Breaking news

 OFFICIAL BACKING FOR PARTY FLATS 

Back in 2016 we reported Council consent for conversion to domestic use of the former Edinburgh City Football Club at 7–8 Baxter’s Place (Ref. 15/01238/FUL; Issue 250). 

Spurtle visited Comely Bank Cemetery for the first time this morning. It was opened in 1843, and we had hoped to discover a wealth of funerary architecture matching that in the jungles of Warriston. No such luck.

Wherever the Victorian monuments are, they evaded us. But there were many interesting 20th-century compensations, including this curiosity with a Broughton connection. 

It is the grave of John Adam Porter (and family), born 1894, who died in 1952 aged 58. 

Here, in more detail than we had room to report in Issue 274, is Tom Hodges, whose return to Edinburgh is marked this evening by the launch of Typewronger Books in gallery space within long-established MacNaughtan’s on Haddington Place.

‘We’re going to be stocking a variety of new titles, by which I mean not second-hand,’ Hodges told the Spurtle. 

Talk about action-packed! 

The June Spurtle is out and about from tomorrow, positively bursting at the seams with local news. 

Page 1 sums up three major stories for north-east Edinburgh and contains not only a tiger but an astonishing 27 bullet points – more than appear in the King James Bible and complete works of Dickens combined. 

Page 2 kicks off with, um, three other major stories for north-east Edinburgh and an unlikely intervention from the President of the United States. 

 CANONMILLS CAMPAIGNERS CALL IT A DAY 

Organisers of the campaign to save 1-6 Canonmills Bridge (the former Earthy shop) issued a statement to supporters this morning. 

It’s the end of the road. This particular battle is lost. 

The news will come as a major disappointment for many. But this was still a valiant fight for local values and planning democracy, and locals involved can certainly take pride in their determination and resourcefulness.

A new commemorative poppy was launched this morning at Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory on Warriston Road. 

The Centenary Poppy is embossed in gold with the dates 1918–2018, marking 100 years since the end of the First World War. Around half of the 5 million poppies issued for the Scottish Poppy Appeal this year will be of the new design. 

On hand at the launch today was Keith Brown MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, and Minister for Veterans. 

The former Royal Marine chatted with factory manager Major (Rtd) Charlie Pelling …

We’ve become wearily accustomed to to HGVs knocking great lumps off properties around Broughton Street Lane. 

But a recent low-speed collision on North St Andrew Street takes things to a whole new level. 

According to workers on the adjacent building site, a delivery lorry ‘misjudged’ the corner at North Clyde Street Lane and caused extensive damage to a Category A-listed tenement (by David Paton, 1824). 

Here’s what it looked like before.

 CAN YOU HELP POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH? 

Yang Wang is a second-year PhD student at Glasgow University. His Urban Studies research aims to investigate and geographically visualise residents’ emotional attachment to their everyday historic environment, and Broughton is one of the areas he’s looking at in detail.

Leithers Don’t Litter and Changeworks joined forces this afternoon to launch a new campaign against flytipping as part of Zero Waste Leith.

Organisers issued a booklet explaining legal ways to store and dispose of waste, and highlighting the Council email address on which to report flytippers and arrange for their mess to be uplifted free: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/flytipping

 IMI MAUFE’S TRANSLATING TRAVELS AT EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS 

Sun’s out. Summer beckons. Hands up all those experiencing restless feet! 

If you’re prickling to travel, there’s an intriguing exhibition on at Edinburgh Printmakers by the Bergen-based British artist Imi Maufe.