Porty Podcast

Porty Podcast

The Porty Podcast is a community project, highlighting events in and around Edinburgh's seaside - Portobello! It's a very active area with sailing, rowing and kayaking on the Forth, a vibrant artistic community and a strong sense of identity which makes it slightly separate from the other parts of Edinburgh. Image credit Nicola Dunlop

Episodes

July 1, 2026 2 mins

Send us Fan Mail

Have you heard about Porty Community Media? It's an exciting project to create a radio and podcast studio in the old Police Station. They're working with Action Porty to make this happen, hopefully quite soom. But this opens up an exciting new future for The Porty Podcast by opening the space up to new contributors, people with stories to tell about our wonderful communities in Portobello.

Please get in touch with Da...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

The Bellfield Community Hub has been one of Portobello's success stories. But it's a story with a future and this afternoon the next phase of that story - Bellfield's Big Build - will be launched with a party when we'll learn how we all as a community can be involved through a share offering. But what does that mean? In order to find out - and help those who can't attend, Hazel Darwin-Clements went along to meet Ian...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

For the second year in a row, Cycling UK have presented awards to two individuals who have worked hard to promote cycling as a healthy means of getting around. This year’s “Community Champions” from #100WomenInCycling are Kirsty Lewin from Spokes Porty and Hazel Darwin-Clements from Porty Community Energy. In this last episode of the year, Hazel joined David Calder to look back over her work to pro...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 30, 2024 6 mins

Send us Fan Mail

The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with an estimated 600 million records sold worldwide. Between 1962 and 1970, The Fab Four wrote and recorded 188 of their own songs, with 16 of them reaching Number 1 in the Charts. This afternoon and evening, you’ll be able to hear all of them played at the Beatles Marathon at Portobello Town Hall.

More information:
https://beatlesmarathon.com/

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 26, 2024 1 min

Send us Fan Mail

You may have heard about the Beatles Marathon coming to Porty Town Hall at the weekend. Well, I managed to catch up with one of the main organisers, Stuart McGachan, to hear more about what's planned. Here's a brief taste of what he had to say.
For more information, click https://beatlesmarathon.com/#
Music from the Charles Hawtrey Band performing at last year's Marathon
https://beatlesmarathon.com/the-char...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 26, 2024 7 mins

Send us Fan Mail

One of the most popular episodes of the Porty Podcast was back in 2018 when the Edinburgh Tool Library arrived in Portobello. The library and workshop moved into the same building as Tribe Porty – both share the same kind of ethos. This month, it celebrates its 10th anniversary which makes it the perfect time to find out how it has thrived, despite the pandemic, and added new services all around the idea of ma...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 19, 2024 8 mins

Send us Fan Mail

If you go along to Porty Community Fridge this morning, you’ll see something a bit different. Today sees the launch of what they’re calling the RepairMongery. The hope is that people will book a slot where they can bring along those household goods that have stopped working for some reason but have not yet been thrown into the recycle bin. On hand will be experts who will decide whether they’re wor...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
September 7, 2024 16 mins

Send us Fan Mail

Earlier this week, the programme for the Portobello Book Festival was launched. Throughout the first weekend in October, the library will be buzzing with writers launching new books, talking about them, discussing the work of others and laying bare what it means to be an author. This is the 16th Festival and is probably alone in the UK for being free. Tickets will be available from Monday but to get a feel for what ...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

Dementia affects around 90,000 people in Scotland. Across the UK, the total is currently around a million. Those figures however are expected to increase by 50% by 2050. That will put an ever increasing strain on the services which offer day care and other support services. One of those in Portobello is The Cottage in Milton Road, run by Life Care Edinburgh. David Calder went to find out what it provides for those l...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 29, 2024 8 mins

Send us Fan Mail

St Mark’s Episcopal Church in the High Street has received some good news. The National Churches Trust has awarded it a £100,000 grant to help preserve this historic Georgian building. The church first started fund raising about five years ago but that was hit by lockdown and other issues which delayed the whole project. But when David Calder met the Rev Canon Dr Sophia Marriage, Rector of St Mark's, she told ...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 22, 2024 8 mins

Send us Fan Mail

Here at The Porty Podcast, we were delighted to learn that a group of primary school children at Towerbank had come top in their age-group in a programme called ‘Academy 9’. The aim was to get schools across Scotland involved in real life science and technology projects - in this case the dualling of the A9 north of Perth. The pupils at Towerbank chose to focus on the environment and sustainability aspec...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

It almost seems hard to believe but Portobello Town Hall has been running – and more important running successfully – for a year now. And it’s five years, almost to the day, when Miss Morag from Lothian Dance Academy found the doors barred when she was getting ready to put on its Annual Show. Thankfully, it did go ahead despite concerns about the state of the building. And within hours a petition h...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

If you were looking at Facebook earlier in the week, you may have seen the lovely photograph of a beaming Morag Donaldson. She’s just been presented with an award recognising all the voluntary work she’s done in Portobello in recent years, most recently in connection with Bellfield. She came in to record an episode of the podcast with David Calder.

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 1, 2024 3 mins

Send us Fan Mail

It's the first of June. The longest day is just three weeks away. And on Midsummer's Day, The Portobello Sea Rising Festival will take place. In this episode, Hazel Darwin-Clements from Porty Community Energy has been out on the Prom and Beach, occasionally getting her feet wet not to mention a little chilly in the breeze, to tell us about what we can expect at this event , which includes music, a puppet show and mu...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
February 24, 2024 10 mins

Send us Fan Mail

The dark nights of 2020 were enlivened by the brilliant pictures and illustrations people put up for the first Window Wanderland. The event just before Christmas helped us cope with the restrictions of lockdown. This year it’s back but moved to the first weekend of March to remind us all that longer nights and better weather are on their way. 

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

It’s been over six months since the community took over control of Portobello Town Hall. Inside, it’s now strikingly different from what had been before - it now looks quite vibrant and fresh and there’s an air of excitement because of the activity held there. Outside in the grounds that surround the Hall, it’s a different story - and, next weekend, you’ll have the chance to share your ...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
February 10, 2024 9 mins

Send us Fan Mail

Belly dancing is synonymous with the Middle East. Some of remember films from the 50s and 60s which feature these exotic looking dancers. However, belly dancing has attracted followers all over the world, not least here in Scotland. Tonight, you can see it in action at Bellfield in the first of seven such events to be held there this year. Called The Rose Hafla, it’s a showcase of Scottish belly dancing.
h...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

Just over three months ago, Storm Babet caused considerable damage across the East of Scotland. Although Portobello was sheltered from the worst effects of the storm to a certain extent, we still saw large swathes of the beach swept away, groynes left at crooked angles and damage done to the sea wall and Prom. At the time, local Councillor Tim Jones was the nominated spokesman to represent the Council and was shocke...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
January 27, 2024 13 mins

Send us Fan Mail

What did you do in lockdown? Well, one Porty couple set about starting their own TV show called Moreish TV. At first, it was found on YouTube but its growing popularity meant that it attracted attention not just from up and coming stars from a whole range of different media but from ever more interesting, important and influential streaming platforms. Today, it can be found on Apple TV giving it all the kudos and cr...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Send us Fan Mail

Over the past few days, we’ve heard reports that, for instance, Portobello Swim Centre could be earmarked for closure. That was followed a statement from Edinburgh Leisure which insisted there had been misleading media articles regarding venue closures. The very idea that a major Porty facility could be under threat was enough to get many members of the community getting ready to take action. David Calder...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.

  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • AdChoicesAd Choices