A charity that provides food and shelter to many of the city’s homeless population is staging a “sleep out” on Lothian Road to raise vital funds.

Around 20 members of Edinburgh City Mission will brave the elements on Friday night to boost the coffers of its Basics Bank project, which aims to help the vulnerable people in the Capital by providing a listening ear, food and hygiene items.

Also bedding down on the street will be Forth ward councillor Cammy Day.

In 2011, Edinburgh City Mission received almost 400 new referrals and – with the help of churches, schools and generous individuals donating items – distributed around 24,000kg of food.

Volunteer Mark Wells, 33, has organised the sleep out event, having been on the receiving end of the mission’s assistance four years ago.

Source: The Scotsman

Hopes of finally solving the problem of gulls besieging an Edinburgh community look set to be dashed.

The city council considered introducing a free service to remove nests and eggs after Merchiston Community Council collected hundreds of signatures on a petition.

Campaigners said the birds were a health hazard, a noise nuisance, and had been known to attack people during their territorial breeding season.

But councillors have been recommended to reject the idea, despite the success of a similar scheme in Dumfries.

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Details of two former hospitals in the Lothians have been released by an organisation safeguarding their legacy.

The Lothians Health Service Archive has published photographs and stories from both the Bruntsfield Hospital and the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital.

Historians said both facilities had been created to help the transition of bringing more female workers into what was a male-dominated environment in the 19th century.

A spokeswoman for the archive said: “With the formation of the NHS in 1948, both hospitals became part of the Edinburgh Southern Hospitals group. The EIMMH closed in 1988 and Bruntsfield Hospital in 1989 however, they are still both fondly recalled.”

To see the details visit http://lhsa.blogspot.com.

Source: Evening News

It was a wartime sacrifice that saw swathes of ornate railings stripped from parks, public buildings and schools for munitions in defence of the realm.

Few were ever replaced but those lost from one Edinburgh street are to make a comeback thanks to the efforts of a 92-year-old resident.

Derek Ainsley has spearheaded a campaign to secure the £180,000 needed to reinstate railings removed from Gardner’s Crescent during the Second World War and restore its grassy strip to its former Georgian splendour.

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A new campaign group has been set up to fight for resident-friendly development of the former site of the Fountain Brewery.

The Fountainbridge Canalside Initiative (FCI) wants to ensure that the site’s development includes facilities for local residents and also takes advantage of its location next to the Union Canal.

It wants to draw up its own proposals for parts of the site then present them to the various developers that have a stake in the site.

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It's a new tour guide technology that could shine a light on the grizzly Burke and Hare murder campaign and bring some of the key characters back from the dead.

The hand-held portable projector beams detailed images of victim’s faces, bygone buildings, and the network of wynds used to manoeuvre the cadavers, to illustrate a popular walking tour immortalising Edinburgh’s most infamous serial killers.

Bosses at West Port Tours believe they are the first firm in Scotland to use the projectors on their circuit of bloody historical hotspots, and decided to take up the equipment after seeing it being used during a Jack the Ripper tour in London.

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Organisers of the Edinburgh International Film Festival say at least three major awards will be handed out at this year’s event – with the promise of more to come – 12 months after the prizes were scrapped.

Gongs for best British feature, best performance in a British film and best international award are to be revived a year after the festival shelved all of its long-standing awards.

Organisers are believed to be planning to reinstate other awards for short films and animated films, as well as the hugely popular “audience award”, which was voted on by ticket-buyers in previous years.

However, the festival – which has about half the budget it had two years ago – has admitted it is still seeking sponsors for awards.

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A consortium of 7N Architects and Michael Laird Architects has been appointed to develop a master plan for a new development in the city’s Fountain Quay area.

The appointment was made after a rigorous selection process, and the council said consultants have been tasked with creating a vision of a modern neighbourhood, with the capacity to accommodate a new Boroughmuir High School and offer some expansion potential to the city’s business district.

Edinburgh City Council’s property company, EDI, will use the plans and recommendations to shape the overall development of the area.

The city’s design leader, Riccardo Marini, said: “This team was selected because they exuded the confidence, understanding and skill to help the city reinterpret the master planning exercises of the past and deliver a viable and wonderful place.

“I have no doubt that Fountain Quay will become a welcome and complimentary addition to the city’s vibrant neighbourhoods.”

Source: Evening News

A campaign to oppose a new Sainsbury’s store in Bruntsfield has attracted huge support from the local community.

Local residents are concerned proposals for Sainsbury’s to take over the Peckham’s store could damage other small businesses in the area, particularly the Post Office, and several petitions opposing the move have sprung up.

Dr Mairianna Clyde, chair of the Merchiston Community Council, said: “A lot of Bruntsfield traders feel they will lose business to Sainsbury’s.”

Source: Evening News

A new Bishop of Edinburgh has been elected from a shortlist of three churchmen.

The Very Rev Dr John Armes will take up his position as the new Bishop for the Diocese of Edinburgh by the summer.

He succeeds the Right Rev Brian Smith, who retired in August 2011 after ten years in the position.

Dr Armes, currently Dean of the Edinburgh Diocese and Rector of St John’s Church, Princes Street, since 1998, is a father-of-four and lives in the New Town.

The 56-year-old said: “I am both delighted and honoured to be elected the new Bishop of Edinburgh, especially as those who have elected me are people who know me and have worked with me over a number of years.”

Source: Evening News