The Edinburgh Reporter November 2020

6
NEWS
Hair stylists Charlie Miller
welcomed a very special client
into its South St Andrew Street
salon for a very well-deserved
pampering.
Oona Dooks was born with
cerebral palsy, a complex
neurological condition which
affects movement and
coordination. Her condition went
unnoticed until she was born with
severe deformities in both of her
feet, with dislocated hips, and
no movement in her legs or her
jaw. She spent ten weeks in the
neonatal unit and her family were
told not to expect her to walk, talk,
eat or "form thoughts".
Now six, she is an unstoppable
force. Last year, parts of Oona's
feet and hamstrings became
active for the first time, although
doctors had thought they would be
permanently paralysed.
Oona is at mainstream school
in Portobello and she is signed to
Zebedee Model Management. She
has modelled for Marks & Spencer,
and was a supporting actress in a
BBC children’s drama.
The Edinburgh Reporter
Oona has oodles of curls
Stylist Sophie Frame with Oona who loves her new hairstyle
Her dad Chris said: “I think the
fact that she is sassy helps her.
From when she was a baby, she
was determined to move against
all odds. This year in particular,
especially throughout lockdown,
she has made a huge amount
of progress. We were able to
purchase an inflatable spa for
her, which she now uses every
day, and we are already noticing
huge differences in her movement
just from spending time in the
water. She sees it as fun and not
strenuous exercise the way that
other physio can be for her.”
Oona was delighted with her new
look from Salon Stylist, Sophie
Frame: “I really, really loved my
hair going curly. The hairdryer
wasn’t too loud, and Sophie was
really nice. I feel so beautiful.”
Despite remarkable progress, her
condition still affects almost every
aspect of her daily life. Her family
have set up Little Red Wheelchair
to raise awareness and help
others affected by the condition.
Fundraising through Tree of Hope,
will help support Oona’s ongoing
treatment and development. Their
biggest goal is to buy a "second
skin" suit to help her reach her
ambition to walk unaided.
www.treeofhope.org.uk/
one-small-step-oona/
Taxi drivers may stage protest
There are 38,000 taxi and private
hire drivers in Scotland. As we
went to press, the Unite union
members were planning a protest
later this month at Holyrood to
demand extra financial help from
The Scottish Government.
The union’s Edinburgh Cab
Branch have repeatedly appealed
to The City of Edinburgh Council
for assistance, but thought they
were getting nowhere. They have
been urging their members to
lobby their MSPs and they may yet
join the protest.
But the council may have been
listening to at least some of the
pleas as they meet to discuss
possibilities for only the second
time since March. The council
says that the Licensing Service
will continue "to work closely
with the licensed trade to ensure
understanding of the challenges
faced".
It is important to realise that all
the council’s licensing functions,
including those for taxis, have
to be self-funding. Earlier in the
year, the council's Leadership
Advisory Panel deferred taking
payments for licence applications,
although these have since been
reintroduced. It cost £740,000 in
lost income to defer the payments
for three months, so the council
has begun recovery of the licence
fees to help the service stay afloat.
There is currently a £1.1 million
reserve ring-fenced for use in
connection with the taxi trade.
Half of that was set aside to
pay the capital costs of a new
licensing centre at Murrayburn
which has been now been shelved
and "alternatives are being
examined".
The Edinburgh Cab Branch
suggested that the council could
continue deferral of licence fees
and absorb that within the reserve
fund.
However, the council says
they recognise the difficult
circumstances for business, but
must balance this against the cost
of delivering the Licensing Service.
Online tutoring - a company set
up during the pandemic
Two Edinburgh teachers have set
up an online tutoring company to
help Scottish pupils impacted by
the pandemic.
Brothers-in-law Iain Thomson
and Craig Downie have established
EH5 Learning to support learners
regardless of where they are on
their educational journey.
It became clear during lockdown
that youngsters were falling
behind in their lessons through no
fault of their own, so the project
began.There are professionals
with expertise at all levels of the
school curriculum.
“These continue to be uncertain
and worrying times for everybody
but particularly for those at
school,” said Iain, who has been a
teacher for 16 years, most recently
at Queensferry High School.
"We have set up the company
with the aim of supporting
these young people as much as
possible, to give them the best
chance of achieving their full
academic potential.”
A substantial investment has
been made in the online platform
to help create a safe, secure and
engaging learning environment
where the young person can thrive
no matter what age or stage they
are at within their learning journey.
The platform has a range of
tools that allows a variety of
Butter shop sign melts away
Behind the now removed
haberdashery sign on a Portobello
shop a historic sign for the Danish
Buttery Company has been
uncovered.
Locals had hope the sign could
somehow be preserved but it is
apparently rotting in places.
The new owner, who is opening a
podiatrist treatment centre, thinks
it may be possible to salvage
it and that the sign could be
mounted it and hung on a wall of a
treatment room inside.
This is a B listed building in a
Conservation Area.
The Danish Butter Company first
appears in the Edinburgh & Leith
PO Directory of 1897-98. The shop
at 244 Portobello High Street does
not appear in the Portobello &
Joppa directory until 1901-02.
One local said: "This is part of
the history of Portobello High
subjects to be catered for and EH5
Learning works at primary level
right through to advanced higher
at secondary school. A range of
topics is covered from traditional
maths and English through to
science and physical education.
With tutors based all over the
country including Aberdeen,
Galashiels, Dunfermline, Glasgow
and Edinburgh, a key element
of the platform is that it can be
accessed anywhere in Scotland
from the comfort of the learner’s
own home.
While expansion across the
whole of the UK is the ultimate
goal, the initial focus is on
the Scottish curriculum and
supporting the young people
of Scotland, particularly with it
looking more and more likely that
continuous assessment will be a
core element of education in years
to come.
“EH5 Learning looks to support
the excellent work the teachers do
within the classroom setting and
works alongside schools, families
and young people to ensure the
support the learner is receiving is
tailored to the specific individual
needs,” added Iain. “We are very
excited at having the opportunity
to make a difference to the
education of our young people in
Scotland.”
www.eh5learning.com
Street and if possible it should be
preserved.”
As we related last month, there
are these so-called "ghost signs"
everywhere in Edinburgh.
Some of the best known are on
the building which sits just behind
the National Museum of Scotland
on Bristo Place.
Often ghost signs are only visible
for fleeting moments during
building renovations, like the one
spotted on a hairdresser shop
at the corner of Prospect Bank
Road and Restalrig Road. By the
time this was shared to Edinburgh
Ghost Signs on Facebook, the sign
had already been covered over.
We have begun a new collection
of Ghost Signs using the new app
Beams - which describes itself as
'lists made to share'. It is an easy
way of listing recommendations or
stories such as this.
Taxi drivers say they spend more time queuing than driving
Sign at 244 Portobello High Street PHOTO: Arch White