News

13 April 2005: Clean up next Sunday, 17 April, at 3pm. Please do attend if you can - protective equipment is provided and it's good fun (really!). All ages welcome. Hope to see you there!

Another date for your diary: Our AGM on 24 May 2005 in The Yard. All welcome - this is your chance to suggest areas for us to work on for the next year. We hope to see you there!

We are just writing the next newsletter , with an update on progress and issues for the future - Please let us know if you would like one delivered or emailled to you - To get on the mailling list just email your details to: secretary@kgvsy.org.uk

6 November 2004: The dog bag dispensers are now installed in the park. They have been kindly provided by the charity "Dog Aid Society of Scotland". Many thanks to Jane for her work on finding out about the possibilities and for arranging them. There is one attached to a post near each of the two entrances to the park. We hope they will help dog owners to continue to responsibly clear up after their pets.

!dogbag1 Installers and potential consumers (thanks to Andrew and Michelle for the photo)

31 October 2004 - Our second clean up of the year! A good turn out of all ages on Halloween for another clean up of the park. Several bags were filled with rubbish and some interesting large items of scrap metal were also removed. The Council van arrived promptly at 3pm and a slick operation was completed. Two young helpers were keen to know when the next clean up will be, as they had enjoyed themselves so much.

!cleanup2 Cleaners of all ages, including young chocolate eaters

!cleanup

9 October - Watch out for our latest newsletters, which will be circulated to members and distributed via schools, etc. We are grateful to Standard life for help in printing them. Please contact andy@kgvsy.org.uk if you miss out on a copy.

12 September 2003, Judy Conn, Secretary Report on Grant Awarded by North and Leith Local Development Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council 2002-2003 The grant of £4,800 was awarded to improve the King George V Park Eyre Place with the installation of extra seating and extra litter bins. As the park is the only public open space in the New Town, apart from Princes Street Gardens, it is a valuable community resource which the Friends felt was being underused for lack of adequate seating. Seven new seats were installed in June and it has been gratifying to see how popular they have proved with people of all ages. The visual impact on the park of the smart new metal seats has been quite remarkable. However, it must be said that 4 wooden seats in very poor condition remain and appear to be avoided by park users. We hope that the Local Development Committee might be sympathetic to a future application to replace these seats. The litter bins are being installed as this report is being written and we hope that they will help to improve the cleanliness of the park. The park is popular with office workers at lunchtime and in good weather the few existing bins can overflow within a day with fast food cartons, cans etc, defeating the best efforts of the Council’s cleansing teams to empty them sufficiently frequently. Attached are copies of receipts for the seats and for the bins. We are extremely grateful for the support of the North and Leith Local Development Committee. We are posting this report on our website (www.kgvsy.org.uk) and will highlight the grant in a forthcoming newsletter.

30 July 2003 We held our annual general meeting on 6th May and were glad to meet some new park users some of whom have become actively involved with the Friends. We are grateful for helpful meetings with John Munro (Parks Manager), Scott Thomson (Parks Development Officer), Billy Wilson (Task Force Manager) and Greg Stevens (Community Police Officer) and are in correspondence with Councillor Donald Anderson (Council Leader). We are concerned that recent council reorganisations have led to a mismatch between the needs of parks such as ours and the skills and line management of those working in them. We are encouraged, however, by our successful application to the North and Leith Local Development Committee of the Council for the purchase of new seats and bins. For the immediate future we propose a further Local Development Committee application for noticeboards and for a daffodil and bluebell planting party in the autumn. Details will follow. Wilfrid Treasure.

Friday 27th June 2003 We have recently improved the website and the park and will be reporting in more detail within the next few days.

Thursday 1 May 2003:

1st Annual General Meeting of the Friends of King George V and Scotland Yard Parks

Tuesday 6th May 2003 at 7.30 pm in the Yard – Scotland Yard Adventure Centre 70 Eyre Place Speaker: Diane Smith, People and Places Officer, Dept of Environmental and Consumer Services, City of Edinburgh Council. Diane will talk about the problem of litter, what the Council is doing about it and what we can do. The park belongs to us all. Come along and say what YOU want for it.

Friday, November 22, 2002: Good News!
After generously funding the exhibition which launched the Friends on 6th October, the North and Leith Local Development Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council has agreed to provide further funding, this time to allow us to place 7 more seats and 4 more litter bins in the park. We are delighted and will try to ensure that the seats and bins are in place by early spring. To allow Friends and other local residents a chance to comment on where the seats and bins should be placed we propose meeting for a walkabout in the park at noon on Sunday 9th February. We'll post more details nearer the
time.

Monday, November 18, 2002: Committee Meeting

Monday, November 04, 2002: We are now registered as Scottish Charity SC033445

Saturday, October 12, 2002: At the Launch on 6th October there was a picture competiton. The winners were:
9 and over - Hannah aged 9
5-8 - Hannah aged 8
4 and under - Emily aged.
Congratulations!

Tuesday, October 08, 2002: Welcome to our website. We are building this website at present. We are still in the early stages. Please visit us again and see how things develop!

Launch of "The Friends" on Sunday 6th October 2002. There were two quizzes during the day: an indoor quiz based on the exhibition; and an outdoor quiz about things found around the park. Congratulations to all entrants. Those whose entries were opened first will win prizes and will be contact soon. Excuse me for any names I have mis-read.

Indoor quiz prize winners: Jamie (9) & Mark (7), Ruairidh (6), James (9). Other entrants: Marina (9), Calum (7), Hannah (9), Annie (9) & Lucy (9), Carolyn (10).

Outdoor quiz prize winners: Annie (9) & Lucy (9), Carolyn (9), Jamie (9). Other entrants: Nuala (10) & Iona (6), Theo (12) & John (12), Louise (6), Peter (13).

Monday, October 07, 2002: The exhibition was very popular with over 500 people attending. Select this link for some photos of the event.

Thursday, September 26, 2002: An exhibition telling the story of your park. Everyone welcome to this exhibition on the fascinating history of the land that is now the Park. It is to be held in the Adventure Centre on 6 October 2002, between 10 am and 4pm. Refreshments are available and there will be lots to do. This event is funded by The City of Edinburgh Council.