PEP’S Christmas Celebrations

This year’s programme was a star studded event.  The show opened with dance routines by the Mary Phelan dancers.  The 70-strong audience sat back in awe as the children performed their West End extravaganza.

Next on the programme was the St David’s Variety Show with their renditions of folklore and traditional seasonal songs.

Stars in their Eyes

The Neighbourhood Group certainly had ‘stars in their eyes when they changed into their costumes and said the words ‘Tonight I am going to be’

The Judges:Simon Cowell - Roy Douglas

                   Sharon Osbourne – Elizabeth Maginnis

                   Louis Walsh – Jim McGinty

The judges gave their comments on each of the acts and the audience began their voting just before the interval.  Time for the ice-cream ushers!

The Weekend resource opened the second half of the evening with their version of  ‘A Night before Christmas’ joined by Jim McGinty.

And tonight’s winner is…………

Not in any particular order the Stars in Their Eyes contestants are called to receive their medals.

Ander was tonight’s winn!

  The evening ended in the Christmas spirit with the cast and   the audience singing

  J   I   N     GLE      BELLS!!   followed by the buffet served by   the staff and volunteers.

  Special thanks to:

  Sheila Graham
  Lung Ha’s Theatre Co.
  Mary Phelan’s Dancers
  West Pilton Thrift Shop
  West Pilton Neighblourhood Centre

and everyone who was involved in making this celebration such a wonderful night!

Watercolour Painting Group
   Art Exhibition

The Art Group ended the year off with an exhibition of their works which was held at Muirhouse Millennium Centre on the 8th December. 

Steven Hood (Art Tutor) opened the exhibition, giving a brief description of the various techniques the artists were taught, using visual and creative expression.

The paintings show processes, which fosters attention, spontaneity, and originality of expression.

These classes were funded by Awards For All and a small grant was awarded to the group to support their visit to Florence.  The exhibition can be seen in the PEP offices.  Due to popular demand further classes will begin early in the New Year.

For further information call Helen on 0131 315 4466

Open Forum

Open Forum

The OPEN Forum held its AGM on the 27th October.  Whilst the numbers were low due to bad weather, the meeting went well.  Katie Edwards, Prevention 2010 Project Manager. NHS attended as guest speaker and had the audience’s attention throughout her presentation on the “Keep Well Project”.  This new service will entitle everyone between the age of 45 and 64 to a full medical check up.  However, everyone is entitled to request this service. The members found the questions and answers session even more informative with Katie being well prepared with her responses.

The presentation was followed with the elections. Betty Scammell and Joan Turner were jointly nominated for the position of Chair which resulted in a ballot.  Again the votes were equal.  A second ballot resulted in Joan Turner being nominated as Chair. The following nominees were elected:

Chairperson:         Joan Turner

Vice Chair:             Betty Scammell

Secretary:              Sue Clark

Treasurer:              Tony Delahoy

Committee Members

Sheila Wilson

Ella Olsson

Rosemary Eve

May Johnson

Muriel Falconer

Irene Garden

Al Garden

Marion Robertson

Ally Gibson

PEP’s Water Colour and Art History Group
    Visit Florence

PEP’s Water Colour and Art History Group
    Visit Florence

Along with local artist Stephen Hood and Roy Douglas (staff) the group flew from Scotland to Italy during October. The group used their newly learnt Italian phrases and their knowledge of using the Euro to help purchase bus and train tickets, while commuting around Florence and visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

There was no time for fun as the group were taken around Florence’s famous Uffizi Gallery, viewing the great art works of  Da Vinci and Michelangelo and also a privileged guided tour around the Palazzo Vecchio (now city chambers), which was once used as a Palace. The group had opportunities to capture the scenery around them on their water colour sketch books, in beautiful sunshine. One of the main highlights of the trip was a meeting with a local older person’s group AUEL. They met up at the Piazza Della Libert`a, a meeting place in the old town of Florence. Here both groups engaged in comparing what benefits older people receive in Italy against what benefits older people receive in Scotland. Their hosts are planning a return trip to Scotland next year.

Towards the end of the week, the group travelled to Pisa to visit and sketch the famous leaning Tower of Pisa. They were soon reminded of home, when the heavens opened and it “bucketed doon”.

A special thanks to Mr Paulo Maggini our guide and President of (The Free Age Association) AUEL, and to Steve. Without his past year of commitment to the group and his teaching of the great artists, all would not have had such a wonderful experience.              

ART GROUP STUDY VISIT TO FLORENCE

Watercolour Painting/Art History

Due to popular demand for Art classes, PEP secured a grant last year from Awards for All and Introduced 2 new classes, which included an Introduction to Watercolour Painting and Art History.  The classes were made up of complete beginners to the subjects. The watercolour introduced basic techniques of watercolour painting and advanced onto composition of individual works.  The Art History group learned about the development of Western Art and gained a greater appreciation of paintings, the artists, and the social, political and cultural context in which these arts were produced.

The group will visit Florence on the 16th October (supported by a grant from the Pilton Partnership).  They have presently been studying basic Italian language supported by Suzanne Costello.

The study visit includes:

Meeting with members from “The Free Age Association”, visits to Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, Duoma Pisa…  The group will also undertake some outdoor painting which will be presented at an exhibition in the near future, along with some of their works completed over the year.

PEP celebrate getting Accreditation

PEP celebrate getting Accreditation

PEP recently applied for Investing in Volunteers accreditation. This is equivalent to an Investing in People award and given our strong involvement with volunteers we were keen to win this quality mark.

Staff and volunteers were interviewed and all policy documents were scrutinised and we are pleased to say our application has been recommended for approval.  This should finally be awarded some time in November – we are looking forward to receiving this validation of our efforts to support and involve volunteers. If you would like to apply to be a PEP volunteer please contact Roy on 315 4466

PEP AGM 2006

PEP AGM 2006

Opening Remarks:

Joan Turner opened the meeting and thanked both the staff and the Board for their support.  Joan has been Chair of PEP for four years and has supported the project through the many changes which have taken place during that time.  Sadly, this year she is stepping down in her role as Chair, but will continue to serve on the Board. The Manager (Elizabeth Maginnis) gave an update of PEP’s services.  Lengthy it may have been! However, this highlighted just how much the project has expanded over the past year and the uniqueness of the services it delivers.

Elections of Board Members:

Three places for Office bearers and 8 board places were open for nominations. Demand was so high for places on the board that a ballot had to be held.  The following members were duly elected:

Meet The Board

Left to Right:

Irene Garden (Chairperson) Al Garden, Lilian Dunlop, Joan Turner, Martha Thom, Isa Black, Tony Delahoy (Treasurer), Sheila Wilson, Sue Clark, Jim McGinty (Vice Chair), Sally Gibson.

Key Speaker:

Mark Lazarowicz spoke about the imminent changes to the present pension scheme.
The UK Pensions Minister, James Purnell, MP, has agreed to speak and answer questions at a meeting to be held at Craigroyston Community Centre, 1A Pennywell Road, on Friday 30th 11am – 1pm.  Contact Helen on 0131 315 4466 to book a place.

Extract from audited accounts Year ending
    31 March 2006

Extract from audited accounts Year ending
    31 March 2006

(approved by the Board on 21 August 2006)

If you want to see a full copy please contact the office on 0131 315 4466

From Finland To P.E.P
   Via E-Mail

From Finland To P.E.P
   Via E-Mail

The ICT student’s at PEP have been invited by the University of Helsinki, Finland to communicate via e mail with an over 50s Finnish group.  The course is designed to enable the Senior Citizens, who are studying ICT and the English language, to converse with modern European Societies.  Eighteen of our students are now participating in the project. 

PEP Merger

PEP Merger

PEP and Muirhouse Six Circle, another local project, have recently merged services following a decision by the Muirhouse Six Circle Management Committee to dissolve their organisation.

As a result, PEP has agreed to deliver the services previously offered by Muirhouse Six Circle to a group of approximately 30 people with complex needs. The services to be provided include the following:

As a result, PEP will widen the range of support it is able to offer to all its volunteers and will also shortly be able to offer a new community service, namely a home decorating and gardening service.

From 1 January 2006, the project opens weekdays 8.30 – 3.30 and at weekends
11 – 4.

New staff are to be recruited to ensure a maximum staffing complement and after 1 April 06, the project’s staffing structure will be as follows:

Manager
Deputy Manager & Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator
Adult Learning/Literacy Worker
Literacy worker
Admin/Finance Officer
Volunteer Services Co-ordinator
Community Mental Health Worker x 2
Daycare & Visiting Services Co-ordinator
Weekend Co-ordinator
Support Worker
Works Supervisor
Handyperson
Head Driver
Driver x 3

January also sees the introduction of a new Bereavement Counselling service thanks to a three years’ funding package from UVAF and in April a new literacy and ICT service will be introduced as a result of a funding package by the Big Lottery, Lloyds/TSB and the City of Edinburgh Council

In the meantime, all other PEP services continue as normal namely, community transport, visiting services, ICT peer education programme, volunteering opportunities, weekend resource, lifelong learning programme and the OPEN Forum

The PEP Political Education Group

The PEP Political Education Group

MEETS WITH TONY BLAIR

PEP’s Political Education Group, established to support the work of the OPEN Forum, took their study to Westminster to learn how the political system works at national level.  With the support of Mark Lazarovicz, Member of Parliament for North Edinburgh & Leith, a meeting at Westminster with a ‘senior government representative’ was arranged.  That senior representative turned out to be Tony Blair, The Prime Minister.

Sheila Wilson, Chairperson of OPEN Forum, gave a brief presentation to the Prime Minister about the work the forum is currently doing.  She also explained about the ‘Introduction to the Judicial System’ course which PEP has recently developed.  The Prime Minister showed a great deal of interest in both the forum’s work and the services PEP delivers. Mr Blair expressed his interest in community empowerment and Helen Tait, outlined how both PEP and the Forum are led by the community and aim to build individual and group capacity. In particular, Mr Blair was interested in PEP’s new Bereavement Counselling Service and also in how the Forum is trying to establish an inter-generational project with young and old people which aims to create a better community understanding of how the Justice System works.

The Prime Minister requested more information be sent to him on both the work of the OPEN forum and of PEP.

At the conclusion of this historic meeting for older people in North Edinburgh, the Prime Minister posed for group photographs and all the participants agreed it had been a memorable, exciting and exhilarating experience.