Porty News Episode 7

It’s Monday the 8th of February and welcome to the 7th edition of Porty News from the Porty Podcast. I’m David Calder

 Art Walk Porty has ambitions to involve more communities than just Portobello, though we’ll remain very much at its heart. One example of this is called ‘Line Walk Mindful Drawing’ which is part of an ongoing residency in Craigmillar and surrounding area. Led by the artist, Jonathan Baxter, and running throughout this year, it involves a monthly walk through Little France Park. The original plan was to hold the walks on the first Saturday of each month but, after lockdown, they have now been adapted to cope with social distancing regulations. Although the aim is to get outside, those who are housebound or restricted by travel can still enjoy the experience by looking at the photographs and reading the reflections posted on its Facebook Page. One example of this was written by Jenny Glover, who wrote about her perspective of the walk held last month. What intrigued me was her comment that “Mindful walking is slow and silent. Instead of just marching along, casting an occasional glance at the Castle or checking that you're not walking on an iced up puddle, mindful walking allows people to actually listen to the sounds of nature, look at the plants, smell, taste and not just walk along, noticing nothing much.” You can read her full description from the 3rd of January on that Facebook Page.

 The walks are free, the route is fully wheel chair accessible, and no drawing expertise needed but you do need to book. There are links to Art Walk Porty and the relevant page of the booking site Eventbrite in the transcript of this bulletin.

Art Walk Porty: http://www.artwalkporty.co.uk/
Project Page: https://www.facebook.com/linewalkmindfuldrawing
Eventbright: https://bit.ly/2OfbhPT

It’s now the second week in February and that marks the mid-term break for local schools. And Portobello High School for example has applauded its young people for the way they have coped over the past 5 weeks of online learning! The school praises them for their resilience, diligence and resourcefulness in the way they have adapted to the current situation. As they point out, they would MUCH rather be together in person but it had been great to connect with the young learners online! The school staff hope that all can enjoy the short break!

 A couple of light hearted items. We mentioned how Portobello Rugby Club were planning to follow Scotland at Twickenham at the weekend – wasn’t that a great match? But I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the video produced by BT called the Scottish Hype Train which featured past Porty Captain Chris Thomas and his daughters. Again you can find the link in the transcript.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1357798997319184385

 And finally, it was lovely to see the photographs people have taken of the otter in the Figgate Burn over the past few days – and also those of the young seal which had come ashore on Porty beach. Some passers-by had worried about it but the SSPCA told them it would be fine – and indeed, it quickly scampered back into the sea.

 That’s it for today. More tomorrow