing the setts in Brighton Place. It was one of those Porty issues that set people apart! The traders on the High Street were – and remain – worried about the impact it’s going to have on their businesses – especially with Christmas not so far away (apologies for using the ‘C’ word in October). For former councillor Jimmy Burnett who...

Send us Fan Mail This is going to be a very busy weekend in Portobello. There’s the charity event, ‘In the Dog House’ at the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home all day today and the Dalriada Comedy Night this evening; then there’s the organic market tomorrow and the Festival of Walking and Cycling on Sunday. But for many of us, the highlight will be the Portobello Book Festival which celebrates its 10th a...

Send us Fan Mail “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven!” Andy Scarcliffe has decided that his season as minister of Portobello Baptist Church has run its course. This weekend, he takes his last service before handing over the reins to his successor, Glenn Innes, who moved down from Aberdeen with his family earlier this week. Andy has made an impact in his...

Send us Fan Mail Tonight sees the first in a series of ceilidhs to be held at Bellfield. It’s the initiative of Ros Gasson, a local fiddle teacher and founder of Da Hooley Ceilidh Band. The band, which has been going for over 20 years, is certainly popular – it has bookings all the way through until September next year. But having moved to Portobello, Ros wanted to offer something to the community...

Send us Fan Mail You may have noticed that Porty Prom is a little brighter – or at least, the rubbish bins have taken on a new, brighter appearance. It’s part of a project, called My Beach, Your Beach, run by Keep Scotland Beautiful. The idea is to remind the people who use the beach and the prom that it’s THEIR responsibility to clean up after themselves. The project team leader, Aoife Hutton, ha...

Send us Fan Mail Artists in Portobello cover a wide spectrum. One of the more unusual ones connected to this year’s Art Walk is called Séance, a series of carefully crafted short stories, most of which draw their inspiration from Portobello, its houses, the sea, the people. It’s the creation of Chris Dooks and Eleanor Thom who will launch it tonight at the Beach Lance Social Club.

Send us Fan Mail Events like the Art Walk Porty make Portobello a great place to live. There are dozens of artists living here – painters, sculptors, ceramic makers and so many more with such diverse talents. This is the now annual opportunity to see what they’re producing and perhaps acquire something unique. This year, the Art Walk is four years old. Its theme is ‘PLEASURE GROUND’ with a mix of...

Send us Fan Mail This is the weekend of The Big Busk. Dozens of musicians descend on Porty Prom to perform, pretty well all day long. Now in its ninth year, it had simple beginnings – but even at the start, there were ambitions to make it something really special, to make it part of the Edinburgh Festival and that has happened although the founder, Paul Lambie, prefers to think of it as a ‘carniva...

Send us Fan Mail You may have noticed a highly decorated vehicle in Portobello High Street, outside the Town Hall, last night. That was the Travelling Gallery paying one of its regular visits to Porty. It will be back from 11 o’clock this morning. But this visit was special. The Gallery is celebrating its 40th anniversary and chose to launch its final tour of 2018 in Portobello, as Porty Podcast P...

Send us Fan Mail Cycling has seldom seen so popular. There’s never been such a choice of bikes with prices that range from the affordable to the “How Much!!!”. There have been new developments as well. Electric bikes are now coming down in price; and up in terms of how far they can travel. But just like a car, they need to be looked after, professionally. That too can be expensive, especially if y...

Send us Fan Mail It's 18 months since we last heard from Tommy Sheppard, MP for Edinburgh East. It's been an exciting and extremely frustrating time for him and most of the other Scottish MPs in Westminster. He's watched as both Tory and Labour Parties have spent hours failing to agree internally and indeed almost seeming intent on tearing themselves apart over Brexit. That quickly...

Send us Fan Mail When Earthy closed its doors in Portobello, many people wondered what would happen with the space. Well, now we know. It's currently under a pretty major refurbishment by Tribe Porty which has taken over the whole building - we'll hear more about its plans later in the year. But what they have done is open up the space to other social enterprises - including the Edinburg...

Send us Fan Mail Driving in towards Portobello from the West, you can't help but notice the bright green signs advertising the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. It's a large, triangular site between the main road and the start of the Prom at Seafield. It's been there for almost 70 years - but it's story reaches back to the middle of the 19th century as Porty Podcast producer, David C...

Send us Fan Mail The growth of Development Trusts across Scotland has been an undoubted success story. Over 40,000 people have been involved in buying land or property since the Community Right to Buy Legislation was passed in 2003. They now own assets worth almost £90m and have brought in £25m in regeneration funding. With a collective turnover of over £50m, they are economic success stories too....

Send us Fan Mail The summer sun brings out the vibrancy in the colours we see around us. And vibrant colours are very much on display at the latest exhibition at the Velvet Easel Gallery which opens today. The work of many artists is on show - and not just from Scotland. Some of the paintings are exciting, others challenging; and that may be part of the reason for the curious title 'Defying S...

Send us Fan Mail You may have noticed that most of the schools are now on holiday! On the good days (and we have had a few recently), the beach is bustling with families, the children splashing around in the sea, building sandcastles or burying granddad in the sand. But what happens on days when the weather is not so good? The kids may spend some time at home, at best playing games on assorted dev...

Send us Fan Mail It’s going to be very busy in Portobello this weekend. On the beach, crews from around the country will gather for the Porty Regatta, a day of fun and frolics on the water plus some serious racing. And it’s also the day that Bellfield opens as Portobello’s Community Hub – a great venue for all kinds of activity from youth theatre to coffee mornings, from bike maintenance classes t...

Send us Fan Mail Last month, we reported on the Edinburgh Shoreline Project and how, over the coming year, scientists and conservationists will work with local people to search for little-known species, explore rock pools and mudflats and undertake practical conservation work. One part of this will be an exhibition by the award-winning sculptor Julia Barton. Although based in Portobello, Julia’s w...

Send us Fan Mail A block of flats in Portobello has become an international talking point. The building at 26 Bath Street was unique in the way, not that it was constructed though that was unusual enough, but in the way it was financed and developed. It’s already won awards. For example just last month, it won the Wood Award for best use of wood in a building in Edinburgh, presented by the Edinbur...

Send us Fan Mail Portobello seems to produce its fair share of brewers – and not just ordinary brewers! 18 months ago, we heard about the Bellfield Brewery which was making gluten-free beers. Since then, they’ve become prize-winners and gathered other accolades as well. Now, we’ve heard of another company, Eyeball Brewing also founded here in Porty, which is also aiming to make its mark – a slight...

Send us Fan Mail One of the lovely things about living in Portobello is just how many things there are to do on the sea. There’s sailing and kayaking, rowing and paddle-boarding. But perhaps the hardiest group are the open water swimmers. You seem them out in the water, winter as well as summer, braving the cold and even some quite large waves. They’re aptly known as ‘The Wild Ones’. We joined the...

Send us Fan Mail Edinburgh has 27km of coastline from Port Edgar to Joppa. Other cities around the world have made the most of having such a sea front – Edinburgh, for the most part, hasn’t. You can’t walk or cycle the coast from end to end. Instead, large areas are blocked off by industrial buildings, some dating back centuries. But change is slowly taking place. There’s a growing appreciation of...

Send us Fan Mail There are two rowing clubs in Portobello – RowPorty, founded seven years ago, and Eastern Amateur Rowing Club, founded just two years ago. Until now, Eastern has managed with one boat, a St Ayles Skiff called ‘Skelf’. But as the club has expanded and its members wanted to get involved in more events many of them quite far away, it became clear that a second boat would be needed. T...

Send us Fan Mail Some of you may have noticed work going on in the shop that used to house Earthy. Two things are happening there – the first is an expansion of Tribe Porty which was getting a little cramped upstairs; and the second is a new home for the Portobello branch of the Edinburgh Tool Library – we’ll have more on THAT closer to the time when it opens. However, it will also be home to some...

Send us Fan Mail Get your credit cards out for the chance to get your hands on an unique portrait of Portobello. The painter, Peter Jones, has been encouraged to publish a book of his watercolours featuring many local landmarks. But he wants your help if it’s going to happen. He’s creating a Crowdfunding Page which will let you support the project – and get you a copy (or copies) of the book and m...