Porty Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Well! Now we know. Portobello is OFFICIALLY the best neighbourhood in the UK! A delegation was presented with the award on Wednesday evening in London by the Academy of Urbanism. This was set up around 15 years ago to identify and promote the best in urban design, designs which involved local communities and helped to foster community spirit. It also hopes that, by highlighting th...

Send us Fan Mail Portobello has a famous daughter whom you almost certainly have never heard of. In her day, at the turn of the 20th century, Mary Cameron was as famous as the Glasgow Boys or the Scottish Colourists who were working around the same time. She was respected enough to have solo exhibitions in Edinburgh, London and Paris almost every year until the start of the First World War. But an...

Send us Fan Mail You may have thought that Art Walk Porty lasted just for two weekends in September. However, it has long been an ambition of curator Rosy Naylor to have events which last much longer. One of those starts this afternoon at the Kilns in Bridge Street.  It’s a residency lasting through until the end of February in which the artist, Nicky Bird, seeks to commemorate the lives and work...

Send us Fan Mail You may have seen in Cllr Maureen Child’s most recent newsletter that the Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust had completed a feasibility study for a walking and cycling route between the Pentlands and Portobello. The idea would be to start from the Prom and create a safe route along the main road until it reaches the start of the Brunstane Burn Path. From there, it would foll...

Send us Fan Mail A Porty-based poet will be launching her first book at the Portobello Library this coming week. Hannah McCooke’s ‘Mortal Magic’ is a collection of work inspired in part by living here and in part by life and events in her native Northern Ireland. She will be sharing the platform with fellow poet, Stella Birrell: both will be performing their work on Tuesday evening. Let's hav...

Send us Fan Mail It’s October – so it has to be the Portobello Book Festival. And is so often the case, all but a few tickets have gone; there are a few kept available at the door for each event. Loads of exciting authors, such as Ian Rankin and Michel Faber, will be talking about their work; but there will be some very different events this year. For example, Pamela Gregory and Gica Loening will...

Send us Fan Mail Portobello Rotary Club is over 50 years old. It meets every Wednesday evening in the King’s Manor Hotel. It’s part of an international organisation with philanthropic and humanitarian objectives - Rotary International's motto is ‘Service Above Self’. One of the ways the club here raises money is by running the monthly car boot sales at Newcraighall Station; but it’s also invo...

Send us Fan Mail Back in 2017, there was real concern about the future of the sports facilities at Westbank Street. The Council had announced plans to sell off the land used by Powerleague for 5-a-side football as a way of raising the money for the new Meadowbank Stadium. The cash would be shared between the Council and Powerleague. A campaign was started to 'Save the Porty 5s' and an or...

Send us Fan Mail You may have seen the posts here on social media about the upcoming elections to community councils. In recent years, the one in Portobello has had quite a high profile. It has been conducting online surveys on a range of issues, the latest about the future status of Kings Place. They are supposed to be the ‘voice of the community’ but there may be a tendency for them to be self-s...

Send us Fan Mail This year’s Art Walk Porty is bigger than ever – and full of surprises. This is ‘art’ in its broadest possible sense. For example, you will be able to walk into someone’s house, sit down by a window and listen to the sounds of a night walk through the Amazon jungle. You’ll be able to take part in walks and cycle rides through parts of the area you may never have visited before. An...

Send us Fan Mail One of the first workshops at Art Walk Porty which starts next weekend is rather unusual. It’s called ‘Drawn to Dance’ and will be held at Bellfield on Saturday morning. It’s part of series of workshops created by the artist Jenny Smith, all of which ask: “What are YOU drawn to?” The aim is to get people to express themselves, letting their imaginations run free.  The workshop is...

Send us Fan Mail Local artist Teresa Gordon has an exhibition called ‘Ebb and Flow – Saltworks 2019’ which opens today. It explores the fragility of memory because both of her parents and other members of her family had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. As a result, she is intrigued by memory and its loss and hopes her work will raise awareness about the condition – as well as funds for the Al...

Send us Fan Mail For months, there has been a lot of heated debate on assorted online forums about Kings Place. In recent years, it has turned into a completely unregulated car and caravan park which has caused occasional distress to local residents. This week, two things have taken place. The first is a consultation from Portobello Community Council, asking our opinion on what changes (if any) sh...

Send us Fan Mail What do you do if a swarm of bees lands in your garden? This week’s episode is something of a public information feature because that’s exactly what happened in the garden of Porty Podcast Producer, David Calder. He didn’t notice it at first – but his neighbour did! The family next door have two boys who love playing football and other ball games. They were afraid that a ball coul...

Send us Fan Mail An online campaign has been launched to persuade the people of Portobello to use the golf course. Didn’t know Porty had a golf course? Well. it was once a very popular facility – the Sir Harry Lauder Championship was played here until three or four years ago. But a year ago, demand for golf on this small, 9-hole course had fallen so much that Edinburgh Leisure, who manage it, anno...

Send us Fan Mail A new exhibition of photographs has just opened at the Skylark. They’re the work of David Williams, formerly Head of Photography at Edinburgh School of Art. Called “From 88 Places”, it’s an extract from a much larger work, a series of photographs carefully taken at each of the 88 Shrines around a hillside in Kyoto in Japan. It took him several years to complete.

Send us Fan Mail The talented local musician, Rosie Nimmo, is about to release a new album – probably called ‘Music is Sunshine’. It’s been three years in the making, three years to produce what she believes is her best work to date. It’s a solo album of new material and she wanted to take the time to make sure they sounded just right. Porty Podcast Producer David Calder went to find out more.

Send us Fan Mail Anyone who’s been to the monthly market in Brighton Park will have seen the stall run by the Greengrocer Project. Yes, they have fruit and veg to sell – but their main reason for being there is to keep up the profile for their longer-term ambition – to set up a shop. Their model is across on the other side of town, in Bruntsfield. It’s a community greengrocer called ‘Dig In’ which...

Send us Fan Mail You may notice that Portobello – especially the beach and indeed the waters of the Forth – are a little quieter than usual this coming week. The reason for this is that the two local rowing clubs are off to the ‘Skiffie Worlds’ – in other words, the World Championships for the St Ayles Skiffs, the rowing boats you see out almost every day. Row Porty will be heading off with a crew...

Send us Fan Mail There have been assorted fairs selling arts and crafts at Bellfield since it opened its doors. But a new one will arrive tomorrow which has a rather different theme. It’s called ‘A Spoonful of Vintage by the Sea’ and it’s organised by a couple who moved to Portobello 5 years ago. They are fascinated by everything to do with the 1950s – as David Calder discovered. Royalty Free Musi...

Send us Fan Mail The petition to save Portobello Town Hall is growing and approaching 1500 signatures – it may even have reached that target by this morning. The building has been neglected for many years. But its condition has deteriorated to the point where the Lothian Dance Academy’s Annual Show almost had to be cancelled. With hours to go, the work was carried out in order to save it. However,...

Send us Fan Mail You may have come across the Porty songstress, Sheila McWhirter, the lead singer with The Blue Moon Travellers. Sheila has had many roles throughout her life – she’s currently teaching English as a foreign language – but she really wants to focus on her music and on helping others to find their voices. The group has just produced its first CD, called ‘Into the Blue’, which highlig...

Send us Fan Mail Some of you may have seen a group of people from Children 1st out on Porty High Street recently. They were canvassing opinion about a piece of legislation which has just started making its way through the Scottish Parliament. The new law, which some find controversial, would make it illegal for parents to smack or otherwise physically punish their children. Children 1st, now in it...

Send us Fan Mail Book blogs are very popular – there are well over 100 in the UK alone. They’re liked by the public because they help their readers find new books they might enjoy. They’re also liked by authors and publishers because they help to raise the profile of new titles. The Porty Book Blog has just celebrated its 4th anniversary. It was created by Joanne Baird because she is an enthusiast...

Send us Fan Mail Portobello Prom and Beach are well used by locals and visitors alike – one only has to think of the crowds who thronged here over the Easter Weekend to see this in action. However, there’s been a lot of interest in how to improve the area, to make everyone’s enjoyment of the beach that much better; and we’re not just talking about the area where most people tend to congregate, bet...