Breaking news

Leith Central Community Council will host an Independence Referendum debate at the end of this month. Their aim is to encourage an ‘engaging and thought-provoking event’.

It will be held on 30 June in the Calton Centre at 7.00pm.

Speaking in favour of continuing the Union will be Malcolm Chisholm MSP (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) and Councillor Joanna Mowat (Ward 11).

Speaking in favour of Independence will be children’s author Lari Don and Business for Scotland's Jil Murphy.

Half-submerged in the wonderfully lush vegetation of Warriston Cemetery stands a fruitful monument to Robert Arthur.

It's pleasant to think that this (at the last) local man would have appreciated the beauties of his new surroundings and their unstoppable growth each summer.

More likely, though, is that he's now spinning down there at the superabundance of weeds. 

His inscription reads: 

IN MEMORY 

OF 

ROBERT ARTHUR, 

This painting (mixed media on board) is by Karen Fleming, and is currently on show at the Gallery on the Corner (34 Northumberland Street). It has the intriguing title ‘Everyone Makes Bad Decisions’.

‘I am heavily influenced by domestic interiors from various decades,’ she writes, ‘particularly the wallpapers and textiles that were popular at the time.

A great night was had by all at Drummond Community High School's S6 Prom in the Carlton Hotel, writes Depute Head Teacher Sharon Gibson.

The pupils, as always, had made a huge effort and looked stunning in their beautiful dresses and suits. I think the hairdressers and beauty salons would have had a very busy day!

The evening went without a hitch and I’m sure I wasn’t the only teacher there with a wee tear in her eye as I watched them let their hair down and enjoy coming to the end of their school careers.

Gurneth Ghatoray – managing director of Rayprographics Ltd – has applied for planning permission to demolish the existing buildings at 5 Warriston Road and build a 3-storey block of flats in their place (Ref. 14/02315/FUL). 

The plans for 10 dwellings include subterranean parking for 10 cars, 10 cycles, and 10 bins. (Bit of a theme here.)

Spurtle ventured out of our comfort zone this afternoon to visit the seedier side of Calton, in particular this splendidly malagrugrous cul-de-sac: St Ninian’s Row.

It looks like the sort of place tourists should be taken to hand over their spare £20 notes, and/or the ideal spot to find a dead body. Today, though, it was the site of nothing more unpleasant than inch-thick pigeon guano.

The street has a very long history. The area associated with it was originally much larger, but was mostly obliterated to make way for Waterloo Place and a railway goods yard at Waverley.

Broughton’s Christina Thomson, picked by locals for her work as a community volunteer, ran a local stretch of the Queen’s Baton Relay this afternoon.

The event heralds the imminent start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Moving at a speed almost too fast for the Spurtle camera to keep track of, and leaving superfit uniformed and plain-clothes police athletes trailing in her wake, Mrs Thomson completed the leg between London Road roundabout and Annandale Street via Elm Row.

Unpuffed and unperspiring, she briefly greeted friends, family and well-wishers ...

Has anyone else noticed how local addresses are beginning to resemble complicated mathematical formulae these days?

You practically need a degree to work out where someone lives. When did 1f2b² 6/3 ever resemble an actual location? With new properties and additions to properties cropping up all the time (Meuse’s, Street North, Lane East, extensions on extensions on top of garages that are actually houses that were once Meuses) it’s becoming difficult enough for locals to find their way around let alone for visitors and new posties.

The bucolic pleasures of Bellevue Place are even bucolicer and more pleasurable at the moment than usual.

The junction with Mansfield Place – long beautified at her own expense by Christina Thomson and last reported in Breaking news (13.3.14) – is  now awash with colour, beautiful scent and exuberant growth.

From some angles ...

A minor tragedy has unfolded on McDonald Road, writes our wandering Music correspondent. It concerns the unexpected arrival there, last Monday or Tuesday, of a pianola. 

The instrument appeared on the street when the weather was still fine. A notice attached said that it was going to be collected.

At that stage it was in a fit condition to play, and tinkling from its ivories could be heard on the warm-ish evenings early in the week.