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New air routes – Barnardo’s – Duddingston Festival – Photography exhibition – Tonight at the Cameo

This month the first flights on six new direct routes to Edinburgh Airport will land there, and one of these, Qatar Airways will introduce the Dreamliner to the skies over the capital after a journey from Doha.

VisitScotland analysis has shown the new route, launching on 28 May 2014 will bring around £33m in projected revenue in the first year and £86m after three years with a mix of leisure and business travellers from across the globe.

The news comes as VisitScotland heads to Frankfurt to promote Scotland as a business destination at one of the world’s biggest business tourism trade shows – IMEX 2014 (20 – 22 May).

Last year was the tourism organisation’s most successful IMEX to date, with 22 enquiries resulting in a potential economic impact of over £14 million.

With 3,500 exhibitors from 157 countries and around 9,000 buyers, the national tourism organisation’s stand at IMEX is the strongest it has been in seven years with 15 diverse partners including National Museums of Scotland, Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau amongst others.*

Qatar Airways will be just one of many international exhibitors that VisitScotland will discuss business opportunities with and promote key events such as Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Commonwealth Games and The Ryder Cup.

The Qatar route from Doha is just one of six new direct routes to touch down in Edinburgh and Glasgow this month with others including Philadelphia, Chicago, Zurich and Verona.

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Gordon Macdonald MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands heard first hand about the work a children’s charity employability service is doing in Edinburgh, helping unemployed young people in to long term work, with a particular focus on supporting vulnerable young people such as care leavers.

Mr Macdonald took the opportunity during apprentice week, to visit Barnardo’s Works Edinburgh to find out about how the charity’s employment placement scheme works and the success it’s had over the years helping young people in to long term employment.

Barnardo’s Works service engages with local employers to provide placements for young people in a sector of the young person’s choosing. The placements are designed as a gateway to permanent waged jobs with the employer.

“Employability services, like Barnardo’s Works, are an important element in supporting young people into sustainable, long term employment by helping them to gain experience and build up their confidence so they are in the best possible position to take up a job. The Scottish Government through Opportunities for all guarantees a place in training or education for all young people aged 16-19 years old and Barnardo’s Works is to be congratulated for supporting vulnerable young people to take up those opportunities.”

Barnardo’s Works recently relocated to share an office with the charity’s leaving care service, 16+ Edinburgh. This service supports young people who are or have been in the care of the local authority. Care leavers are statistically the furthest from the job market, so bringing these services together ensures that some of the young people in Edinburgh who struggle the most to find work get a route to employment.

The charity has been supporting a number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds in Edinburgh City through employability skills training and work placements. The training covers essential skills including communication, money management, budgeting and assertiveness as well as help with writing CVs and job interviews.

Barnardo’s Works Edinburgh is currently trying to find placements for young people aged 16-24, any local businesses willing to offer placements to young people or would like to find out more should also contact Asima Hussein, Employer Liaison Officer on 07879 893 072 or 0131 556 4583 email  bwe@barnardos.org.uk

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This weekend 24 and 25 May there is a festival in Duddingston’s gardens, the church, the halls and the pub. There will be a concert on Saturday night when poet, performer and broadcaster, John Hegley, will perform.

Many more details here.

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Melanie Gow is exhibiting photographs about a life changing walk with her sons at St Giles Cathedral from 26 May.

‘Walking with Angels’ is a fascinating photographic exhibition of 14 moments and installation pieces that show this gently life-changing story in a way that hopes to inspire you. 

“In the beginning when someone asks if you are going to Santiago de Compostela you say; “Yes.” But by Day 5 you answer “I hope.”  
 
The walk is long and challenging, across vast landscapes, both staggeringly beautiful and harsh and unforgiving. In some ways you get stronger but in many ways you get worn down. Remote villages have few amenities, comfort isn’t readily available, showers can be cold, communal, the food is inadequate, the water can make you sick, toilet breaks are a challenge.

But once you set off you spend the day right in the heart of the best show that nature can put on. One small step into a church shows you the redemptive power of art and the best of human nature. You walk into the end of a day and it comes down to what really matters: you need a shower, a chance to wash your clothes, the fellowship of good company, something to eat, a little wine and a bed.

I wanted to give my sons a space to choose what kind of men they wanted to be. It turned out it really was the best thing I could do for them, and it was the very best thing I could do with them. But the most surprising thing was that somewhere over the 800km stroll I experienced a profoundly transformative overhaul. It is a walk that gently changed our lives …

It is a pilgrimage to yourself.”
Entry is free.
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A very special film event takes place tonight at the Cameo with Satellite Q & A with the stars.

Reprising the formula of director Michael Winterbottom’s hit BBC TV series The Trip, comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon travel the length of Italy reviewing toothsome restaurants for The Observer.

While this nominally offers us endless high-end food porn, THE TRIP TO ITALY is of course a chance for its two stars to engage in constant, gently argumentative and inevitably hilarious banter. While taking in the restaurants of Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and Capri, they talk about life, love, work, exile, Byron and Shelley in this leftfield comedy gem.

This event, exclusive to cinemas, reunites the two stars to bring their inimitable banter live, as they discuss the popular series and take questions from the audience.

Booking details here. 

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.