MarrFest

The Sentinel often featured local residents whose achievements were making a positive difference  so today the blog entry comes from Thomas Kane who contacted From There To Here about his friend and former band member Alex Marr. 

I am organising a charity gig in aid of the British Heart Foundation in memory of my friend Alex Marr who sadly passed away in July last year.  Alex was a singer and songwriter from Wester Hailes in Edinburgh, and played several gigs and events with his band AC Rid. Alex was taken into hospital in June with a suspected heart attack, however the doctor’s found he had suffered a dissected aorta, a tear in the aortic artery. After heart surgery, Alex never regained consciousness and passed away in July at the Royal Infirmary at Little France in Edinburgh. He was only 34 years old.

AC Rid were formed in 1997 by Alex on lead vocals and guitar, Steve Atkins on guitar and Thomas Kane on bass and vocals. They were joined by a host of drummers in the following years, so many they could’ve rivalled Spinal Tap! However the core element of Alex, Steve and Thomas remained for several years.  They were more than just a band; they were best mates who hung out at weekends between practices and gigs. AC Rid played many gigs around Edinburgh, such as The Venue, Tap O’ Lauriston, The Cas Rock, and Alex even organised his own mini festivals, unashamedly entitled MarrFest.

MarrFest started locally in Wester Hailes, at The Greenway Centre. Alex would give many young musicians and bands a platform that they could showcase their music on, and the events were extremely popular. The thing was, Alex would always give people a chance, whether it was drummers, singers or even brass players in the area, he would give them all an opportunity to play at his events. As AC Rid grew to include singer Lisa Aird and a brass section including a young Phil Ramsay, MarrFest also grew, changing locations into the city centre at The Bongo Club. Still, Alex would sign up bands and musicians who were known to him, giving many new bands and musicians their first taste of a gig in the city centre. MarrFest continued to grow, reaching its height at The Liquid Room in 2003 and featuring a line up including Edinburgh stalwarts Bombskare and Phil’s new band, Big Hand.

AC Rid finally broke up in 2004, however Alex continued to play and write music under several other guises such as Big G, and the humorously named 12 Inches of Thunder. The three founding members of AC Rid remained good friends. Alex played his final gig which included guest appearances by Steve Atkins and Thomas Kane once again, as 12 Inches of Thunder at Whistle Binkies in December 2011. It wasn’t a spectacular gig, or incredibly busy, but it felt special for those three close friends to play together one last time.

Since Alex passed away, there has been a lot of discussion about putting on an event to celebrate Alex and his music. Then in February 2013, founding members Steve Atkins and Thomas Kane got together with AC Rid’s last drummer Lewis “Forbo” Forbes to have a practice. This session went better than ever expected, with Thomas even stepping up to lend his vocals to some of Alex’s songs. It wasn’t long until the words MarrFest were suggested once again.

MarrFest 2013 takes place on Saturday 1st June 2013 at The Bongo Club in Edinburgh. Tickets cost £5 and are available from all band members and at Tickets Scotland on 127 Rose Street. Doors open at 7pm, and it has a 10pm curfew. It is a charity event, where all money raised will go to the British Heart Foundation in Alex’s name. Playing at the event will be an acoustic performance from Lisa Aird, who is the lead singer with local act Bias Firey. Also playing is Black Riot Valves, who feature Dan Lowe on guitar and vocals. Alex gave Dan his first ever gig at one of the first MarrFests at The Greenway Centre. Headlining the event are Edinburgh favourites Victorian Trout Conspiracy, who feature one time AC Rid member and close friend Phil Ramsay on trumpet. However, before the main headline act, once again AC Rid will take to the stage, playing songs written by Alex Marr. The current AC Rid line up features all ex members of the band including founding members Thomas Kane on bass and vocals and Steve Atkins on Guitar. Also playing with AC Rid are Lewis “Forbo” Forbes on drums, Lynsey MacDonald on alto sax, Siobhan Hunter-Reynolds on trombone and guest slots with Lisa Aird on alto sax and vocals and Phil Ramsay on trumpet.

For more information please contact Thomas Kane at thomaskane22@hotmail.com

Small Change: Big Difference

25 years of Comic Relief will be celebrated tomorrow as the 2013 Red Nose Day gets underway.  Despite the many issues and difficulties facing Wester Hailes, the local community responded generously and enthusiastically to initiatives such as Comic Relief and the history of the event over the years can be traced through the editions of the Sentinel.

In 1988, the year Comic Relief was launched, patients and staff at Sighthill Health Centre raised £46 with a spontaneous event held on the day.  By 1991, more local residents had been affected by red nose fever, raising money for Comic Relief with a variety of events and stunts.  WHEC students ran a school radio station for the day, broadcasting live to the school, and playing requests for 50p a time.  Meanwhile young people on YTS took to the streets in fancy dress to raise money while children at the Wester Hailes Child Care Project held a Hawaiian beach party.

1993 saw all the local schools involved with children being allowed to come to school in fancy dress if they paid 20p.  Westburn School went for sponsored silences which raised a quiet £150.

Numerous events were held to raise funds in 1997 including a football tournament where 16 teams battled it out at the Sighthill Pitz.  The eventual winners were the WHOT Shop who beat Kristopher’s Hertz 6-5 in the final.  Other events went for a fancy dress theme with Sighthill pupils wearing specially made hats for the day.  They also held a mini sale and their final total was an impressive £350.

As well as Comic Relief, Wester Hailes took part in numerous other fundraising initiatives.  In 1985, as part of the Sentinel’s celebrations to mark its 100 edition, the Sentinel team coordinated fundraising efforts for the Band Aid Ethiopian Appeal.  This led to Bob Geldof visiting the WHEC to meet pupils who had raised £675 for the appeal.  He was full of praise for their efforts and for what the wider community was doing in response to Band Aid.  He said

 “Keep going, don’t stop now.  To know that people over here care about them and are doing things really helps.”

Surprise Delivery!

Many people have been hooked by the stories and characters portrayed in Call The Midwife.  With the programme generating huge viewing figures, it looks likely to hold onto its prized prime Sunday evening slot.  As a nation, we seem to love stories about new babies and unusual deliveries.  Today we’re able to bring you just such a story from the pages of the Sentinel.

We were contacted on the Facebook page a couple of weeks ago about a story from the Sentinel featuring an unexpected guest.  Back in June 1989, Mary Stewart who was nine months pregnant was on her way home with her friend Rena.  She had just got to her front door when she realised her baby was well on the way.  There was no time to take off their coats, let alone call an ambulance, and Rena realised that in the absence of any midwife, she would need to step into the role.  So she rolled up her sleeves and calmly delivered Mary’s baby girl.  Mary told the Sentinel reporter

“There can’t be many women who can say they had their baby with their coat on.”

You can read the story in full by clicking here.

Pages From The Past

We’re looking back at Christmas 1980, 32 years ago.  The front page report features some of the Christmas highlights taking place in Wester Hailes that year, including the community pantomime “A We’an In A Manager”.  Other stories and articles include

•  A report on the news that children from Westburn Primary School had not been able to take part in the panto.  Fortunately the stop press news was that this decision had been reversed.
•  A letter from a developer arguing for more shops to be allowed in Hailesland Garden.
• Information about the WHEC Big Band and their successful performances.
• A feature on the Dumbryden Primary Gardening Club who held a community planting day at their school to create a heather and conifer garden.
• Around the Areas- all the local news from the neighbourhoods
• Cilla’s Kidz Kolumn which includes some creative writing from local young people showing their usual enthusiasm and aptitude for ghosts and gore!
• Information about volunteering at the CAB
• The prizewinners in Calder Merribelles Dancing Troupe.

You can find these stories and more at Sentinel December 1980.

Christmas Exclusive!

The Sentinel was excellent at getting interviews with major figures and celebrities.  National leaders, politicians, film stars, writers all gave their thoughts and views to the paper.  But perhaps their most exclusive scoop was persuading Santa Claus to reveal a range of information about himself and his job.  Impressively, they appear to have had some kind of hotline number, as they managed this not once but several times over the years!  The series of probing interviews reveal a complicated character who changes his mind about a number of key pieces of information over time.  Whilst careful not to give away all his secrets, Santa does let slip in an unguarded moment that he could be a Hibs fan, which may come as a surprise to some of his fans, but a few years later decides Man U is his top team.  Here’s a selection of his Christmas interviews.

December 1988- Santa reveals that his reindeer know the route better than he does which is why he never gets lost

December 1992- A Braun Supershaver is Santa’s interesting and perhaps surprising choice for what he would like for Christmas this year

December 1994- As well as the revelation that Santa might be a Hibs supporter, he chooses the Bahamas as his top holiday spot

December 1995- Controversially, Santa lets slip that he parks his sledge illegally, accumulating parking tickets.

The Totem Pole is Open!

If you live or work locally you’ve probably noticed the most recent addition to Wester Hailes’ landscape.  At 4.5 metres high it’s hard to miss, Wester Hailes’ first totem pole located just across the road from the Plaza, on the Westside Waterfront down by the canal.  Officially launched on the 10^th December by the Lord Provost, the totem pole is not only a first for Wester Hailes but also a first for Scotland as the first digital totem pole in the country, designed to encourage digital interaction with a variety of information sources including the social history of the area.

The pole was created and carved through a series of workshops organised by WHALE Arts Agency and was designed by local people who decided what images represented Wester Hailes and the community here.  As you can see from the photo, the pole also has a series of QR codes around it.  These codes can be scanned with smart phones and link to different sites including our From Here To There Facebook page and the Community Council site.  People scanning the codes can therefore read information past and present about the area and about local priorities, aspirations and issues.  But the pole is also designed to encourage people to contribute their own information.  One of the codes links to the Digital Sentinel, a site that is looking for local contribution to create content that they think would be of interest to other local residents.  The eventual shape and scope of this site will be determined by those contributing and responding to it.  Whilst some areas of the site will be available generally online, the Totem Pole Community Noticeboard is only accessible from scanning the code at the pole.

WHALE are now planning to organise some workshops and sessions to bring together local residents who might be interested in taking an active role in the development of the digital sentinel, learn more about digital media, assist in editing content etc.  With more and more important information and services moving to online access only, it is important that everyone has the skills and confidence to use online and social media sources.  Areas such as Wester Hailes can lag behind in terms of digital inclusion with people sometimes lacking the resources and training needed to take advantage of new technology.  This project will help to put Wester Hailes at the forefront of such advances and enable local residents to develop the skills they need to operate within the world of online information and media sharing.

The pole was funded through a grant from the South West Neighbourhood Partnership and funding from the Arts and Humanities Council which came as part of a much larger project looking at what creates a connected community and how the different ways people access information can affect their response to it and the area they are living in.  Through this the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University have been working with local organisations and residents on a series of interlinked projects using local social history to encourage people to learn about their area, share memories and reflect on what could be achieved in the present.  As well as the pole, there are now also the Code Books produced by the Wester Hailes Health Agency.  These pocket sized books have a series of local history walks around the different neighbourhoods of Wester Hailes with QR codes to link to further information.  There are also plans to have a series of wall plaques again featuring QR codes that will enable people scanning them to see images past and present of the neighbourhood they are standing in.

If you would like to know more about the totem pole there is a great video produced by the Edinburgh Reporter covering Monday’s launch.  For more information on the thinking behind the concept and research being conducted see Chris Speed’s posting.

Happy 20th WHALE!

Community arts has had a continuing role in the history and development of Wester Hailes.  Drawing on local ability and talent, people were encouraged to take active roles in local productions, writing groups, music workshops and filming opportunities.  The Wester Hailes Festival Association co-ordinated a diverse programme throughout the year as well as managing the annual Festival week.  Although the Association eventually disbanded, other organisations emerged to support local community arts activity.

 WHALE Arts Agency has now been operating for 20 years and was originally based in the blue hut on the Murrayburn Greenway.  It held an official launch in August 1992 with an outdoor celebration that included a balloon launch as well as live music and street performers.  You can see the launch information here, and a report on the day here.

Although WHALE organised a programme of performances for local residents to access, from the beginning it emphasised the value of active participation in the arts.  People were encouraged to take part in workshops, to develop new skills and talent, and to take part in decision making about WHALE’s direction and priorities.  Through training and courses, local residents were able to move on to further education and learning at Edinburgh’s colleges and universities.  And as well as working with adults, WHALE developed a programme for children and young people, giving them the chance to improve their confidence and try out new skills.

In 1998, WHALE secured a grant of £650,000 to create a purpose built arts centre.  The new centre featured the first dark room in Edinburgh with disabled access as well as space for a café, crèche and performance area.

The new building was officially opened in November 2000.  At the same time, WHALE launched the first NQ Access course in Scotland which aimed to support individuals who were traditionally failed by colleges.

WHALE’s innovative approach has attracted much interest over the years.  Recently they were featured in a series of articles written by students in The University of Edinburgh’s 2010/2011 postgraduate programmes, the MSc in the city, and the MSc in Architecture and Urban Design.  Kaitlyn Hay looked at WHALE in her study Creativity On The Fringe which was reproduced on the blog last year.