Another successful evening at GPC!

Posted on October 23, 2018October 23, 2018 by Sandra Cumming

The International Food Night was well attended and the Blue Skies Group has benefited from our event with £160 raised on the evening. A great big thank you to all our cooks and bakers who made our night very special. Special thanks to the Social Group - couldn't do it without them! Biggest thanks go to all those who joined us on the night.

Vacancy: Climate Change Officer (fixed-term/0.6FTE) – Closing Date 31 August 2018

Posted on August 21, 2018August 22, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

NOTE: THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POST IS 31 AUGUST CLIMATE CHANGE OFFICER Salary: £18,278 pro rata Status: 22.5 hours per week (3 days) Fixed Term: ~6 months (17th September 2018 - 31st March 2019) Closing date: Friday 31 August 2018 (midnight) Location: Granton, Edinburgh An exciting opportunity has arisen for a self-motivated and enthusiastic individual to make an impact in reducing the carbon footprint of the local community of Granton. Granton Parish Church, based in North Edinburgh, is one of a growing number of Eco-Congregations within the Ch...

Update on Swap Shop

Posted on July 21, 2018October 23, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

The swap shop is now open regularly between 4-5pm on Mondays, 4.30 and 6pm on Tuesdays and 12-1pm on Fridays. People have already started coming along at those times to browse the clothes, donate clothes and to pick up free bread and cakes (donated by Baynes Bakery). The bread and cakes are unsold surplus from two local branches of Baynes but are still perfectly edible and in fact taste as good as they would if you bought them fresh from the shop. The Tuesday evening session of the swap shop (during the Granton Gardeners Community Meal) continues to be very popular. We still need more v...

Church halls closed w/b 6th August

Posted on July 18, 2018October 23, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

The church halls will be out of use during the day for maintenance work week beginning Monday 6th August 2018. As most will know the Kirk Session has a development project underway at the moment which will see gradual improvement of the church premises over a number of years. This is known as the Blue Skies Project. The first visible changes will be to the lighting throughout the building - all existing lighting will be replaced with energy-efficient lighting. The Kirk Session was keen to have as much work as possible done during the holiday season, before the schoo...

Free Bread!

Posted on July 17, 2018November 9, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

We’re very grateful to Baynes Bakery for weekly donations of bread and other baked goods that haven’t sold in their shops but are still perfectly edible. These items are now available during the Clothing Swap Shop which is open in the West Hall on Fridays between 12 and 1pm. We’re still looking for volunteers to staff the swap shop on Mondays and Fridays (we already have enough volunteers for the Tuesdays). You will need to help sort clothes, make sure the rails are stocked, weigh donations and the items that people take away and chat to people. If you’re interested, please contact J...

Clothing Swap Shop

Posted on July 6, 2018August 13, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

After the successful launch of Granton Goes Greener on Saturday 30 June we are delighted to announce that the Clothing Swap Shop will now be staffed by volunteers at the following times: 4-5pm, Mondays 4-30 – 6pm Tuesdays (during the Community Meal) 12 – 1pm Fridays These are the times when people will be around to collect your donations and help you choose your next favourite outfit. The clothes rails are available to browse in the West Hall any time that the church building is open. We ask that you weigh any clothes that you donate or pick up so we can work out how much carbon we’re s...

“Success in tackling climate change is absolutely crucial

Posted on July 4, 2018July 4, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

"Success in tackling climate change is absolutely crucial, it’s the biggest challenge our planet faces." - Deidre Brock MP on launching Granton Goes Greener. We were delighted to have our MP, Deidre Brock, along to formally launchGranton Goes Greener. Deidre had some greate and positive things to say about the project, the community and the church. Here's the full text of her speech.I’m seeing such a difference in Granton these days. Wee patches of wasteland buzzing with life, tyres that were dumped being refashioned as plant pots. There’s food being grown and bread being baked a...

Blue Skies Development – update

Posted on June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

Since we last updated the congregation on our Blue Skies Development plans, a lot of progress has been made. As most of you will know we were successful in getting a Climate Challenge grant - Granton Goes Greener - which, in addition to the Climate Project work such as cycling, rescued bread and clothes swap, will allow us to make significant improvements to the windows, heating and lighting in the church buildings. We have also continued to develop the idea for a new kitchen, working with groups, individuals and experts to get the best from their experience. They have helped us come up wit...

Kitchen Table Talk – pop along on 15th April

Posted on April 7, 2018April 10, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

What would make a good community kitchen? Have your say after Church on Sunday 15th AprilAs most folk will know, we have plans to upgrade the church kitchen so that it becomes more fit purpose both now and in the future. In addition to Lunch Club, Coffee Mornings, Community Meals and Men's Breakfast, we want to build plans to make it into a community resource.This ties in with the Scottish Government's Good Food Nation Bill - which is out for consultation just now.We are holding a Kitchen Table Talk after Church on Sunday 15th April - so if you'd like to join in the chat please do come along. ...

Blue Skies Project off to a flying start with Granton Goes Greener

Posted on March 20, 2018March 20, 2018 by Charles Macintosh

Following the Congregation's decision to proceed with refurbishing our church buildings so that we can better serve the community, the Blue Sky Group have been working hard to make that happen.Late last year an application was made to The Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund for a grant that would allow us to upgrade the windows, insulation and lighting throughout our church buildings.CLOTHES SWAP & RESCUED BREADMore importantly it will also allow us to run a clothes swap rail for the wider community and to gather and distribute bread from an Edinburgh bakery chain w...