A huge well done to the Weekend Resource and gardening volunteers for all their effort in PEP’s front garden.
The group have been working hard since August to redesign and brighten up the entrance to the PEP Centre. They have been getting rid of some of the old plants, moving some to new homes and planting new ones, including spring bulbs, feature trees and bedding plants.
Congratulations to our volunteer Drivers and Passenger Assistants who have been presented with the Crystal Star award at this years ‘Get Up and Go’ magazine launch by Edinburgh Council. The presentation took place at Leith Theatre on Wednesday 4th October and was very well attended by lots of older people from across the whole of Edinburgh.
Whilst fixing up a garden border, George and his team became the saviours of a wee hedgehog. Hedgehogs don’t have good eyesight, so when an old fence was removed the posthole became a trap. The hog had been on his usual wanders through the gardens of West Pilton Street when he inadvertently fell down the hole; a hole that to him had suddenly appeared overnight.
Each year we like to thank our dedicated volunteers by holding an event to say ‘thank you’; this September we booked the Re-union canal barge to go on a two hour trip from Fountainbridge to the Longstone viaduct and back.
The sun shone as we all boarded the barge, the ‘Lochrin Belle’ at 6pm and after the obligatory safety talk from the skipper telling us “if we fall overboard to just stand up as the water is not deep at all” we set off.
On the 14th of September PEP and LOOPS NW hosted an event for the ‘Soil Association Scotland’. This charity created ‘The Food for Life Better Care’ programme to improve the health and wellbeing of older people and bring communities together to reduce loneliness.
The Neighbourhood Group started their Summer Programme on a very wet day with a tour and lunch at Greyfriar’s Kirk.
The next visit involved a small creature handling session and a tour around Deep Sea World in North Queensferry. It was great watching the seals; the group particularly like Morag the stubborn seal who refused to do any of the activities asked of her… she just wanted to be fed.
Last Friday Ryan, Rachel and Theodora had a busy day at the Royal Botanic Gardens co-hosting a LOOPs event at the historic Botanic’s Cottage. The event ‘Local Opportunities for Older People’ had been planned together with Heather and her volunteers at the LOOPs phone-line based at ‘Volunteer Edinburgh’.
It was with great regret that at the end of July PEP said a fond farewell to Eilidh Letham.
Eilidh started with PEP in October last year as one of the two Community Navigators for the North West LOOPS project (Local Opportunities for Older People). During her time with PEP, along with her colleague Ryan Lytwyn, she helped get the project off the ground setting up local information stations and producing the first ‘Discover North West’ magazine.
