GET FIT HAVE FUN

SquareOne Feature

by Kate Smail

As the nights get longer and the days get warmer, so the layers must get fewer. If the thought of baring your dimply thighs and flabby wings is too much to contemplate ladies, (and metrosexual gents), let SquareOne guide you through the most enjoyable ways to get fit this summer.

This week sees the start of the third O'Neill Highland Open, Europe's premier surfing championship, taking place in the frigid waters around Thurso. It may lack the glamour of Hawaii's North Shore, but with around 70 surfable beaches around the Scottish coast, there's no excuse not to brave the waves.

Coldingham and Pease Bay are both mild breaks suitable for beginners, and both within 40 minutes drive of Edinburgh. Wetsuits and boards can be hired locally for about £20 all in, and both beaches benefit from life guards during the summer months. California it may not be, the water temperature peaks around a chilly 10 degrees, but at least you don't have to worry about Great White sharks or David Hassellhoff in a pair of red speedos . (See www.stvedas.com for details).

If icy seas aren't your thing, how about some snowy mountains? The Scottish ski resorts are enjoying their best season in many a year, and a few runs are expected to remain open into May. If you want to hone your skills, not to mention your thighs, over the summer, then head over to Xscape in Glasgow, the UK's largest indoor snow arena. They run a whole host of ski and snowboarding lessons, from taster sessions right through to park skill classes. There's an even after ski bar for when you're ready to switch pistes. (See www.xscape.co.uk and www.ski.visitscotland.com)

Or how about raising the temperature a little with some mountain biking? Less than an hour south of Edinburgh lies Glentress, the UK's largest trail centre. Whatever your level, trails are colour coded from green (easy peasy), to black (serious adrenaline junkies only), so it's easy to find your own pace. The climbs may be tough, but the views over the Tweed Valley are worth the sweat. Bikes can be hired from The Hub on site, and there is also a cafe serving hearty fare in the car park. Lycra is strictly optional, but after a few sessions you may find yourself warming to the idea, just to show off your perky new posterior... (see www.hubintheforest.com)

Statistically we may be a nation of fatties, but judging by the toned bodies gracing the afore mentioned activities, we're not all bad. And if the thought of seeing the beautiful people getting changed in the car park doesn't get you off the sofa, nothing will.

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PROMENADE PUPS

SquareOne Features


by Lou Hardless


Regular users of Portobello Promenade might well be familiar with the sight of obedient dogs under going training. These guide dogs, along with their handlers have been using the prom for the last seven years, since moving from Milton Road in Edinburgh to nearby coastal resort of Portobello.


Gavin Neate a Guide Dog mobility instructor, explains why Portobello was such a good base for Guide Dogs in Scotland, formerly known as Guide Dogs for the Blind:


"Originally the dog training centre was based in Forfar, which proved to be far from our main client group. In 2001, we relocated our services to Edinburgh and Hamilton, and expansion into the Borders and East & West Lothian is being planned for the future."


Portobello offers a wide variety of training areas for the dogs, with a number of key features they are likely to come across when they are eventually put to work. The busy High Street with it's pelican crossings, low and raised kerbs, along with the beach, buses and trains mean the animals will be well equipped to deal with whatever challenges they face when re-homed.


From young the dogs are socialised with families and other pets. At a year they begin eight months of basic training before moving onto more advanced levels. Once finished they are matched with suitable owners. Previous assessments and comprehensive training for both parties takes place, followed by yearly aftercare visits.


So when you see a guide dog out and about on their training exercises, do your best not to distract them.

GOING IT ALONE

SquareOne Sport

by Pere Fornes

In the run up to the Olympic games, arguments about whether to have a GB football team are being called into question by Scotland's SNP leadership who want a separate national team competing at the events.

But if Scotland participated as a independent sporting nation in the next Olympic games would it be the first time this has happened? The answer is no. 100 years ago a Scottish hockey squad played as a separate entry in the London Olympic Games and won a bronze medal.

Scottish hockey historian Ernie Wall said: “Scotland gained the honour of playing in the first-ever men’s hockey Olympic match on October 29 1908, and also recording the first Olympic goals and victory in defeating Germany by 4-0.”

The reason for the split was that if Britain had participated as one country, there would have been only two rivals - France and Germany, Wall added: “The British Olympic Committee suggested that, to make a proper tournament, the other three Home Countries should be asked to participate.”

Scotland lost the semi-finals against England 6-1 with Ireland getting to the final after beating Wales by 3-1. The Scottish squad refused to stay another night to play Wales for the third place and both teams shared the bronze medals at the official dinner. The gold was won by England who thrashed the Irish by 8-1 in the final.

Wall concluded: “To finish the story of Scotland’s one and only appearance in the Olympics as a separate nation, the S.H.A. Council, which met in late November 1908, made no mention at all of the event! In the report to the 1909 A.G.M., the event is curtly dismissed in one sentence. Such was the tenor of the times.”

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TARTENED UP

SquareOne News Feature

by Atholl Simpson

What do the FBI, a famous Russian family and Chinese dignitaries all have in common? No, this is not the beginning of a rather questionable joke nor is it another conspiracy theory. The answer is a kilt, or to be more precise, tartan.

These distinctive organisations and groups all have their own registered tartan, which has been recognised and approved by the Scottish Tartan Authority.

There is no requirement that stops groups from having their own tartan according to the authority’s Director, Brian Wilton. Neither Scottish blood nor Scottish connections are necessary, although it must be a unique design which is used.

“Quite a few people come with their own ideas, but a lot of them ask us to design them,” Wilton told SquareOne. “Tartan is the only design in existence into which you can include personal significance. A lot can be incorporated into it.”

One example is a tartan Wilton designed for a famous Russian family called the Lermontov’s. After discovering they had Scottish descendants they wanted their own tartan to be made. Wilton used the colours from their Coat of Arms to create the design, incorporating into it the blue and white from the Scottish flag. Many people from all over the world are very keen to have their own tartan.

“There is a huge interest. The Scots have a tremendous reputation worldwide for being hard working, creative and having strong family ties. Although these might be a bit outdated, by choosing a tartan they are aligning themselves with the strengths that Scots are known for.”

Recently he created tartan designs for the O2 company but has also developed many for the US military including the American Navy submarine hunters, who when asked by Wilton why they wanted their own tartan, told him that although they have no Scottish connections, they feel like a big family.

From November of this year the government will finally participate in the registration process after years of campaigning by the Scottish Tartan Authority. Before this decision, the authority had been ‘de facto’ the official register. The change will mean that all the past, present and future tartan designs will be kept in an official government database in the National Archives of Scotland, which is something that did not exist before. The authority will still be heavily consulted according to Wilton, and will still be in charge of the registering for some time to come.

“It’s only in recent years that the economic and cultural value of the tartan has come to be recognised and protected. It’s good news for us!”

PUT A KILT ON IT

SquareOne Entertainment

by Katie Smyth

The Emporer's New Kilt: Review

Hans Christian Anderson's classic fairytale gets the Scottish treatment as Wee Stories Company cleverly transpose The Emperor's New Clothes to the fictitious Isle of Kiltie. The ridiculous Laird of the Isle who owns "all the trees and the hills and even the grass" is in a flummox deciding what to demand for his special birthday surprise. Worse still the man whose wardrobe is replete with a kilt for every day of the year petulantly announces, "I've got nothing to wear!" Enter the scheming Mr Harris and Mr Tweed, producers and purveyors of a cloth so special only clever people can see it. They set about to expose the vain and pompous laird in his birthday suit as the play in turn exposes the oppression of inherited privilege, tenancy and greed.

Not that the target audience were struck by the inadequacies of materialism and the capitalist, semi-feudal system in place on Kiltie. To the kids of the Kings Theatre audience The Emperor's New Kilt was nothing more than a romp complete with singing sporrans, a Big Jessie and a stag with an identity crisis. And while there was surely something rather wrong and unsettling about an auditorium of kids encouraging a "true Scotsman" to strip down to his hand-crafted polar bear fur sporran, much of the other double entendres and dirty jokes were thankfully the strict reserve of the mums and dads.

An outrageously camp Iain Johnstone lorded it up in the titular role demanding a kilt worthy of a king or Queen while co-writer Andy Cannon entertained as Ramsay the ill-fated sheep destined for the Laird's birthday haggis. An imaginative woven set, fast-paced role changes and elements of the pantomime combined to spark a cacophony of hoots, chortles and big belly laughs from kids and grown-ups alike.

The Emperor's New Kilt is showing at Kings Theatre, Edinburgh until Saturday 19 April

Photo by pamelaadam

EDINBURGH MEADOWS FESTIVAL RETURNS

SquareOne News

by Pere Fornes

SquareOne can reveal that, following a two year absence, the popular Meadows Festival will return this summer.

The event, which ran for 30 consecutive years until 2005, will see a variety of stalls, activities and performances run on the weekend of 7 and 8 June, and for the first time will be run by the Meadows Festival Association.

The charity takes over responsibility for the event after the bank account and official documentation for the festival were formally accepted during its AGM in November. At a recent meeting, Linda Hendry, chair of the association said: "The Meadows Festival was run for 20 years by a family that decided to quit in 2005. There was a two-year gap and some people tried to organise it but this couldn’t be done until after November."

There will be different attractions at this year's festival, like stalls selling crafts, second-hand clothing and jewellery. Food will be available and local school children will participate in a football competition. There will also be performances, such as African dancers and a kids' area will offer face painting and story telling sessions.

This year the festival plans to be more environmentally friendly with a power pod being used for the first time to generate electricity.

Community councillors from the surrounding area are involved in the organisation of the event and are looking for volunteers to act as stewards, distribute programs or pick up litter.

A volunteer form can be found at http://meadowsfestival.blogspot.com/ or you can sign up at the Pavilion Cafe on the Meadows.

Applicants for stalls should send a stamped addressed envelope to PO Box 12758, EH8 9YP.

Photo by Daveybot

A NIGHTMARE IN THE SUN

by Pere Fornes


SquareOne News


“Every morning an idiot gets up. He doesn’t know that his land is going to be grabbed.”


These are the words of the main accused in Spain’s most notorious corruption trial. Linked to the Urban Development Activity Act or so-called "land-grab" law, the problem is affecting hundreds of Scottish owners, and many others.


The act, enforced in the autonomous region of Valencia, allows authorities to take land from homeowners if a rural area is designated as being necessary for a building project. They can also charge owners to pay for the supposed benefit to the area that development brings. If the owners refuse, more land can be taken without recourse as there is no appeals process.


The law was originally designed to thwart speculators cashing in on cheap land prices by purchasing unwanted scrub-land and selling it for vast profits when the land was needed for public buildings. But now, the measures are being abused by developers who, in league with corrupt politicians routinely declare land surrounding holiday villas as being required for development.


Glenn and Jean Marshall, originally from Glasgow, live in a housing development called El Pinar in Alcossebre, on the east coast of Spain: “We bought this house at the end of August in 2003. We are retired and we decided to stay here all year” explains Glenn.


Soon after they arrived CIVISA, a Valencian construction company that owns some plots in the same area organised a meeting: “We became aware of what CIVISA calls a “re-urbanisation”. They were planning to build 800 apartments and we were supposed to pay for the cost of the redevelopment” said Glenn.


Glenn explained that CIVISA divided El Pinar into distinct development areas and although their plot was not in the undeveloped section, they were expected to contribute to the building project. He said: “Eight hundred apartments were going to be built. We were supposed to pay for that. They warned us that those who could not afford to pay would be expropriated.” For the moment, CIVISA´s project is on-hold, but Glenn Marshall believes their problems are not over: “I know that I’ll have to fight because CIVISA has invested a lot of money here.”


The Marshall’s case is only one of the thousands happening in Spain. The neighbours’ association to which they belong joined AUN, a group of small associations fighting against this problem. In 2003 AUN made a formal complaint to the European Parliament which resulted in three fact-finding missions and a series of recommendations to the Spanish government that they must change the law. This resulted in new measures being introduced that have not helped. In fact, the problem seems to be spreading with land-grab problems reported in other parts of Spain.


Labour MEP Michael Cashman, who has been deeply involved in trying to solve the problem, said: “The increase in petitions we are receiving from other parts of Spain - Madrid, Murcia, Andalucía, suggests that other regions are falling into the same traps encountered in Valencia."


Last year, the European Commission referred Spain to the European Court of Justice. That body is yet to act but it seems that if appropriate legal modifications are not made, a legal penalty will be enforced.


Find out more about the problem here: thisismoney.co.uk

D'OFFAY NICE OF YOU

by Katie Smyth

SquareOne Entertainment

The donation of a major new international collection of art valued at £125 million was announced last month at Edinburgh's Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

'Artist Rooms' is being created through a donation made by collector Anthony d'Offay and his wife Anne who amassed the collection of 725 pieces over a period of 28 years.

Secretary of state for culture, media and sport Andy Burnham said: “We would need to look back to the late 19th century or the early 20th century with the likes of Sir Henry Tate to see a similar sized gesture.”

The concept behind the exhibition is a series of 50 individual touring rooms devoted to 25 artists and will include works by Joseph Beuys, Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol. An additional seven artists will be represented in exhibitions throughout the country.

The collection is to be owned and managed jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and will tour throughout Britain to a wide range of partner galleries.

Further information can be found at www.nationalgalleries.org.