Breaking news

As reported in Issue 244, the Union Gallery will close its doors on Monday for the last time. 

After six-and-a-half years, the search is now on for larger premises in which to grow the business. 

‘I would like to say an enormous, heart-felt thank you from myself and all the artists who have shown here over the years,’ wrote Alison Auldjo in announcing the development to clients last week. 

‘The support and encouragement you have shown have been incredible, and we would never have achieved the things we did without your support.’

Spurtle asked the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland what they thought of the latest plans for the old Royal High School.

They describe it as 'architecture of a very high calibre', BUT ...

Below we reproduce their reply in full, which follows a meeting of the Forth & Borders Cases Panel on 2 September.

Zsuzsa and Jerry Farrell were at the Croall Place police box this morning, drumming up support for a new initiative by local people. 

Leithers Don’t Litter (LDL) aims to beautify Leith by encouraging its inhabitants to tackle mess head on. They have a three-point action plan when it comes to the problem:

Initial reactions to new plans for the old Royal High School have been mixed (Breaking news, 2.9.15).

Adam Wilkinson, Director of the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, is robustly disappointed:

Throughout our engagement with the development team over the last few months, we have been clear that development to the west of the building will be difficult in terms of the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.

New luxury-hotel plans have been unveiled for the old Royal High School building on Regent Road, and a planning application has been submitted. 

Architect Gareth Hoskins says they represent a considered response to the reception which greeted plans at the public consultation stage earlier this year. 

The existing Hamilton building would be restored and entirely given over to the public areas of a new hotel, managed by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. 

Spurtle reader 'Paul at Fountainbridge' is concerned by the low priority given to pedestrians at road crossings around the city centre.

He says they are ranked bottom after first trams and then other traffic.

To get some idea of the problem, he has been filming many of the crossings in action, and noting down how long it can take to get from one side to the other.

A descendant is seeking planning permission to erect a blue plaque at 1 Pilrig Street in memory of the medical pioneer Professor John Barlow (1815–56).

An eminent Quaker scientist, and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh, Barlow settled in Pilrig Street upon his marriage, and lived here for the last five years of his short life.

It was an informative, entertaining and often lively evening at the Leith Walk by-election hustings in St Mary’s Parish Church on Thursday, writes the Bellevue Observer.

There were two dramatic late-arrivals, heckling, laughter and applause. There was occasional outrage and almost an ejection. Perhaps Spurtle should have charged on the way in.

This beautifully solid and disintegrating vessel (right) is by Paul Kennedy, an Edinburgh College of Art graduate now exhibiting at Bon Papillon until the middle of September. 

Kennedy is very interested in the sense of lost history and place in parts of Glasgow, where his studio is situated.

But the work on show here focuses on a parallel passion for coastal landscapes, birds, boats, and people. The touching scene below is titled 'Love Story'.

As you read this, September’s Spurtle (Issue 244) is clattering off the press like a trainload of young Spanish language students disembarking at Waverley Station.  

It contains no end of exciting news delivered at high speed and great volume in every direction all at once, concerning the totality of existence as currently experienced in Broughton. More or less.

What's it all about?