Families allowed on Fife beach awash with radiation

THE clean-up of a Fife beach has been halted putting families at risk of potentially lethal radiation.

For years radioactive waste has been found at the beach in Dalgety Bay which is thought to come from the luminous dials of wrecked warplanes.

Defence Estates, the MoD’s land agents, began removing the material two years ago after experts warned it posed a serious risk.

But now the clean-up has been halted and no agreement has been reached with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to resume, despite warnings the problem is set to get worse.

Video: Colourful giraffes take over Stockbridge

A PARADE of giraffes took to the streets of Edinburgh yesterday (Thur) to celebrate local businesses and raise money for charity.

The 5ft figures were decorated in a range of different colours and styles to represent the 40 businesses in Stockbridge taking part.

Comedian Craig Hill launched the event which saw the giraffes marching with a little help from their owners.

They ranged from GI Giraffe – a giraffe decorated in army paint to represent Edinburgh City Boot Camps to Queen Elizabeth- and the regal giraffe decorated with a collar, pearls and a crown for The Bead Shop.

One of the giraffes was signed by Tears of a Giraffe author Alexander McCall Smith and another by the Scottish rugby team.

REPORT: Amanda MacMillan

Some-fin special for Christmas

SHOPPERS are being offered the chance to snap up a Christmas present with a little more bite this year – shark diving.

Deep Sea World at North Queensferry in Fife say they are cutting prices in the hope a dive with the feared beasts at Scotland’s national aquarium may hook those looking for the special something.

The aquarium based in the waters if the Firth of Forth is the only place in Scotland where it is possible to get up close and personal with the notoriously feared water creatures.

Adult divers are able to swim alongside three-metre-long sand tiger sharks, giant stingrays and many other sharks, rays and other fish species including angel sharks, tope and bull huss.

Man asleep while pan of food catches fire in flat

A DOZY diner had a lucky escape when he was saved by his neighbour’s fire alarm in the flat upstairs after he fell asleep while cooking a snack.

The 24-year-old was out for the count when smoke began belching from his kitchen in Bothwell Street in Edinburgh around 5am.

No fire alarm was fitted in his own home.

But the blaze tripped the detector in the house upstairs and his neighbours alerted the fire brigade while trying to wake him.

Thieves target charity shops in Kirkcaldy

STAFF are calling for tighter security measures after a string of charity shops were robbed in Kirkcaldy.

Charity boxes and clothes have been stolen from shops in the town’s High Street.

One of the shops which has been badly hit is the DebRA store – which supports families affected by rare genetic skin condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).

The shop has been targeted on many occasions and in the most recent case a collection box was stolen.

Michelle Carr, manager of the shop, said: “We are trying to struggle on – particularly in this difficult financial climate – but this is killing us.

Giraffes march down Edinburgh street for charity

A PARADE of giraffes took to the streets of Edinburgh yesterday (Thur) to celebrate local businesses and raise money for charity.

The 5ft figures were decorated in a range of different colours and styles to represent the 40 businesses in Stockbridge taking part.

Comedian Craig Hill launched the event which saw the giraffes marching with a little help from their owners.

They ranged from GI Giraffe – a giraffe decorated in army paint to represent Edinburgh City Boot Camps to Queen Elizabeth- and the regal giraffe decorated with a collar, pearls and a crown for The Bead Shop.

Oil leak starts fire in Fife power station

MULTIPLE emergency service crews attended a fire in a Scottish Power station which was believed to have been started by an oil leak.

Longannet coal power station – about two miles from Kincardine in Fife – caused serious concern after a fire broke out in the main turbine hall.

Emergency services were called at 11.31am yesterday to deal with the blaze.

Derek McRoberts, a lorry driver for Gogar Logistics, said: “I was leaving the power station when it happened but I saw a lot of smoke and the fire alarms were going off and then when I was coming back I saw a few fire engines about.

A pensioner chases yobs, dies twice and survives

A PENSIONER is recovering in hospital after he “died twice” following his brave pursuit of couple of troublesome teenagers from his home.

The 65 year-old, David Alexander showed no fear with his reaction to chase the teenagers who had thrown vegetable missiles at his home in West Lothian.

Mr Alexander suffered a heart attack and collapsed on his home street, Honeyman Court, in Armadale, West Lothian while running after the two boys who had launched peppers at his windows on Sunday evening.

Paramedics saved the man from death twice during treatment he received at the scene.  Mr Alexander was then taken to St John’s Hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

Candlestick designed by wife of Rennie Macintosh sells for £52,000

A CANDLESTICK designed by the wife of Charles Rennie Mackintosh has been sold for £52,000 almost three times its value, in Edinburgh yesterday (Wed).

The antique was designed by Margaret MacDonald, later wife of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and her sister Frances who later married Herbert MacNair.

The piece, valued at £20,000 was made in the sisters’ studio, 128 Hope Street, Glasgow where they had lived for a short time after they had completed their studies at the Glasgow School of Art.

The two couples met at the Glasgow School of Art, where Mackintosh and MacNair studied architecture.  The artists later became known as the loose collective “The Four”. 

Woman who died in house fired named

A woman who died following a house fire in the capital was today (Wed) named as 35-year-old Stephanie Foley from Cumnor Crescent, Edinburgh.

The fire occurred within a property in Fernieside Avenue in the early hours of Monday 8th November.

Ms Foley attempted to escape the flames by exiting via a first floor window.

She was taken to the ERI where she later died.

A 40-year-old man was also taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire or Ms Foley’s death and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

REPORT: Peter Laing