the morningside mirror03.2012 edition

Morningside Mirror was a magazine published by patients and staff at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital between the years of 1845 and 1974. This new edition of ‘The Mirror’ is part of Artlink’s contribution to examining the Royal Edinburgh’s 200 year-long history in the lead up to the hospital-wide Bicentenary commemoration in 2013.

If you would like to find out more about this and other related projects contact Anne/Alex on 0131 5376127 or email glasshouses@artlinkedinburgh.co.uk

Contributors to 03.2012 edition: Kirsten Lloyd (Writer), Anne Elliot, Alex Wilde, Claire Barclay and Laura Spring.

2 | The Morningside Mirror | 03.12

Spring is on its way, the buds are starting to form on the trees and the birds are beginning to sing. It can only mean one thing...

1 The Glasshouses.

2 Very over wintered nasturtiums in Glasshouse 2.

3 Spring in the Glasshouses.

4 Valerie, Garden Club volunteer.

Yes, that’s right, this year Growing Week has grown into Growing MONTH. Whether you fancy trying your hand at flower arranging, building a bird box, paying a visit to the house-plant doctor or even having fun with guerrillas, there’s something for everyone in the jam-packed programme. Turn to page three to find out all the details and see how you can take part.

For this edition of The Morningside Mirror I’ve been invited to come along to the Royal Edinburgh and meet some of the people who have been involved in the Glasshouses and write about some of their activities. It’s been a real treat to discover all of the amazing creative work that goes on in the Glasshouses and to find out about some interesting talents in the Royal Edinburgh’s community.

Thursday 29th March – Thursday 26th of April

1 2

3

4

GrowinG Month proGraMMeMarchThursday 29th 12–1pm Picnic Lunch, bring your packed lunch. Venue: The Glasshouses10am or 1.30pm Guerilla gardening. Meet at the Glasshouses and get out and about the hospital to put some plants in strange places. Gorilla costumes not required (but fancy dress welcome).

aprilThursday 5th 1–3pm Create willow structures for your beans, peas or flowers. Venue: The Glasshouses 6.30–8pm Cookery demonstration on healthy, tasty cooking that you can do at home. Venue: The Glasshouses Thursday 12th1–3pm Learn flower arranging from professional florist Pati. Bring a vase if you have one. Venue: The Glasshouses Saturday 14th10am–4pm Join Tom and Anne for a relaxed day of gardening at the Growing Plots. Tools, gloves, plants, seeds and refreshments supplied. Tuesday 17th 12–1pm Picnic area lunch club. Bring your lunch and eat while we meet. We want to improve our picnic area at the back of the Glasshouses and we want your ideas. Staff and patients welcome. Wednesday 18th 10.30am–12pmFeed the birds. Make bird feeders from recycled materials with the Volunteer Hub. Venue: The Glasshouses Thursday 19th 1–3pm Find out why worms are so important to growing plants and help build a wormery for the Glasshouses.

april continuedMonday 23rd10am–12pm Learn about what flowers make a good hand cream, what herbs make a nice, soothing tea. Simple ideas for everyday use of herbs and flowers. Look out for Vicki with the healing herb trolley in the morning. Book Vicki for a workshop on your ward in the afternoon, contact Alex or Anne for more details.Tuesday 24th 10am–1pm Get some fresh, healthy snacks at the fruit and veg stall. 1–2.30pm Want to learn the basics of gardening? Come along to a five week course with Artlink, the Volunteer Hub and the Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens. Wednesday 25th 1.30pm Meet at the Glasshouses Art trail – Take a short walk round the grounds near the Glasshouses with Anne and discover art works in unusual places. Thursday 26th1–4pm Trip with the Hive to the Botanical Gardens To book your place contact the Hive on 46256.1–3pm House plant doctor. Tom the gardener will show you how to nurture your office and ward plants back to full health.

reGular activities Mondays1.30–3pm Gardening workshop at the Growing Plots with Anne. Tools and gloves provided. Tuesdays8.30am–2pm Edinburgh Food Initiative Fruit and Vegetable stall next to the WRVS shop. 11am–12.30pm Anne and Debbie’s plant stall alongside the fruit and veg stall.Thursdays1–3pm Garden club at the Glasshouses.

also,reMeMBer...

The Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens have drop in sessions three times a week at their garden by the Myreside Rd entrance. Get in touch with Sean or Hillary if you would like to go along on 46232.

Bike Week... ...will be coming up in April and the popular Dr Bike will be back so you can get your bike ready to spring into action and cycle to work. Contact glasshouses@artlinkedinburgh.co.uk

Growing Spaces exhibition This year we are getting dirty! It’s all about soil, what’s in it, how it is made and what makes good soil to grow plants. The gallery will be transformed into an underground experience complete with worms, roots, bugs and other wildlife.

call for contriButions We are looking for crafty projects to include in the exhibition; knitted worms, crocheted beasties, embroidered leaves etc. If you would like your work to be included drop it off at the Glasshouses by Tues 10th April. If you want some ideas or help you can join our art workshops on Tues 4th and 10th 10.30–12pm or Wed 5th and 11th of April 1.30–3pm.

The exhibition will open on Wed 25th April 11am–12pm. Last chance to add your art work and look out for a surprise guest.

Contact glasshouses@artlinkedinburgh.co.uk or call 46127.

5 Rob – Staff Nurse planting vegetable seeds for Craiglea Growing Plots.

6 Anne M – Garden Club member.

7 Jim and Valerie – regular Garden Club volunteers.

5 6

7

4 | The Morningside Mirror | 03.12

Since the Glasshouses were officially re-opened in January last year we have been making the most of the new space and a programming group has been established to encourage even more of you to do the same. It’s become a real hub for the Royal Edinburgh’s community: a place where you can try your hand at painting or woodwork, feed the birds, make an artwork for a ward, share a picnic, learn about plants, or even build a house for worms (more on that later).

At the heart of it all is Anne Elliot. A painter, photographer and keen gardener, her work at the Glasshouses merges her passions together under one roof. Bursting with new ideas, she works with the Glasshouses Programming Group to think up ways to make sure that the spaces are a welcoming and inspiring environment that everyone can use. Together with Alex Wilde from Artlink, they think up new ideas for fun events and creative projects for the future.

As well as regular art workshops on wards, you can get involved by coming along to one of the drop-in art sessions at the Glasshouses on Tuesdays and Wednesdays where Anne and her team will help you get set up and explore your creative side.

It’s warm and bright and there are plenty of art materials that you can try out. As part of its creative programme you can also take part in gardening classes, Come Dine with Me events or work on one of the growing plots run by Artlink. You see, there’s an art to gardening!

When I visited the Glasshouses I found Anne working away with Giuseppe who was decorating his colourful wooden sculpture, Jill creating a beautiful stained glass work in transparent Perspex to cheer up her friend’s office and Tamur who was drawing a stunning portrait using oil pastels.

For Anne, these art groups are one of the best parts of her job, but what are her ambitions for the future of the Glasshouses? She wants to go bigger and better. If she can get the space and the time expect some big-scale outdoor sculptures which mix art and gardening in even more inventive ways as well as more creative workshops. But the most important question for me is: What is Guerrilla gardening? We’ll have to wait and see…

the art of GardeninG

8 Jill painting stained glass in the studio.

9 & 15 Portrait drawings by Tamur.

10 Tiger drawing by Gareth.

11 Giuseppe painting his totem sculpture.

12 Grace and volunteer Richard modelling hand embroidered Growing Spaces aprons.

13 Anne M and Anne planting seeds at Garden Club.

14 Aileen with her landscape watercolour painting.

8 9 10

11

12 13

14

who is in the Glasshouses proGraMMinG Group?Artlink: Anne Elliot & Alex Wilde (Managers of the Glasshouses space)Patients Council: Ronnie Jack and Eileen Hay Hive: Julie McPherson OT staff: Heather Spenceley Spiritual Care: Maxwell Reays Dietician: Tara Hargreaves Estates: Tom Arnott Community Gardens: Sean or HillaryVolunteer Hub: Angela Farr Nursing: Rob Crispin

We are interested in hearing your suggestions for activities that could take place in the Glasshouses. If you have any suggestions then get in touch with Alex on 46127 or email glasshouses@artlinkedinburgh.co.uk

Get involved: in the Glasshouses. MaKe a sculpture for the Gardens, Grow the tallest sunflower or siMplY coMe and feed the Birds.

15

6 | The Morningside Mirror | 03.12

fancY volunteerinG?Angela Farr and Katie Smith from the Volunteer Centre at the Royal Edinburgh can set up opportunities that will suit your interests and help you learn new skills. If you fancy trying a spot of volunteering why not pop along for a chat with them? See advert on the back page for contact details. Meanwhile, Angela tells me about one of her favourite projects…

Anne and Debbie’s Plant Stall is a fantastic link between the work that goes on in the Glasshouses and the rest of the Royal Edinburgh community. It has been a huge hit and it’s back for this year’s Growing Month. Lots of energy has gone into expanding the stall over the past few months. To try and satisfy demand, five volunteers have been working in the Glasshouses to get ready for this Spring’s extravaganza which will include bird feeders and dried herbs alongside the flowers and plants.

MaGical MoMents with ewen MeldruM

If it’s patience you’re after then Ewen Meldrum is your man. The Technical Instructor for Occupational Therapy at the Orchard Clinic has made his name creating amazing ‘time-lapse’ films which have been shown on the BBC.

When did you first start working with photography? I started getting into it when I was in my teens, I turned my bedroom into a darkroom. It was great, I closed the room off and was in there all day with the magic of the camera, the chemicals and the paper.

Have things changed a lot since then? Well, the digital age has made things a lot cheaper! I don’t print images anymore, instead I make time-lapse films. This involves taking lots of shots of the same scene over a few hours and then playing them together so that it looks like time has been speeded up.

Ah, a bit like one of those flick books. What do you like to make films of these days? I love walking in the Pentland Hills. This way I can set the camera up, look at the view, watch the weather rolling in and wait for the sunset.

How patient are you? Well if you’re on top of a mountain in the middle of winter shooting night time sequences it can get pretty cold! My brother and I once camped on top of Stac Pollaidh in the Highlands of Scotland. We were perched on a really small strip of land with steep drops of 400 feet on each side but we got great footage. When you shoot films like this you can see things that are usually invisible, in this case the camera tracked the night sky and when we played it all back we could see the star trails that were created as the earth turned. It was a magical moment.

Could you make a time-lapse film of the Glasshouses or the allotments? I would like to do that. All I need is a safe place to fix my camera...

Ewen’s incredible films can be seen online here: www.youtube.com/user/meltec2/videosOr you can see his photographs on his flickr site: www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=ewen+meldrum&m=text

what is this?What is the significance of this stone, found within the grounds of the Royal Edinburgh?

Get in touch...If you know the stone’s history. Otherwise look in the next Morningside Mirror for some information on the stone from our resident expert.

coMe alonG... Have a peek at their wares on Tuesdays between 11am and 12.30pm. The Plant Stall will be up and running from the 13th March.

16 17

18

19

the roYal edinBurGh’s Got talentCreating SpacesMaxwell Reay chats about a special project he organised together with Artlink artists Claire Barclay and Laura Spring.

The transformation of the Quiet Room involved the work of more than 20 people from across the Royal Edinburgh Community between October and December last year. We all really wanted to create a bright yet cosy relaxing environment where people of any faith or no faith would feel welcome. After a few sessions where people experimented with ideas, we moved on to screen printing sessions in the Glasshouses. It was here that the initial sketches and designs were magically transformed into a colourful reality. I’d say that the beautiful curtains, wall hangings and cushions that this communal effort produced have really given the Quiet Room a new lease of life.

Now that the Quiet Room is complete, I’d like to set up a music group in the Glasshouses. The twist is, people will be invited to share the tunes that they like or that have some importance to them. This way, even people who don’t consider themselves to be musical can come along, select a song and chat a little about why it’s so special to them.

Creative FreedomThere’s nothing that Maggie Keppie can’t do: songwriter, painter, furniture-maker, sign-writer and poet (television star Joanna Lumley once paid compliment to her “nice turn of phrase”), Maggie has done it all. But it was only a few years ago that she first discovered her hidden talents and tapped into the powers of her imagination. Since then she’s presented exhibitions, performed in public and contributed her skills to lots of art projects throughout the Royal Edinburgh and beyond.

Maggie says that she particularly loves the creative freedom the Glasshouses provides. She is now turning her talents to decorating the roaming cart that will sell herbal teas and special hand creams as part of Growing Month – keep a look out for it in a corridor near you.

worMs & wellies the roYal edinBurGh coMMunitY Gardens

What on earth is a wormery? This was just one of the questions I found myself asking Sean Jacques when I visited him and his team in the Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens. It turns out that wormeries are boxes for leftover food waste and that worms are nature’s magical waste disposal system.

Munching away happily, they transform everything from potato peelings to eggshells into rich fertiliser for the gardens. Sean has been showing people how to build their own simple wormeries in sessions held in the glasshouses. So far 25 participants have left with their own box and he’s making up 22 more kits ready for future workshops.

But if building luxurious palaces for worms doesn’t appeal to you there are plenty more things you can do to test out your green fingers in the Glasshouses during Growing Month. Sean will be helping out with the gardening course starting in growing month and teaching people about seed sowing and taking cuttings.

I spoke to Sean during one of the drop in sessions that The Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens run three times every

week at their garden by the Myreside Road entrance.

The sun was shining and his eager team were planting out vegetable crops for the Summer. Of course, the weather isn’t always so idyllic here in Scotland and Sean says that he’s careful to save the work needing done in the Glasshouses for rainy days. So when it’s not so nice outdoors, they head into the dry warmth to plant some tasty vegetables.

coMe alonG... ...to the Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens anytime between 10am–4pm on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday.

For more information please contact Sean Jacques on sean.recg@googlemail.com or Hillary Vipond on HillaryVipond@cyrenians.org.uk or call 46232.

16 Another photo of Anne M.

17 Artwork by Ewen.

18 Ewen Meldrum.

19 Artwork by Ewen.

20 Maggie ‘diggin it’ at the Garden Club.

21 Maxwell next to the artwork in the Quiet Room.

22 Maggie making art.

23 Sean, RECG Coordinator.

24 Inside a wormery.

20 21

23

24

22

8 | The Morningside Mirror | 03.12

Newspaper Club is a service that helps people and communities make their own newspapers. www.newspaperclub.co.uk