Our occupiers work hard to deliver cutting-edge science, but need time to unwind too; as the proverb goes ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. Here at Edinburgh Technopole, we do everything we can to provide some light relief for our occupiers and support the local community, having a lot of fun along the way, as our recent activities show.
We’re lucky enough to work in a beautiful parkland location, and invited local photographers to capture the spirit of Edinburgh Technopole, submitting their favourite images taken during the spring and summer to win Amazon vouchers to the value of £500, with vouchers worth £250 for the runner up and the winner of a special category for children under 13 years of age. Despite the poor weather, the competition attracted high calibre entries, which were judged by Janet Bee, the editor of the Midlothian Advertiser. First prize in the adult section went to Stuart Marshall for his entry entitled Mini Planet, with Jon-Paul Purnell’s image of yellow lichen coming second. The winner of the U13 category was nine-year old Ava Marshall, who captured Bush House at sunset. Thank you to everyone who entered, and congratulations to the winners.
It’s important to find time to let off steam and, with that in mind, teams from companies based at Edinburgh Technopole and the neighbouring Roslin Institute and Pentlands Science Park, along with their supporters, got together on August the 29th for an ‘It’s a Knockout’ style fun day and barbeque in aid of Cash for Kids. Over 200 participants took up the challenge, negotiating large inflatable obstacles, some filled with water or foam, literally jumping through hoops and even dressing up as sausages! Nurture Landscapes – attired as flowers – came out on top, and celebrated with a bottle of champagne. The hugely successful event raised over £3,000 for Cash for Kids, and the overriding response from everyone that took part was ‘When can we do the next one?’.
Nurture Landscapes was also involved in a project to make our parkland environment even more attractive than it already is, donating bulbs and seeds that were planted by children from Glencorse Primary School on October the 11th. Our team spent a brilliant – if muddy! – morning with the children, planting 1,500 native Scottish bluebells deep in the Edinburgh Technopole woodland, as well as thousands of red, orange, dark purple and mauve poppies to create a memorial garden, before returning to Bush House for lunch and cupcakes. We look forward to enjoying a colourful floral display next year.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this snapshot of our recent activities and look forward to telling you about other events we have in the pipeline as they happen. Watch this space!
06/11/19
