THAT WAS OUR WEEK

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MON April 8

■ A remarkable new project is creating virtual photographs of Edinburgh in the 1700s. Newly awarded funding from the Old Edinburgh Club – the Capital’s local history society – is helping TV and film director Dr Robert Sproul-Cran to use cinematic CGI techniques to create computer models of Parliament Square and its surrouindings. Follow the work online at www.old-edinburgh.com

Midlothian MP Owen Thompson visited Newtongrange Community Garden where local volunteers have created a haven for wildlife and residents in the former mining village.

TUE April 9

■ Edinburgh actor Sir Sean Connery and English singer Dame Vera Lynn are among the new entrants in the latest update of the Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography. The pair are among 276 people who left their mark on the UK, and also died in the year 2020, to have been added to the reference collection. Sir Sean’s entry. Oscar winner Sir Sean died in October 2020 at the age of 90.

Edinburgh Zoo has shared adorable images of its female Linne’s two-toed sloth Feira feasting on a spring floral display including camellias, forsythia and silver wattle grown onsite.

WED April 10

■ People in Edinburgh living with glaucoma will soon be able to access treatment in the community rather than travel to hospital, thanks to a new flagship healthcare policy. Michael O’Kane, clinical director of Specsavers in Cameron Toll and Morningside, is one of a handful of opticians across the country who will be able to treat patients at his practices, rather than in hospital.

Funding of £167,000 has boosted plans to transform rundown Gracemount Mansion into a thriving community hub, after its development trust won an award from the Scottish Land Fund.

THU April 11

■ An interactive tool that lets residents map out the community services and issues they care most about has been launched by Edinburgh Council, which is engaging in new ways to capture “hyperlocal” feedback on specific issues. The 16-week budget consultation seeks resident’s views on where the council could save money, where it is doing well and where it needs to improve.

An urgent investigation is underway at Scotland’s flagship National Gallery after rain water began leaking into part of the building months after a multi-million refurbishment was completed.

FRI April 12

■ Scotland’s migration minister has urged the Government to expand the number of Palestinian people who can join their family in the UK. In a letter to UK minister Tom Pursglove, Emma Roddick pushed for the Refugee Family Reunion scheme to include “immediate and extended family, including parents, children over 18, siblings and their children”.

Scotland’s first autonomous minehunting “mothership” was officially welcomed into its fleet in a service at Leith attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward.