Posts by Peter Ranscombe
School art competition launched
THE Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has launched its school art competition. The contest is open to pupils at schools in Aberdeenshire, Angus, and Perth & Kinross. Pupils can enter by creating a piece of art that shows “their favourite species of British game or wildlife in its natural habitat”. This year’s awards ceremony…
Read MoreScots get adventurous in new film
TOURISM body Wild Scotland has released a film encouraging locals and visitors to try its members’ adventurous activities. Nurture Your Adventurous Spirit – which is available on YouTube or below – features wildlife and adventure tourism operators from throughout Scotland. They include Nikki Dayton-Gelati from Wilder Ways, which runs horseback archery courses in Southend on…
Read MoreCockade from George IV visit rediscovered
A COCKADE worn during the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh 200 years ago this week has been found. Curator Helen Edwards found the silk cockade and a silver saltire and thistle badge while sorting through files and boxes in the Museum of Edinburgh. After some detective work, staff worked out that the items…
Read MoreRed deer project helps count elephants from space
A GLASWEGIAN company that tracked red deer in Scotland is now using its techniques to help protect elephants in Africa. Eolas Insight uses data from satellites to track the elephants as they roam around a national park in Southern Mozambique. The business developed its methods during the CivTech programme, when it helped NatureScot – the…
Read MoreFRINGE REVIEW: “Nyctophilia”
Nyctophilia – Venue 236 – Greenside @ Infirmary Street – Olive Studio – 22.10pm AS SOMEONE who is both afraid and intrigued by the night, I went into this vaguely described show with slight apprehension. Was I about to be spooked? Were there going to be campfire tales told in stage whispers? Was there going…
Read MoreFRINGE REVIEW: “Sam See: Government Approved Sex”
Sam See: Government Approved Sex – Venue 170: Laughing Horse @ Counting House – The Attic – 7.30pm STOOD in front of a small, cramped, and oppressively-warm room in the Counting House’s Attic was Singaporean comedian Sam See with a half-delighted, half-apologetic smile on his face as he warned people to grab drinks before he…
Read MoreFRINGE REVIEW: “Afghanistan is Not Funny”
Afghanistan is Not Funny – Venue 14: Gilded Balloon Teviot – Dining Room – 4pm I CAN’T think of any occasion that, in this case, the sole actor of a production has left the stage at the end of a performance as the lights dim and there is a total silence in the auditorium. Not…
Read MoreFRINGE REVIEW: “Hiya Dolly!”
Hiya Dolly! – Venue 53: theSpace @ Surgeons Hall – Grand Theatre – 8pm ONE of my abiding memories of work experience with The Scotsman newspaper was visiting the Roslin Institute, the research centre that created Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. There’s something magic about the place,…
Read MoreFRINGE REVIEW: “Thor and Freya: Norse as F*ck”
Thor and Freya: Norse as F*ck – Venue 85: Laughing Horse @ City Cafe – Nineties – 9.55pm SUDDENLY, I feel very old. Not only because I’m about to qualify to do stand-up at “Ageing Folks Telling Jokes: The Best Comics over 40” (Ageing? Forty!) but because I’ve glimpsed the future – and that future…
Read MoreThree wines to toast International Prosecco Day
Drinks blogger James Robertson selects three sparklers to celebrate tomorrow’s International Prosecco Day. IN LIGHT of the fact that 13 August is International Prosecco Day, here are three excellent examples of this delightful sparkling wine from Northern Italy. Prosecco – so often ridiculed – should be taken far more seriously. Named after the village of…
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