Home News Five things you need to know today

Five things you need to know today

December 26, 2012 12:33 pm

Scottish Police Authority – The Queen’s Speech – Films – Hogmanay fireworks – Loads of rubbish

Chief Superintendent Malcolm Graham who is currently Divisional Commander for Edinburgh, has been named as one of the six Assistant Chief Constables appointed for Police Scotland, and from 1 April 2013 he will be in charge of Serious Crime and Public Protection across the new single police force. Read more here.

***

Nothing unexpected in the Queen’s Christmas Day Speech, but maybe that is what it is meant to be, reassuringly the same. In case you were snoozing after your Christmas lunch here it is again. And closer to home our own Lord Provost Donald Wilson has left you a Christmas message here.

***

Today the cinemas are not open but tomorrow at The Filmhouse you can go and see Lawrence of Arabia in all its redigitised glory. More details of all the other films here.

***

The City of Edinburgh Council and Unique Events today announced that the world famous Midnight Moment Fireworks, the climax of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, will be set to music for the first time this year. The five minute display, which will lift from Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill, will be choreographed to a mix of four contemporary Scottish music tracks which will be broadcast through the Street Party, Keilidh and Concert in the Gardens for the enjoyment of all 75,000 revellers. The music tracks are by four of Scotland’s biggest artists who have all performed at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay over the 20 years of the event, but the artists and songs will remain a closely guarded secret until midnight on the 31st.

The midnight firework display, which will be preceded by countdown teaser fireworks at 9.00pm, 10.00pm and 11.00pm, involves 2,240 firework cues, triggering 17,153 shots from 45 locations spread around Edinburgh Castle and West Princes Street Gardens. Over 20 tonnes of equipment and 12 kilometres of control cables and wires take a team of 14 people from UK fireworks company Kimbolton six days to set up on site. The Castle is cleared within three hours after the display so that it can open to the general public on New Year’s Day as if nothing had happened.

Pete Irvine, Artistic Director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said:- “Every year we offer something new and exciting to our guests at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and I am thrilled that for the first time our spectacular midnight fireworks will be set to music. What a great way to welcome 2013.”

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Festivals and Events Champion for The City of Edinburgh Council, said:-“Set to the soundtrack of two decades of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, our world famous fireworks display will provide a fitting and dramatic finale to 2012 – for the thousands partying in the street and the millions watching on TV across the globe.”

Two lucky winners of a competition to launch the world famous Edinburgh’s Hogmanay fireworks, put together by the organisers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Scotland’s national tourism organisation, VisitScotland, will be travelling to Edinburgh from Italy, having won a once in a lifetime opportunity to kick off 2013 in style.

Alice Zitella & Alessandro Bongiorni from Rome will start the countdown to midnight on stage at the Concert in the Gardens, launching the fireworks in front of thousands at one of the planet’s biggest New Year parties. The prize also includes travel to and from Edinburgh and an exclusive three-night stay in a five-star hotel in the city centre. The competition was open to residents of the USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands and VisitScotland received over 90,000 entries.

Alice Zitella said: “To visit Scotland has always been my dream. The land of fantastic writers, like Walter Scott and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has always fascinated me. Today thanks to VisitScotland, I can finally experience Scottish culture. I didn’t expect to win the competition at all and the prize is even more special as we will arrive on the day of my birthday! Thank you so much!”

Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland said:- “I’d like to congratulate Alice and Alessandro on winning this money-can’t-buy prize – it truly is the experience of a lifetime. With more than 90,000 entrants, the competition showed that Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations continue to charm the world.”

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay promises to kick off 2013 in some style. The three day Festival starts with a cast of thousands enjoying the Torchlight Procession on Sunday 30 December, and the celebrations continue with the World Famous Street Party and Concert in the Gardens on Monday 31 December where revellers will enjoy the very best in live music, from Simple Minds, The View, The Maccabees, Reverend and the Makers, Admiral Fallow and Lau, together with REW1ND3R – the biggest party . . . in years which will turn Princes Street into the world’s largest dancefloor. The evening culminates in the spectacular Midnight Fireworks from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill and the world’s largest rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Tickets are still available for Concert in the Gardens and The Street Party from www.edinburghshogmanay.com

Other events on New Year’s Day include the Loony Dook at South Queensferry, the return of the popular Edinburgh’s Dogmanay and the New Year’s Day Triathlon, both in Holyrood Park and Your Lucky Day – a whole festival in one afternoon which takes place in venues across the Old Town.

The event last year welcomed over 150,000 visitors from over 60 different countries and is a key part of Scotland’s tourism calendar. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was worth more than £30 million to the Scottish economy in 2011/2012.

***

New figures have revealed the extent of the progress that has been made by Scotland’s local authorities towards drastically reducing the amount of food and drink that is wasted every year.

A newly answered Parliamentary Question has revealed that 17 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities now provide a household food waste collection service, with 6 of these councils offering a service that covers every single household in their area. The same answer has revealed that a further seven local authorities plan to introduce such collection services in 2013.

An estimated one fifth of food and drink in Scotland ends up being thrown away, unnecessarily wasting £430 a year on average for every household in Scotland.

Commenting, SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said:

“Christmas is traditionally a time when people celebrate and eat well, but at a time of excess it is worth stopping to think about what happens when we waste food and drink. Households who are spending more than they need to on food are facing an unneeded financial drain on their resources.

“The cost of wasting food and drink quickly adds up and costs every household in Scotland an average of £430 a year.

“That is completely unnecessary and is money that people can ill afford during these difficult financial times, so it is essential that local authorities do all they can to assist people in reducing food waste.

“The fact that seventeen of Scotland’s local authorities are now collecting food waste separately is a significant step forward and that is only set to grow substantially as at least a further seven councils will offer these services next year.

“Some excellent progress has been achieved so far, but we all have a responsibility to do more if we are to reduce food waste down to a sustainable level.”

Edinburgh recently introduced a new waste collection service, which has not been without some problems. There are changes to your collection over Christmas and New Year which you can check here. If you need to tell the council about any uncollected rubbish then you can do so here.