The Edinburgh Reporter April 2022

3
Portobello bots
Porty Robot Maker aids Ukrainian kids charity
Jackie Stark of Dnipro Kids
accepts cheque from Karen
Mackay of Cahoots
By PHYLLIS STEPHEN
THE SUM OF £6,545 was handed over to
charity Dnipro Kids to help them resettle
Ukrainian orphans they have brought from the
war zone to temporary refuge in Scotland.
The money was raised by people buying Porty
Robots specially decorated in Ukrainian
colours. The Porty Robot Maker prefers to
remain anonymous and so the sales were
coordinated through Portobello art collective,
Cahoots. One hundred percent of the proceeds
has been handed over to the charity.
Karen Mackay from Cahoots asked people to
sponsor a robot to give to Ukrainian children
who arrived in Scotland last month. Karen said:
“Thank you to the Porty Robot Maker. I
thought they had put a ceiling on how many
Leaping
into Easter
at Craigie’s
TAKE YOUR LITTLE ONES to
Craigie’s this Easter weekend for
an interactive event helping Little
Bo Peep solve the clues to find
her mischievous missing sheep.
Kirsteen Sinclair,owner of Craigie’s
told us about an orphan lamb
rejected by its mother.
Kirsteen said: “The mother was
early having her lamb, so she
lambed in the field rather than
indoors. One of the other sheep
tried to pinch the lamb from her.
robots they would make at about 20 or 30, but
so far we have sold 300 and the Robot Maker is
happy to keep producing them as long as people
want them. It will only be the Ukrainian robots
they will make for now, and the Robot Maker
will continue their magic hiding amongst us.
“When Dnipro Kids first heard of the Porty
Robots, Steven Carr from the charity asked if he
could buy some for the children, but I put a
shout out for people to sponsor a robot for
each child.
“People were allocated a name with the age of
the child and they are making up a gift bag for
“their” child, and in each one there will be a
Ukrainian robot. So hopefully when they go
home to Ukraine in the future their robots will
go with them.”
Jackie Stark, fundraising coordinator for
By the time we got out the
mother thought she only had one
lamb and she won’t accept this
one. We will bottle feed it until we
get a mother with a single lamb
and we will try and make her
adopt it if we can.”
Noah Osborough (5) from
Kirkliston and Jessica Anderson
(4) from Dalmeny pictured
above gave the newly born
lamb a warm welcome.
Book tickets which include:
• 1 hour play session in Little
Farmers adventure play area
Dnipro Kids, set up by a group of Hibs
supporters in 2005 said: “There are 50 children
and 9 adults who have arrived in Scotland. The
plan is that they stay in Callander for 12 weeks.
“We have been donated huge things like bunk
beds and food, but all of this money will go
towards helping them settle in Edinburgh and
in Scotland. This is massive for them. None of
these kids had left Ukraine before, none of them
had passports and had not ever left Dnipro.
“So this feels like a huge adventure for them
but I am sure in a couple of weeks time they
may realise they are missing home.
“This money will be used to take them on
great experiences and lots of trips while they
are here.
“They still have to do school work but this
will help a lot. Thank you so much everyone.”
• Craigie’s Easter Egg
• Breakfast or lunch platter at
Craigie’s Cafe
• Creative Easter activities
with the Easter Bunny
• £14.99 for adults and £19.99
for children, with children 0-12
months free
Martin P McAdam
Martin P McAdam
Flats plan
raise the Eyre
of residents
By OLIVIA THOMAS
PEOPLE LIVING near Eyre Place
submitted a formal response to the
consultation by CA Student Living who
plan to build a six storey block of 210
student flats on a gap site there.
The pre planning consultation has now
ended and the Eyre Place residents say
that nearly all residents are either
opposed or strongly opposed to the
development. Their comments to the
developers say that building 200 student
flats on this site would have a “disastrous”
effect on their living environment, local
amenities, public transport, traffic and
primary healthcare facilities.
They point out that while they realised
the former Jewsons site would be
developed they had envisaged
sustainable family housing would be built
there, and that they would welcome new
permanent neighbours joining the
community. Locals have also explained to
The Edinburgh Reporter that with four
student developments in the area - where
there are no universities or colleges within
a 20 minute walk - it is difficult to
understand the need.
A spokesperson said: “As a longestablished
community, we are aggrieved
that no representative of CA Ventures
communicated with the Canonmills
residents about the proposal of student
flats before preparing the Public
Consultation Document showing bed
numbers, architectural drawings,
and landscape proposals. Had the
developer, or its representative,
met with the community they would
have understood the breadth of anger
and resistance throughout Canonmills
that the proposal has generated.
Fundamentally, the majority of the
community in Canonmills does not want
200+ beds of student accommodation
built on 72-72 Eyre Place.”