Hello and welcome to our spring newsletter. It is lovely to see the sun shining. We are very pleased to be taking part in the Year of the Young People and the Photography Exhibition was our first event. This was a powerful and emotional exhibition that allowed some of our young people to express their feelings around parental substance use. Calum, Alex, Jack and Meghan did a fantastic job and left a lasting impression on all who came along. Thank you to North Edinburgh Arts for giving us the exhibition space for 6 weeks. We plan to have other events throughout the year, so please keep an eye out for those.

I would like to thank a number of people for their on-going support to Circle. Firstly, Forth Cash for Kids who have donated money to pay for family passes to Five Sisters Zoo and Almond Valley Heritage Centre. They have also funded our Haven Project’s summer programme, particularly the Storytelling Week during which children and their families work with an author to create their very own book. This is such a great way to encourage children to take an interest in reading and writing. I would also like to thank Wild about Scotland who have donated 60 tickets for Edinburgh Zoo and to PwC who donated 150 Pantomime tickets for the Wizard of Oz. All of this support has allowed Circle families to have fun days out and to make special memories. Also a big thank you to Whitburn Academy who through the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative won £3,000 for Circle. Well done to those young people who worked hard on our behalf.

Congratulations to Lyndsay Fraser Robertson who has now had her report published showing her findings from The Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship. Lyndsay has presented her findings at a variety of forums and plans to disseminate her work further.

I would also like to welcome Darren Pike as our new Income Generation Manager and Mark Kennedy as our new Operations Manager. Both are a welcome addition to the management team and we are delighted to see them in post.

Enjoy the newsletter and, as always, if you have any questions or would like to get more involved with our activities, please do get in touch.