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Our Summer Showcase shines brighter than ever!
Our Summer Showcase shines brighter than ever!
Everyone’s happy place.
It’s already been over a week since our 2025 Summer Showcase and the team have been reflecting on its success.
‘It makes you proud to be a part of the Grassmarket Community Project. The Showcase was fantastic, it was the biggest and best attended yet.’ Usman, Project Worker
On a warm, unusually muggy Thursday evening in July, we had more visitors than ever attend the Centre for our annual Showcase. They included a wide range of our partners, members, volunteers, supporters, funders, family and friends. We had more members proudly exhibiting their works and performing and we raised more money than in previous years.
As everyone arrived, they were greeted by volunteer member Frank’s mesmerising piano playing, it is unbelievable that someone with so much talent is self-taught! Our fabulous Coffee Saints team ensured everyone was welcomed with refreshments and canapes.
Guests could then marvel at the many displays as members shared their Grassmarket experiences and inspiring personal stories. Oot the Box team showed the range of activities undertaken by our young people’s group whilst a colourful range of craft and sewing skills were evident at the Make and Mend table. The Art table showed off our members’ talents in a range of media and volunteer Sophie, encouraged visitors to have a go at art themselves. Normally nurtured by members in Greyfriars Churchyard, a wide variety of herbs were on display, along with explanations of their medicinal properties
In the main entrance, our Tartan workshop and the Woodwork social enterprises exhibited and quickly sold from the range of goods produced by volunteers and members.
Our CEO Helene officially launched the evening by thanking everyone for coming and reminded guests of the many successes of our year. There was a special shout of for our fabulous skiff build which shows that anything can be achieved with determination (https://grassmarket.org/skiff-story-part-three/). It says a lot about the Grassmarket that our CEO stated, not for the first time, that GCP is her ‘happy place’, a sentiment echoed by everyone in the room.
After the speech, member performances began. Led by volunteer Calum and lead singer, Linda, the band sang several original songs, which they are hoping to record, and finished with a poignant sing-a-long to ‘Let it Be’.
A definite highlight of the evening followed as Perry, the Head of Member Services, launched the first Grassmarket Poetry book and four members recited their heartfelt poems. The book contains over 50 poems from 35 different poets and 15 illustrators. It is well worth a read as Editor and Publisher, Jenny Renton, Main Point Book Publishers said, ‘…the poems in this book are first class, the poets are quite brilliant.’ For more information and to purchase your copy go to https://grassmarket.org/poetry-from-the-heart/
Time flew by and there was no mistaking the pride in the faces of our staff and members at all that had been achieved over the last year; the hard work preparing for the Showcase had been worth it – in fact the only criticism of the evening was that the overly warm weather – unusual for Edinburgh!
Perry, Head of Member Services reflected at the end, ‘I am so proud of all we have achieved. It is important for our members to be able to step back and see the fantastic work they have created, reflect on the experiences they have had and how they have grown over the year. I can’t wait to see what we all achieve together in the future – roll on the next Summer Showcase, I have a feeling it is going to be bigger and better than ever.’
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