Breaking news

An abrupt change of advice from City of Edinburgh Council means Leith Central Community Council’s meeting on 17 August has been cancelled.

The event – the first ‘properly constituted’ meeting of its kind since March – was to have been held in the Out of the Blue Drill Hall under strict social-distancing arrangements.

It was planned on the basis of Council advice issued on 6 July saying physical meetings were now possible under Scottish Government guidelines.

A Zoom workshop to help local charities, volunteer organisations, and community projects access funds from the People’s Postcode Lottery takes place tomorrow at 10.00am.

The session is free, and is open to groups based in the Edinburgh North & Leith constituency.

Katherine Sellar is the PPL’s Community Programmes Advisor. She says, ‘The money raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery is making a huge difference in communities across the country.

1898

SENSATIONAL AFFAIR AT STOCKBRIDGE.—A considerable sensation was caused in Church Lane, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, yesterday afternoon, in connection with the attempted execution of a sanitary inspector’s warrant for the examination of a dwelling house there.[1]

July–September 1897

AN UMBRELLA IN A FOOTBALL DISPUTE.

In Edinburgh Police Court this forenoon—Sheriff Orphoot presiding—James Tocher, engineer, 5 North East Cumberland Street Lane, pleaded guilty to assaulting a man named Donaldson on the 20th inst., on the stair leading to Marshall Street Hall, by striking him on the mouth with an umbrella.

Over recent months, the grounds of Drummond Tennis Club by East Scotland Street Lane have been energised and transformed by long-term member and general groundsman John Foxwell.

The approach-lane behind Bellevue Crescent has been completely cleared of rampant nettles, and an exciting flower/shrub bed is envisaged.

By the east of the pavilion, a veritable Wimbledon lawn has been established for loungers and picnickers.

OK, this is not the return of normality. But it’s a start.

Leith Central Community Council will hold its first properly constituted meeting since 17 February and Lockdown in March.

The event will involve real people interacting simultaneously in the same physical space, not via an e-conferencing platform.

April–July 1897

YOUNG COCK GOLDFINCH AND FEW CANARIES, full song; must be sold.—King, 5 Gayfield Lane.

Edinburgh Evening News, 7 April 1897

[Image: Francis C. Franklin, Wikipedia, Creative Commons.]

Lothian Buses have put the 0.44-acre Tramways Bowling Club site on the market.

Advertised with agent Graham & Sibbald, the land and 40-cover licensed clubhouse/bar are described as potentially offering ‘alternative leisure uses’, and are available at offers over £120k.

As you read this, printed copies of the August Spurtle are already finding their way across the barony like sunbeams newly escaped from a top-security darkened cloud-chamber.

Issue 298 begins as usual on Page 1, this time with news of a development on the brink and a rumour scotched. There’s coverage, too, of a roundly criticised proposal, ineffective enforcement, cancellations of cramming, and a whack in the yack for Spurtle’s view of the monumentally offensive.

1895–96

FOX TERRIER DOG (nice, evenly marked), clean and affectionate, belonging to a lady leaving town; sold cheap to a good home. Christie, 12 William Street Lane.

Scotsman, 10 April 1895

Photo: Duspivova, Wikipedia, creative commons.