Bonfire Night was lovely in Niddrie.
Although police vans were dispersed up and down Niddrie Mains Road, fireworks lit up the sky of what was a cold, but fun, peaceful night.
On the western edge of the neighbourhood, Sandy’s Community Centre held their third annual Community Campfire, where a thousand members of the community gathered for food, live music and performances.
Hosted by Edinburgh Food Social, Craigmillar Castle Park and the community centre, the firework-free event topped last year’s success, as locals looked to dispel negative connotations associated with this particular night in the area.
“Over a number of years, the gradual build-up of quite severe anti-social behaviour on Bonfire Night led to a decision from multiple services in the community to find a solution,” says Jeannie Robertson-Frazier, chairperson of Sandy’s Community Centre Board of Trustees.
After the incidents in Niddrie in 2023 and the riot-like disorder that led to injuries and arrests, Jeannie said the community got together and decided they wanted to do something that would allow families to enjoy the night without having to sit in their homes, frightened by what might happen on the streets.
“We wanted to offer people of Craigmillar something different to the trouble that might or might not occur,” she says.
Kirsty Haigh, head of Edinburgh Food Social, says when they first started out in 2024 they felt they were being optimistic thinking 200 people would turn out, but 400 came. Last year, she said they had to turn people away because they ended up welcoming 900 people in the centre.
“I think everybody in the area really wants to get behind this being positive and exciting and coming together to have some fun,” Kirsty says. “So many people from the community are involved in hosting the event, it’s a real community initiative.”
She thought that for people in the community, this was their way of saying that if they came together, they could do things differently.
“We can have a fun and exciting event,” Kirsty says. “Through all those things, through teamwork and optimism, I think that’s what’s led to such a wonderful event.”
Standing in the entrance to the community centre, Jeannie ushered in volunteers arriving to help in the kitchen and hand out food to the line of community members forming in the main hall.
“It is indeed a busy place and luckily, we’re quite a busy community centre, which is why it’s exciting and a privilege to be doing this.”
More than 1100 people were expected to join the festivities last night, many of which were families with young children. If they weren’t enjoying the food or the many performances around the grounds, many families simply enjoyed roasting marshmallows over the fire pits.
Sharing her feelings about the growth of the event in the last couple of years, Jeannie felt proud of the community organisations coming together to put this on, noting she was only a tiny part of it as the chairperson of a community centre.
“The people who do the work and put their hearts, their creativity, and their best efforts into it are all of Sandy’s staff and the staff and volunteers of the other organisations, they make this happen,” she said. “I am grateful for the people of Craigmillar, who choose to come and have a good night with other members of their community.”
While the event started at 5pm, by 5:30 you could start hearing fireworks go off across the area, many in sight of the Sandy’s Community Centre.
There was obviously a twinge of anxiety in the air as Jeannie noted that all across Scotland, people are still concerned by the implications of Bonfire Night.
Back in June, Edinburgh Council had announced the city would expand firework control zones.
In Niddrie, this zone started from Craigmillar Castle Road and covered most of the neighbourhood’s main arteries and sites, such as Castlebrae Community Campus and St Francis Roman Catholic School.
These measures, carried out by Police Scotland’s Dispersal Zones and other enforcement activity through Operation Moonbeam, formed “part of a coordinated approach to preventing disorder and protecting the public.”
Ahead of Bonfire Night, Police Scotland reiterated that breaking the firework laws could result in up to 6 months imprisonment and fines up to £5000.
“Obviously, the police are concerned,” Jeannie says. “They’re drafting in forces from down south to increase the number of bodies to handle anything. Hopefully they’ll go home after an uneventful evening.”
As far as the Community Campfire went, Kirsty said they’d had absolutely no worries any of the other years, so it wasn’t something they were worried about at all.
“People come here and they bring their best attitudes and their community spirit and that’s something we’re always really excited about,” she says.
While police were present in the area late into the night, there seemed to be no misuse of fireworks or anti-social behaviour. There were sustained fireworks across the neighbourhood but none of them seemed to come from within the control zone, and all of them were pointed upwards.
“One of the things that I have thought about for a number of years when you see young people creating their own excitement, I think we’ve abandoned our young people largely,” she says. “I don’t think young people get enough services, enough access to legitimate, exciting, risky adventures.”
She recalls an earlier conversation with a community member who reminisced on camping opportunities they’d had with army cadets back in the day.
“Various exciting things were available to people back then,” she says. “Where they got to feel a bit at risk, where they got to feel a bit brave and strong, legitimately.”
While Niddrie was peaceful, by 8pm other parts of town saw minor clashes with police. In Colinton Mains, emergency response vehicles were targeted by a few fireworks. While Edinburgh’s police commander Chief Superintendent David Robertson acknowledged the targeting of emergency services workers was “very concerning”, he stressed the night had been relatively peaceful, saying the disorder had been in “one area. It was localised. It was short-lived”.
Jeannie says she doesn’t believe young people are bad. “I think they’re just trying to send us a message, whether they know it or not,” she adds with a smile.
The night was a great success for the community in Craigmillar and Niddrie last night. Kirsty said that came from the people.
“It’s just amazing how many people are a part of this,” she says. “Anyone and everyone in the community got involved, that’s the success of it.”
