North Edinburgh lay down the gauntlet as a festival venue

SEVERAL HUNDRED people attended the free North Edinburgh Community Festival in West Pilton Park. Organised by a steering committee under the chairmanship of Willie Black, the event had something for all the family. This included stalls where potential employers expanded on available jobs and career paths.

Mr Black said: “The festival was a huge success and proves what can be done in this area. People worked to create the festival with partnerships among a variety of organisations - there were 58 community stalls sharing news of their activities with people who attended. Everyone has said it was a tremendous day for them. The music from Tinderbox and others went down a storm.

“We plan to create a North Edinburgh Festival Society and hope the council will back us on that. This would challenge Edinburgh’s festivals to bring more into areas like North Edinburgh.”

Cllr Cammy Day said: “I used to be a community worker in North Edinburgh and I got to know a lot of the projects and local heroes. I helped organise one of the first community festivals in Waterfront Park which was a huge success and a lot of local people were involved in that. But since 2012 there have been no community festivals here or galas so it was very exciting to see this coming together.”