the bugle #01

We talked to Mark, Pro-

ject Worker at Bethany

House, to find out how

dyslexia has affected

him.

When did you first find

out that you were

dyslexic?

I first found out that I was dyslexic when I was in Pri-mary 2 and I wasn‟t able to keep up with the other boys & girls in the class. At that time some of the

teachers thought that I was dyslexic, some of them thought that I was bone idol - because at that time there was still a debate about whether dyslexia

was a real problem.

What is dyslexia?

When they test you to see you if you are dyslexic they look at different things and then it‟s a com-bination of different symp-toms. I can‟t hear sharp sounds like “sh” or “ss” so I can‟t spell them. At college

I was tested and told that I

Defeating Dyslexia

Edinburgh Hosts Homeless World Cup John Cooks writes about his experience of The Homeless World Cup, which took place earlier this summer in Edin-burgh’s Princes St Gar-dens. The Italians were the proud winners. They received the trophy that is pictured. Scotland came in fourth.

James from PIE (Partners In

Education) got in touch with me to see if I would be interested in getting involved with the Homeless World Cup 2005, so I said of course I would like to be in involved in it.

At first we arranged to

have a meeting at the of-

fice where we met a man

that does freelance re-

ports for newspapers, so

W R IT T E N A N D P U T TO G E T H E R B Y T HE B E T H A N Y P R E S S T E AM

have a specific learning

disability that manifests

itself in a dyslexic form. If

you look at the word dys-

lexia in the original Greek

it means „difficulty with

words‟.

How did your dyslexia

affect you at school ?

It affected my reading &

writing. Academically I

wasn‟t the same level as

the other kids in the class.

There can be a stigma at-

tached to dyslexia. You

are sometimes perceived

to be not as intelligent as

November 2005

Volume 1, Issue 1

Homeless Football World Cup

7

Jimmy’s column: Life Matters

2

Edinburgh’s Grave-robbers

3

Experiences of Homelessness

4-5

Introducing Sunshine On Leith Action Group

7

Football Word-search 6

How to get involved 8

Inside this issue:

Ph

oto

gra

ph

y b

y S

pectru

m P

ress T

ea

m

other folk, even though

that‟s not the case. As a

kid that was a big thing

for me and so I felt stupid

and I felt thick.

How does your dyslexia

affect you in your work?

Now I have control of my

dyslexia, I‟ve beaten it. I

have voice software – I

have a programme called

Dragon Naturally Speak-

ing and I talk to my com-

puter and make the re-

ports for Bethany that

way. The other thing with

dyslexia, or with other

learning disabilities to do

with reading and writing,

is that the more you read

and the more you write

the better you become.

Doing this job there is an

awful lot of paperwork

involving reading and

writing all the time, and

that helps as well.

Have you developed spe-

cial ways of coping with

your dyslexia?

Dyslexic people generally

have very good coping

mechanisms. My organisa-

tional skills are very good

and I‟m very good at

planning things and time

management. If things are

disorganised or untidy I

get stressed out – that‟s to

do with my dyslexia. If

everything is well organ-

ised I can deal with one

thing at a time.

When I first came to Edin-

burgh and was learning

the bus routes I would go

by the number on the

buses, not the name. If I

was going to the bank, I

would have a cheque writ-

ten before I go in. If any-

one would give me appli-

cation forms to fill in I

would take them away

and fill them in at home.

Have you got anything

you would say to other

people with dyslexia?

Just fight it and take hold

of it. It is a hard struggle

and if that child was a

different colour from the

rest of their family, then

the child would feel left

out and have a problem

with its identity.

There was a story of two

sisters, one black and one

white and both of them

had been at each others

throat for years because

of their colour and identity

but both of them admitted

that it was time to try and

sort things out. So they met

each other on neutral

ground and began to talk.

There were tears and an-

ger but this gave way to

them making up with each

other after thirty years.

Some of us are very quick

to judge our fellow person

because of their colour,

beliefs and race.

But really if we could get

on well with each other

and tried to show each

other the love that Christ

showed then the world

would be a happier place

to live in.

We all have our differ-

ences and like to think

we‟re special. Maybe we

could come together one

day and put aside our

problems.

Whenever you see a per-

son from Pakistan, a Black

person or a Chinese per-

son, do you think “Paki”,

“Nigger” or “Chink”? If

you do then you have a

racial problem. Although

we don‟t like to admit it

we all have a bit of racism

in us. I watched a docu-

mentary programme on

television one night and it

was about mixed mar-

riages and the twin chil-

dren they had because of

this marriage. One child

would sometimes be black

and the other white.

Especially when the child

was young and at school

Life Matters: Black and White Jimmy McCurdie

continued Defeating Dyslexia

The Bugle Volume 1, Issue 1

“Although we don’t

like to admit it we

all have a bit of

racism in us.”

at times, but I decided

that I didn‟t want anything

to beat me and I kept

battling against it. Read-

ing and writing as much as

you can is very good. At

times that can be very,

very frustrating, but keep

doing it and you‟ll see the

benefits.

Mark was interviewed by

John Cook.

then you‟ve got to pay for it. When people receive your money they will send you your items. It will take 1-4 weeks for your item to be delivered. What is your top tip for someone starting to use E-Bay? If you are paying by debit card make sure you‟ve got money in your account be-fore you click on “pay” for an item.

John Cook’s interest in

the story of Burke and

Hare began when he

went on a canal boat trip

in Ratho. There he saw

the 12 foot sculpture of

Burke and Hare, carved

from an Elm tree by

sculptor Robert Coia.

William Burke 36 years of

age was born in the parish

of Orrey, county Tyrone

(Ireland). He later served

7 years in the army. He

was married at Ballinha, in

the county of Mayo, but

left his wife and two chil-

dren in Ireland. He came

to Scotland to work on the

Union Canal.

Burke and Hare were nav-

vies (navigators who dug

the canals), before starting

a sideline in grave rob-

bing and murder for which

they are better known.

William Hare had also

journeyed from Ireland to

Scotland to work on the

Union Canal and met

Burke there. After the com-

pletion of the canal, Hare

went to Edinburgh and

found cheap lodgings in

the area known as West

Port.

In November of 1827, one

of Hare‟s lodgers, an army

pensioner named Donald,

fell ill and died. After the

authorities had been

called to fetch the man‟s

body, Hare came up with

a plan to get the money

Donald owed him. He and

Burke substituted his body

for a sackful of tarn bark

for the funeral and burial.

They sold Donald‟s body

to surgeons for dissection.

This was the first in a long

line of body snatching.

Burke and Hare realised

how much money they could

make and decided that

they had stumbled onto a

foolproof method of mur-

der.

Their next victim was an old

woman from Gilmerton who

they found in the street,

completely drunk. They

took the woman to their

den and suffocated her. It

appeared that the she had

died from illness or drunk-

enness. Burke and Hare

committed another 15 mur-

ders over the next 11

months, continuing to sell

the bodies to surgeons for

dissection.

Burke and Hare were even-

tually caught out when their

lodgers, looking for a

stocking, came across a

body.

In Burke‟s confession of the

16 murders, he denied ever

them. Paypal are the E-bay company who, when you buy your stuff, you pay through. You can use a credit or debit card. If you buy stuff outside Brit-ain you may have to pay by cash or cheque. You go on E-bay and search in the item descriptions for the item you want. You have to bid for items first. You have to put in your maxi-mum bid and if no one bids higher you win it and

Why did you start to use E-Bay? To buy Startrek memora-bilia. How do you buy some-thing on E-Bay? You need your email ad-dress and password. On the internet you first go to E-bay and open an ac-count with them and after that the Paypal details come up and you need to open an account with

E-Bay Adventure

Burke and Hare The Bugle Volume 1, Issue 1

Edinburgh’s Very Own Grave-robbers

engaging in the crime of

grave robbing. Burke and

Hare‟s wives swore that

they knew nothing about

the murders. Tens of thou-

sands of people came to

watch Burke being exe-

cuted. Hare gave evidence

against Burke and so never

faced punishment for his

crimes.

The word “Burke” still

means “to murder someone

by violent means or by

smothering.”

What’s been your best bargain? Model ships and uniforms from Startrek. Any bad purchases? No all my things I bought are great. Maybe it’s a silly ques-tion, but what are you hoping to buy next? More Startrek things.

An interview with Gordon Kerr

John Cook

“Boldly go where no man has gone before”

pected giro through the post and went to the pub and got really drunk. I didn‟t want to go home that night so I spent the night sleeping on a park bench. The following day my mum told me that she wanted me to leave. I was really upset and de-pressed once I had heard this., so I went back to the pub. Because I had no home to go to from then on I thought that this was the end of my life so I tried to kill myself by tak-ing an overdose of pills. I was taken to hospital, where they told me when I woke up that I might have liver damage. However, I had some blood tests done and luckily I didn‟t. It was at that point I knew I had

to get help. I asked my mum if she would take me to the Andrew Duncan Clinic at the Royal Edin-burgh Hospital. There I did my detox, which lasted seven days. While doing this I also went to stay at the homeless hostel called Bethany House. From the day I moved in my life totally changed. I started working on my recovery by talking to the addiction support worker called Alex who has helped me address my problems with drink and also get to the root of the problem which I now have. I also have weekly meetings with my support worker, Wendy, who has been helping me with find a flat and given me advice on starting a

Alone, lost, low, stress,

guilty, wondering, forgot-

ten, helpless, unforgiven,

outsider, ill. No one knows

how to help, no can help

because I don‟t know how

to feel or what to feel. I

don‟t know where to start.

I can‟t think as my head is

frayed to the limit and I

still have to go on the next

day. Have no time to re-

member or forget and I

can‟t go any further. I just

what to stop and find my-

self and start over, but I

can‟t. So what can I do or

where can I go? How can I

look forward when I still

look back and don‟t know

how to change or look

forward? I need help and

all I get is “how are you?”

and all I do is lie and say

“ok” or “don‟t ask” as I

know no one really wants

to know how I feel as they

have their shit and don‟t

need mine. And I try to go

every day and just wish I

am just having a night-

mare. But I am not, it‟s real

life and I can‟t cope. They

say look at what you‟ve

got not what you‟ve lost,

but when you lost the lot,

where do you look? Tell

me how can you look at

nothing? So you must start

again, but how, where and

when can you start after a

loss of the only family who

loved you? And if that isn‟t

bad enough, three months

later your dad goes. Tell

me how to look up? They

say God can help –

maybe – but if you are me

you are lost for life. But

God can help others, but

you have to believe in

God. I don‟t. But you ask

me to point you in the right

direction. That is it, be-

cause that is the only road.

I will take it one day at a

time. So let‟s get up and

run when we can. We all

start walking slow.

My addiction with alcohol started about six years ago. I was drinking all day everyday, at the weekends and every night during the week, until I lost my job because of drink driving (I was employed as a driver). I was drunk every day of the week. My problem got so bad that I found myself steal-ing money from my family and my girlfriend, just so I could drink. I was also borrowing money from friends that I knew I could-n‟t pay back. After my girlfriend split up with me I ended up at my mum‟s. I told her that I would stop drinking and get help. I managed to stay sober for about a week and a half but one day I got an unex-

Nicks’ Story

Start Walking Slow


college course and find work. Without the support from Bethany House I would still be drinking and living on the streets, or possibly be dead. Also because I am not drinking my family and friends are now learning to trust me again, and I feel healthier and I have a very positive and happy outlook on life! The reason I have written this is because if you have an addiction with drink or drugs you might not think there is a way out. How-ever, if you are aware that you have a problem you can get help if you are willing to help your-self and let others help you.

This picture was drawn by the writer of this article

Anonymous

Nick Robertson

Back at that time when I

was with people who I

thought were my friends in

the bars and at parties.

Where I‟d join in drinking

to get drunk, or smoking

joints to get high. Just to

be one of the lads, to be

accepted. Frightened of

standing out or being dif-

ferent.

I knew that there was

more that that, but like

everybody else I con-

formed. So, to fill all the

emptiness inside me, I did

what I saw everybody else

do. Make as much money

as I could, buy all the top

names, drink as much as I

could, and sleep with as

many women as I could.

Married or single, it didn‟t

matter to me.

But, still the loneliness and

the emptiness were still

there. It was not till I be-

came homeless and I sur-

rendered my life back to

Christ did I realise how

empty my life had been.

Since Christ filled my life

again, I‟ve had peace that

I never thought I‟d have

again. His grace has freed

me from sin. His love is so

outstanding that words

could not express how I

feel for him. Now I can

look people in the eyes

with the shame and guilt I

had before, gone.

Each day is a challenge,

harder than when I was in

the army. People think

being a Christian is easy.

That‟s far from the truth.

Before, if I said or acted

angry to anyone, it did not

matter. The same, if I

thought or did anything to

someone I could do what-

ever I wanted. No one to

answer to but myself. Now

all that‟s changed. Every

word, every thought, deed

and action matters.

I still trip up now and

again, but now I turn and

ask for forgiveness and

strength to overcome

whatever it is.

So instead of being lonely

even when I was with

friends, I can honestly say I

can be alone, but never

lonely. Because Christ is

my constant companion.

He‟s real and waiting at

everybody‟s side, just

A Walk in a Bar


“So instead of being

lonely even when I

was with friends, I

can honestly say I

can be alone, but

never lonely”

Gil Boyle

Recently, I went into a bar

for a drink and saw some-

thing I‟d seen hundreds of

times before. People talk-

ing, but not talking, pass-

ing their time with each

other drinking.

They sit there doing the

moves that every one of

them expects of each

other. The jokes, the ban-

ter, watching the sports

channel, and saying the

same old things said at

every bar in the world.

Each of them lost and

lonely.

I was one of the lost and

lonely. So much show. Do-

ing all the right moves like

everybody else around

me. They accepting me as

one of them.

Gil Boyle

waiting for them to turn

to Him with a true heart

and ask Him for forgive-

ness and to know Him. But

to really know Him you

have to surrender your-

self and, as the Lord‟s

Prayer says, forgive oth-

ers to receive full for-

giveness from God.

So don‟t just sit there on

the fence, He‟s waiting

for you. Take the step.

Then you will know true

peace and love with a

friend who will never de-

sert you. He never de-

serted me. I deserted Him

for 30 years, but through

His grace, He set me free

and I walk with Him

every day.

Ph

oto

gra

ph

y b

y G

raha

m W

ylie

another one was called Ar-

nie. We had to give six of

the pups away because our

house wasn‟t big enough for

eight dogs, but we did keep

one of them. The pup we

kept was Arnie. He was a

bonnie dog and by the time

he was four he was bigger

than Layla was. I remember

one day taking Arnie out

for a walk and he spotted a

cat and decided to take me

for a walk instead! I ended

up with a gravel rash on my

arm and spent a week off

school because of it. So in

the end we had to get rid

of Arnie too because he was

getting too big to be

around the house. We sent

him to work on a farm and

he is doing fine.

When Layla was twelve she

started loosing her balance

This is a story of a good

friend of mines.

I got Layla in 1991 when

she was still a pup and

since then we‟ve been the

best of friends. Me and

Layla had so much fun to-

gether, I would take her

out for walks up to the

local park and let her off

her leash and play fetch

with her and chase her,

which she loved. Layla was

an Alsatian. She was black

with brown eyes and

floppy ears and was up to

my knees in size, but she

was so gentle she wouldn‟t

hurt a fly.

When Layla was about

two years old she had

seven gorgeous pups. I

named one myself and

called it Lightening and

In Memory of a Good Friend Paul Batt

Football Word-search Malcolm Brodie


H Y R A N G E R S F E Z E D H

Q E V G U N N E R S W X H H V

W V A Q P O E R C G Q C Q T J

L E C R O F W T X T H R S D J

I R X W T F Q S Z H F E A H G

V T Z E I S B Y L B R F R M M

E O L R U I K U K A E E Y A H

R N K T H D L I H J C R H G H

P U J Y Y E J G J M Y E F P O

O I H U T A N P O N H E W I Y

O O G I R I H A H A N F E E R

L P F O T S G S G B L E C S T

E A D T E D F D F T M G T M E

R G O A L K E E P E R H B B Q

T N S S I D E L I N E K M F W

Can you find

these words:

Hearts,

Rangers,

Offside,

Magpies,

Gunners,

Hibs,

Sideline,

Goalkeeper,

Referee,

Liverpool,

Everton.

in her back legs and was

becoming deaf and blind

so my family decided to

take her on one last trip to

the beach which she loved.

But it was the day I was

working. If only I could turn

back time to that day I

would have went to the

beach with Layla so I could

see her on her last time

before she got put down. I

was upset when I heard

the news that my best

friend had been put down

and I never had the

chance to say goodbye to

her. Now I never can. But I

think of her all the time.

Layla was with me through

my life and I miss her so

much. Layla this story is for

you. Rest in peace and

goodbye my friend.

“I remember one

day taking Arnie out

for a walk and he

spotted a cat and

decided to take me

for a walk instead!”

Paul Batt

report back on this event.

We are also are looking

to organise a kids Stars In

Your Eyes, for around 9

kids from the ages of 7

years to 15 years. Again I

hope to have news on this

soon.

The group also hopes to

watch a showing of the

video from the Bethany

Stars In Your Eyes night,

the adult version.

If any one is interested in

getting involved with

S.O.L.A.G. they can con-

tact Bethany Christian Trust

Supported Accommoda-

that he could give us some

ideas on how to go about

conducting interviews with

the players, the managers,

and the organizers of the

tournament.

The big day finally came,

we were to all meet at the

office at 10am because

we had to go down to the

Pollock Halls to interview

one of the teams, but un-

fortunately we don‟t get

the interview because one

of the players broke his

ankle when training in the

morning.

I had butterflies in my

stomach as we all headed

to the Mound then on in to

Princes Street Gardens. As

we walked down the

Mound everyone stop to

admire all of the countries

that had come over to take

part in the contest.

It was a very memorable

day that I will never for-

get.

After the ceremony it was

all systems go, out with the

cameras & the video re-

corder to get it on tape. I

also had to do some inter-

views with the teams man-

agers, trainers, and so on.

The official sponsors were

Heart of Midlothian, F.C

Hibernian F.C, Ranger‟s

F.C, Inverness Caledonian

Thistle F.C & Manchester

United F.C. The other ones

were Four Square, Stan-

dard Life, 97.3 Forth One

& Edinburgh Cyrenians.

The rules of the competi-

tion were four players on

the pitch at a time - the

goalkeeper and three

players. The games were 7

minutes each way, but mind

you the players thought

they must have been on a

full size pitch as the ball

kept on coming over the

bar and hitting people.

Scotland played so well

but when they played Italy

they were beaten 4-2, so

they played a second leg

and they got beaten again

so they were beaten in the

third place playoffs.

Italy were the ones that

won the final.

At the end of the final they

received their trophies.

They had a dance in the

middle of the pitch to the

song I would walk 500

miles by the Proclaimers.

Supported, or have deal-

ings with Bethany Christian

Trust, to raise money to go

towards a group holiday,

and future events. Also

suggested was a small %

of funds to go towards a

charity.

We did some conservation

work on Saturday the 3rd

of September 2005, from

10am until 12 noon at 3

small parks at Henderson

Street Leith. I hope to have

a report on the outcome of

this at the next meeting of

S.O.L.A.G. So in the next

edition of The Bugle I will

S.O.L.A.G. is an Action

Group that has been set

up by some of the indi-

viduals who receive sup-

port from Bethany. In

every edition of The Bu-

gle, we hope to be report-

ing on the work of

S.O.L.A.G.

I was told about this group

through my support worker

at Bethany Supported Ac-

commodation. S.O.L.A.G.

has a monthly meeting

which is on a Friday after-

noon.

The aim of S.O.L.A.G. is

for people that are in

Introducing

continued Homeless World Cup


“I had butterflies in my

stomach… It was a very

memorable day that I

will never forget.”

tion, at 65 Bonnington

Road, on 0131 553

1119. You can ask for the

senior support worker and

they are Tom, Alec or Ca-

tronia

They meeting starts at

3pm but people meet at

2.30 for tea coffee and

biscuits. We ask for a

donation of 20p per

meeting. They are situ-

ated at South Leith Baptist

(Sunshine On Leith Action Group)

SOLAG

Jan McKenzie

John Cook

c/o Jess Philbrick

Bethany Community Education

32 Jane Street

Edinburgh

EH6 5HD

The Bethany Press Team is re-

sponsible for putting together

each edition of The Bugle news-

paper. We came together when

Bethany received funding from

CLAN (City Literacy and Nu-

meracy) to make a newspaper.

We meet at least once a month.

Anyone can get involved with

the Press Team. If you are inter-

ested in helping, call 0131 652

5411

About Bethany

Press Team

Phone: 0131 652 5411

W R I T T E N A N D P U T T O G E T H E R B Y T H E B E T H A N Y P R E S S T E A M

The Bugle Newspaper:

This is the first edition of The Bugle.

The Bulge is written by people who are or have been

homeless, and we want it o be read by others in the

same position.

The Bugle is a chance for people who are not confident

about their writing to have a go.

The Bugle will be printed bi-monthly.

If you want to help, and you are or have been home-

less, we would love to hear from you.

If you have any suggestions about where The Bugle

should be distributed then let us know.

If you think your writing or English is not good enough for The Bugle, you are just who we are looking for! If you want to take part in The Bugle we would like to hear from you! You can do as little or as much as you like. You can write a story, as long (well - up to 500 words!) or short as you like. It is our hope to get people writing for The Bugle who are not sure about their writing but who want to have a chance to say what is important to them. We will give you help with your writing so that your finished story will be something you can be really proud of. Give it a go! Call Jess on 0131 625 5411 or pop into No. 32 Jane Street.

Will you write for The Bugle?

Bethany Press Team Gil Boyle

Gordon Cameron John Cook

Jimmy McCurdie Jan McKenzie Jess Philbrick Derek Slater Mel Tennant Phil Wylie

the bugle #01

Documents