Breaking news

Richard Ibbotson, National Director of Autism Initiatives UK, will talk at a fundraising event for the Gallery on the Corner, on 21 February.

The City of Edinburgh Council's City Development Department is seeking planning permission from – er – the City of Edinburgh Council for flood defence works along the right bank of the Water of Leith beside Ettrickdale and Liddesdale Places (Stockbridge Colonies).

This is on the opposite bank of the river from the Rocheid Path, adjacent to that section of modern housing encountered immediately after the Tanfield site. Work on this section appears to have begun already (see below).

Locally based Waverley Care is to benefit from a fundraising concert later this month.

Students at Muthambi Girls School in Kenya do not get Art as one of their subjects, but that doesn’t mean they’re not keen.
 
Now, an enterprising group of interest-rich/resource-poor pupils have set up their own Talent Club to find out more about art and develop their skills.
 
Drummond Community High School staff and pupils want to help, and so have begun collecting art books and materials to send out to their African partners.

Changes in the rules made by the Scottish Government mean that from today onwards, new proposals for many domestic extensions, ramps, sheds, garages and decking at existing buildings will no longer need planning permission.

There are still restrictions on listed properties and those within Conservation Areas, but the relaxation should mean a reduction in bureaucratised planning applications of around 4,000 per year across Scotland.

The Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust (ELGT) today launched a small grants programme aimed at groups and communities developing or improving community gardens for those affected by health and social inequalities.

Grants of up to £750 will be available for new and existing schemes, and could be spent on, for example, tools, materials, and volunteer expenses.

Drummond CHS have done really well in the latest Construction and Built Environment Challenge (CABEC), competing against other pupils from across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Ten S2 students (aged 13–14) from the school's CDT department attended the annual event at the capital's Corn Exchange, and – after performing excellently in the qualifying round – went on to secure  a place in the grand final.

In Issue 203, published today, you can read about the Broughton-based architect Robert Burn whose design for the Nelson Monument is still to be found on Calton Hill.

Burn's plan beat that of another Broughton resident, Alexander Nasmyth, whom we profiled in Issue 181. That design appears on this page.

Nasmyth's son, James, later wrote a very partial account of his father's career in which he challenged the financial grounds for preferring Burn, and disparaging the inverted telescope on aesthetic grounds.

'Guess what everyone?' shrieked Twitter this morning, her dulcet tones shattering the eardrums of everyone within a five-mile radius. 'It’s February! At last! Praise Odin’s beard!'
 
And fair enough, for what is not to love about February? Surely it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Is it not February that hosts the pagan festivals of St Valentine’s Day (14th), St Pancake’s Day (21st), and the beginning of everyone’s favourite period of abstinence (after the January detox), Lent? Yes, it is.
 

Inc. Tank – the Gayfield Square-based performance and exhibition space – will host an interactive theatre piece by young actors early this month.

Creative Electric are the group behind Debutantes, which takes a look at issues of gender equality in the context of a debutantes ball.