Paths, Parks and Pencil: The Background Story by Adele Gregory

I think I was still a teenager when I saw a strange and wonderful film called “The Swimmer”. In it wealthy suburbanite Burt Lancaster makes his way home from a party not by the streets or pavements but by swimming through the pools in his neighbours’ backyards. The possibility of finding adventure in unusual routes through familiar territory has intrigued with me ever since.
Decades later I decided to try it for myself but with parks rather than pools (a better choice in Edinburgh). I wondered how many parks I could traverse between St Margaret’s Loch in Holyrood and Portobello Beach (I managed five: Holyrood, Meadowfield, Baronscourt [now alotments], Figgate, Rosefield). Read more…

Place and Platform: Abi Lewis and Susannah Leake

Run by Abi Lewis and Susannah Leake, place+platform provides emerging creative talent a place in which to create and a platform to showcase their talents by hosting inventive and unique events to break down boundaries in the arts.
place+platform is a creative support hub for Edinburgh, aiming to do more than providing just a sterile place, but acting as a dynamic platform for creatives in the city. place+platform organises inventive and exciting cross-platform events to encourage a vast and varied experience of creative arts. Read more…

Sustainable Business: Interview With Eleanor Cunningham Owner of Edinburgh Larder

This is an interview with Eleanor Cunningham who opened the Edinburgh Larder in 2009. In search for sustainable and ethical businesses, coming across Edinburgh Larder was a surprise. Combining locally collected and seasonal produce in recipes which reflect the flavours and tastes of Scotland, she has demonstrated that highly successful business is viable through sustainable practices. Read more…

Interview With An Educator: Colin Kirkwood

This is a conversation and interview with Colin Kirkwood who was one of the instrumental people who were involved in setting up the Adult Learning Project in Edinburgh over 30 years ago. Inspired by the work of Paulo Freire, it took an innovative stance of valuing local knowledge and building educational processes around the ideas and issues which the community felt were pertinent to their lives. This is an opportunity to hear Colin talk about how he, and others, proposed the project and brought it into a reality which has served the Edinburgh community for decades.

The History of Adult Learning Project in Edinburgh: A Freirean Approach

The Adult Learning Project (ALP for short) was founded in 1979 in Gorgie Dalry in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was an initiative of the South West Edinburgh Area Team of the Community Education Service of Lothian Regional Council, led by Fraser Patrick. ALP was initially funded for three years by an urban aid grant from the Scottish Office. As a result of ALP’s success, funding via urban aid was extended for a further three years, and funding was later taken over by Lothian Regional Council, and later by the City of Edinburgh Council. Read more…

Music: David Roberts

David Roberts is an edinburgh based singer/songwriter who has been working in theatre for the last 11 years.(particular forum theatre ) now returing to his roots of music and especially singer/songwriting david is playing at radical, informative and educational events through-out edinburgh to promote the use of creative arts and music especially, in helping individuals to achieve their own personnel goal. Read more…

Music: The Bluesbrokers

The Bluesbrokers are a group of seasoned Edinburgh based musicians performing with or without drums as a trio, 4 piece or 5 piece, The band plays classic blues (Freddy King, Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf), rock (Free, Cream, Stones, Beatles, Neil Young) and original material. The classic line up of drums, acoustic and electric guitars, keys and bass is augmented by electric mandolin and cittern.

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Personal Wealth by Julia Macintosh

So on Friday, I finally met up with Alex here at Ragged University. We talked about this and that, swapped ideas and leads, and toasted pints of water to the innate goodness of humanity. We also discovered in our conversational meanderings that the Ragged Project and Personal Wealth are kindred spirits.

Personal Wealth is the social enterprise recently established by myself and my friend and colleague Nina. Our founding belief is that every person possesses unrecognised and untapped personal wealth – their strengths, their gifts, their knowledge and skills and experiences and insights and ideas and innate goodness. Far too often we are prevented from using and sharing what we have to contribute. Nina and I want to help people find ways to unlock their own personal wealth; we want to help groups and organisations and communities unlock the collective wealth that resides within them. Read more…

Putting Ragged Music Into Action

The Ragged project has been formed of the people who have got involved, bringing their ideas, wants and needs to be realised over time, in and through a like-minded community.

At one point four musicians asked where music fitted with the project and they were told that it would fit wherever and however they made it fit. The result was the groundwork of Ragged Music which was particularly headed up by Dan Zambas and Gary Boast. Read more…