Big Walk in Portobello

The Big Walk, organised by the Eden Project came to Portobello today. Beforehand I must admit to being a little cynical, thinking it sounded a little like one of these top-down, parachuted-in things that gets 'public' money (well, Lottery funds anyway) to pay salaries for some people to do things for local people whether they want it or not. Partly informed by what I'd heard about the event as they tried to arrange local community groups to do things but with next to no notice and no offers of funding to help with the costs involved. Going up to the Seafield end of the Prom it seemed like there were almost as many organisers/volunteers from the Big Walk as there were 'locals'. Still, I had an interesting chat with a couple of women from the Cat and Dog Home about their ideas for a mural on the wall of the home, currently covered in graffiti tags. My cynicism was waning and a few more people arrived and gloves, bags and 'grabbers' were handed out for them to start a litter pick, before the walkers arrived. The main man is Angus, pictured here later in the day, who set off from Morecambe to walk home to Dundee. Three other walkers set off at the same time to walk to London, Cardiff and Belfast respectively, each one visiting many places on their way, to connect with local community groups. Angus and the others joined in the litter picking as we headed along the Prom. We stopped at the Beach Wheelchairs newly painted container for a chat and a photo and then continued along the Prom to the Joppa end of the Prom. There was a bit of singing at the 'bandstand' - joining in a little-to-loud PA but best when there was no accompaniment and the woman leading us sang alone to get us started. Then we headed back along the Prom towards the 'community hub' where local groups had been encouraged to set up stalls explaining what they do. There were just a few, as well as someone leading some yoga on the beach, but on the way there I had a really good chat with Angus. That's when it all really made sense - his enthusiasm for the walk, the way he was connecting with different people on his journey and helping them to connect with each other. He said they have secured funding to do it again, so maybe next time they visit Portobello there will be rather more going on.
In the evening L and I went to the 48 Hour Film Project Awards night, where we met up with S. It was a good evening, rounding off the event, one week after our day of filming. The host, S, was excellent, encouraging us all to network with people we'd never met before. The three of us talked to filmmakers who had made interesting films that we liked, and pleasingly they also remembered our little film too. Not surprisingly we didn't win any of the awards in our first year - many of the winners seemed to be teams and people who had taken part, and won things, before and therefore had more experience. Also it seems, more people involved as our team of six did seem to be one of the smaller teams taking part. We had a good chat afterwards and I think we are all keen to enter again next year!