Gayle's Guide ✨ 14th June 24
Issue 10 - Edinburgh Canal Festival, Davidson's Mains Children's Gala, Father's Day Takeover, new ASN Stuff page and much more!
In case you've forgotten, it's Father's Day on Sunday. There’s plenty going on again this week, particularly at the weekend so read on for some suggestions of fun family outings to celebrate the Dad in your life. And here's a few nice books if you need to panic buy a last minute present from the kids. I’ve had a belter of a cold and sore throat the last few days so please forgive any typos. I’m a shell of my former self.
Also, for anyone interested, I have added a *work in progress* 🌻 ASN Stuff tab to the home page. Have a look here:
Gayle’s Guide is free for everyone but incredibly, I got my first three paid subscribers after last week's newsletter! 🎉 I want to say a massive thank you for your support and validation. Ye are the best!
Saturday 15th
🎪 Corstorphine Summer Fete 10.00-15.00 🆓
📍 Corstorphine Community Centre
Promising alpacas (!), games, tombola, music, home baking and even a Lego contest where P3-P7 kids can compete for prizes (pre booking required for this).
🐝 Dino’s Free Drop In: Pollinators 10.00-16.00 🆓
📍 Dynamic Earth, Holyrood
Dynamic Earth runs weekly science clubs on Saturdays but for the next two weeks, they’re doing free drop in sessions to try before you buy. Kids attending this session will be able to learn all about the importance of pollinators, build a bug hotel and make a bee keychain.
☀️ Inch House Community Centre Summer Fair 10.30-15.30 🆓
Yes, another summer fair! You know the drill by now.
♻️ Kin Swap & Share 11.00 - 13.00 🆓
📍 Kin Collective, Leith
The lovely Kathryn, from Kin Collective gave me the heads up about this a couple of weeks ago and I was (and am) amazed at what a fantastic idea it is! They have been accepting donations of maternity, baby and children’s items for the last couple of weeks and on Saturday, will open their doors to anyone wishing to take items for their family, by donation or free of charge if needs be. Any leftovers will be donated to local charities so as many items get rehomed as possible.
🎠 Davidson’s Mains Children’s Gala 12.00-16.00 🆓
📍 Lauriston Castle
This looks fantastic and jam packed with fun like races, a fancy dress competition, music, magic, circus, dancing, face painting, a fun fair and alpacas (lots of alpacas about today!) to name but a few from the extensive list. There will also be a parade starting at 11.30 too so check out details on the website.
🛶 Edinburgh Canal Festival 12.00-17.00 🆓
📍 Union Canal (between Lochrin Basin and Harrison Park)
We’ve gone to this for years and it is such a lovely atmosphere, especially watching the raft race to see the ingenious and sometimes downright ridiculous vessels hurtling down the canal. There’s always at least someone who ends up in the drink! *EDIT* I’ve just spotted that the days of makeshift and hazardous rafts are behind us. This year, the rafts and safety equipment will be provided to entrants. I mean, I get it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that nobody’s dodgy dingy is going to sink. It’s the end of an era. A ridiculous and very possibly dangerous era.
🎻 Family Ceilidh 14.30/15.45
📍 The Church of the German Speaking Congregation, Marchmont
We took our daughter and her friends to one of these family ceilidhs last month and it was so much fun! The dances are highly simplified so even very young children can keep up and the caller Caroline even had the crowd do a special birthday dance for our little girl. We'll definitely go again!
Sunday 16th
🍕 Father’s Day Takeover! 10.00-12.30 🆓
📍 Saughton Park & Gardens Gorgie Memorial Hall (moved indoors ☔)
All are welcome to join the team at Dad’s Rock (more at the end of the newsletter) for some family fun in honour of Dad! There will be lots of family fun, games and amazingly, free pizza so please donate to the charity if you’re able so they can continue their great work.
🚣🏻 Rowing Boats 14.00-17.00
📍Harrison Park West, Shandon
If you didn't make it to the canal festival yesterday, this is another nice option for a dad's day outing. Drift along on the picturesque Union Canal on a sweet little blue row boat. My husband and I took our 3½ year old out in one the day before he became a dad again and it was lots of fun, even with the possible threat of an unplanned water birth. Warning: rowing is harder than it looks so watch out for the ducklings!
🥁 Leith Festival Tattoo 15.00-17.00 🆓
📍 Malmaison Plaza, The Shore
It's the last day of Leith Festival and this musical display with pipes, drums and dancing will round off the event for another year. If you've never been to the Shore, I highly recommend it, feels a bit like being on holiday if the weather's nice.
Monday 17th
🍿 Super Why’s Comic Adventures 11.00
📍 Cameo Picturehouse, Tollcross
Head along to the Cameo’s fortnightly Toddler Time screenings where this week they will be showing 30mins of Super Why’s Comic Adventures. Tickets are £4 and adults go free so a good way to introduce little ones to the cinema.
Tuesday 18th
📚 Storytime 16.00 🆓
📍 Portobello Library
This weekly session showcases some wonderful children’s books and the library is just a stones throw away from the beach and some excellent cafes. Great for a mid-week treat.
Wednesday 19th
🎨 Messy Tots (6-24m) 10.00
📍 Joy Tots, Ferry Road
This weekly session has a changing selection of baby safe stuff to mess about in like edible paint, rainbow rice, a pasta pit, water play and even jelly. Option to stay and play after with coffee and cake for an additional fiver and the best bit, no cleaning up after.
💻 Prewired 17.30-19.30 🆓
📍 CodeBase, Castle Terrace
This volunteer run, weekly class for under 19s supports young coders of all abilities to develop new skills. Under 11s need a guardian to remain with them but this is optional for 11 and older.
Thursday 20th
🇦🇺 Bluey's Big Play 20th - 23rd June
📍 Festival Theatre, Nicolson St
I heard about this months ago from a child-free colleague of my husband who went with his niece and he raved about it, having never seen a Bluey in his life so I think it's going to be a good one. There's a few tickets left if you have a Bluey obsessed kid like I do and cash to burn. Top Tip: ask the grandparents for tickets as a birthday present. The kids have too many toys already!
🇸🇪 Midsummer Event 18.00-20.00
📍 IKEA, Straiton
£8.95 gets you a 3 course meal and kids under 16 eat free at this Swedish celebration of Midsummer. Includes a flower crown workshop, traditional maypole and of course, an Abba tribute band. What more could you want on a school night?
Friday 21st
🇺🇦 Family Fun Day 13.00-16.00 🆓
📍 AUGB, Royal Terrace
Part of the Refugee Festival Scotland, this family fun day at the Association of Ukrainians GB will have crafts, games and food and aims to bring together families of New Scots with the wider community.
🎸 Finally… Dads Rock!
I’ve featured a few events from Dads Rock in the newsletter so far so since it’s Father’s Day, I thought I’d shine a wee spotlight on this amazing charity who just happens to be running a Father’s Day Appeal. The charity aims to improve outcomes for children in Scotland by providing support to Dads and families. Here’s how they do just that:
Dad Groups - Weekly groups for Dads/male carers and Children (0-5yrs).
Parenting Workshops - Monthly workshops for all Dads.
Young Dads - 1:1 support for vulnerable Dads aged 25 and under.
Music Tuition - Weekly lessons for Young people (7yrs+) and families.
P.S. Dads Rock - Peer support service for New Dads.
That's all folks. Get in touch if you have any events you'd like to share with Gayle's Guide readers!
We saw the Bluey play a few months ago in Kent - and it's great!