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EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS
THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2014
www.edinburghnews.com
Donald ANDERSON
Another fine
mess that we
must deal with
WALKING is good for you.
In my case walking often
involves taking our black
lab Benji off to one of our
favourite spots, Inch Park.
In case you didn’t know,
Inch Park is one of those
genuine “hidden gems”
that help make Edinburgh
such a fantastic place.
Over 60 acres of
parkland with stunning
views of Arthur’s Seat,
plenty of trees, a community
centre, the brilliant Lismore
Rugby Club Sports Hub and
enough grassland to walk
about without ever having to
feel it’s crowded.
Despite the sunshine on
Sunday, there was barely a
dozen people in the whole
place.
Every dog walker will
know dogs need to “do their
business”, so a constant
supply of those little black
bags is an essential for
any trip to the park. Well,
so you’d think. Most dog
owners like me do the right
thing, however, a small
minority don’t, and it shows.
At the weekend, one had
even taken the trouble to
bag up their dog “mess” and
then had just left it on the
grass rather than walk to the
bin. I welcome the council’s
initiative to bring extra staff
in to clean up the city during
the summer. Parks and
public places come under a
lot of pressure when the sun
shines. I also hope there’s
some money for a few extra
shifts for the environmental
wardens as well.
Campaigns are fine, but I
think there’s no substitute
for fining dog owners when
they are “dumb” enough not
to clear up after their pet.
It’s not difficult and there
are no excuses. Before we
got Benji, above, it used to
really bug me that some
dog owners didn’t clear up
after their pets. Now it bugs
me even more. If owners
can’t be bothered to clean
up after their dogs, fines are
the best way to get them to
change their dirty habits.
HE’S LOVING GLASGOW INSTEAD: Stars such as Robbie
Williams are heading to the Hydro as there is a lack of
large and medium-sized music venues in the Capital
City summit is
music to ears
O
NE of the few things I’ve
found that’s not so nice
about growing old is facing the fact that you may
be losing your hearing.
Tinnitus is a fairly common problem, and in my case it’s probably
down to a misspent youth (and adulthood) going to concerts. I do love a
good gig, and in my early days of seeing bands speakers were huge and
loud. My ears used to ring for days.
Now they just ring all the time.
I started seeing top bands in venues
like Clouds and the Odeon in Clerk
Street. Increasingly over the years
Edinburghers have had to jump in
the car and travel to Glasgow to see
the big names in music. The Hydro is
excellent, and my own recent forays
have included Elbow, Eric Clapton
and a trip to see Robbie Williams with
Kirsty on the very day we celebrated
25 years since we started “going out”.
He was on great form.
However, it does bring into sharp
focus that Edinburgh lacks the right
range of music venues. Clouds in
Tollcross (our Barrowlands) is long
gone as a music venue, as is the
Odeon and most recently the Pic-
ture House – actually a really good
venue – was closed to be turned into a
Wetherspoons.
So why is it so difficult to deliver the
right music venues in Edinburgh? The
fact is that music, despite the money
being made in touring, is a lower
value business in a city like Edinburgh. There is very little cheap land
or buildings where live music can get
the chance to thrive.
There have been successes. The
Usher Hall is one of the few venues
in the UK with removable seating –
installed at great expense to try and
attract new music acts to the city.
Whilst the principal driver of work on
the Usher Hall was its central role to
the International Festival (and rightly
so), investment was made to make it
“user friendly”.
It works, Adele was fantastic and I
will be back to see Elvis Costello for
the umpteenth time in the autumn.
Let’s not forget Edinburgh’s other
smaller venues. The Assembly Rooms
has been upgraded and could handle
gigs. The Corn Exchange is good, but
it doesn’t quite have the atmosphere
or acoustics of a Barrowlands or a
Clouds. The Queen’s Hall is fantastic
for both classical and popular music
with superb acoustics. The Scottish
Chamber Orchestra is pursuing longstanding ambitions to create a new
purpose-built venue. The other gap
is with a larger venue. Murrayfield is
excellent for some acts. But it can only
support a few acts a year.
There were attempts to create a new
large-scale venue in the past, but for
a variety of reasons they all fell apart.
Edinburgh undoubtedly deserves its
own new large and medium venues.
But in a city where land is expensive,
delivering such a project is a huge
challenge. So I was delighted to hear
about the council’s proposals for a
“music summit”. A great idea to get
all the key people around the table to
examine the issues and plan the best
way forward. Let’s all get behind the
council’s “music summit”. More people actively involved in helping make
sure Edinburgh is on the map for
major acts in future.
Hopefully, now that many of Edinburgh’s biggest challenges have been
overcome, a determined effort will
mean we all get the chance to see and
hear some of the very top acts in Edinburgh in the not too distant future.
bikes and a lot of dog mess.
It wasn’t a place to dwell.
That’s all changed.
Thanks to a lot of hard
graft by local residents
working with the council,
Burdiehouse Burn has been
transformed. A major step
forward was being awarded
Nature Reserve status in
2007. Then, with a major
push by the park’s “Friends”
group, Green Flag status
was awarded in 2010.
The oldest member of the
Friends group is stalwart
Gilbert Clark, who is 92
years young. And this small
and great band of helpers
makes a huge difference.
Talk of the
TOWN
Ricky predicts a riot
. . after a quick climb
THE stars are in town for
the curtain-raiser to the
Commonwealth Games taking
place in the Capital this weekend.
A who’s who of pop from Jessie
J to Kaiser Chiefs, Culture
Club to Smokey
Robinson, and
Rizzle Kicks to
Paloma Faith
and Katherine
Jenkins will
take to the
stage at
Edinburgh
Castle.
Kaiser Chiefs star
Ricky Wilson, above, has been
making the most of his time
here – he was spotted climbing
Arthur’s Seat to snatch a better
view of Saturday’s venue.
Nick rocks record book
NICK Hancock has dreamed of
breaking the occupation record
on Britain’s smallest island – and
now he’s popping open the
champagne.
The Ratho surveyor has now
been on Rockall, 60 miles west of
the Outer Hebrides, for 43 days,
smashing the 1997 record set by
Greenpeace activists.
Hits and missus for
Fletch holiday dream
AS part of its 20th anniversary
celebrations, football magazine
FourFourTwo has been recalling
some of its highlights since its
first issue in 1994.
And there’s a mention for
ex-Hibs striker
Steven Fletcher,
who featured
in The Boy’s
A Bit Special
feature as he
was coming
through the
ranks at the
Easter Road club.
After revealing
he’d rather go on holiday with
his mates than his girlfriend, the
interviewer said: “Your missus
won’t like that.” Fletcher replied:
“She’ll never find out.”
Lucky lamb flees fox
Park friends group has many benefits
ONE of the things I have
been roped back into helping out with is Burdiehouse
Burn Valley Park. I first got
involved in the park in 1986
when I think it is fair to say
it wasn’t the finest green
space in the city. The area
was commonly blighted by
abandoned cars, motor-
23
If anyone doubts that just
have a look at the property
details for a flat on sale in
nearby Lasswade Road.
Alongside photos of what
looks like a great buy is
a picture of Burdiehouse
Burn Valley Park. Join the
Friends at membership@
burdiehousefriends.org.uk.
TOMORROW Susan Morrison: A sideways look at life in the Capital
THE Balerno base of the Scottish
SPCA has become a temporary
home for a rare Soay lamb – after
he was saved from the clutches
of a fox.
Now named Shamus by animal
welfare chiefs, he was spotted
being chased into the garden in
the Milton area of Glasgow.
n Got any gossip? Share it with Talk of the Town
by emailing diary@edinburghnews.com, calling
0131 620 8731 or write to Talk of the Town c/o
Features Desk, Edinburgh Evening News, Orchard
Brae House, 30 Queensferry Road, EH4 2HS