Talk of the Town: Playing dirty for swamp soccer joy

WITH around 50 teams expected to take part, the first Swamp Soccer World Cup to be held in Edinburgh is expected to provide a valuable boost to the city's events calendar.

There was a long hunt for a venue before Hunters Hall Park in Craigmillar was chosen.

It seems that some, though, are surprised that organisers were persuaded to hold the June event in Edinburgh.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, the city's festivals and events champion, said: "If you go to Motherwell's Fir Park you'll see people play swamp soccer on a weekly basis."

We now pronounce you Wool-iam and Kate

VENTURE Trust has been named as one of Prince William and Kate Middleton's chosen charities to benefit from wedding gift donations, but staff are not content to sit back and are also carrying out a royal wedding fundraiser.

A member of staff at the young people's charity has knitted a royal wedding scene, including all the characters from the happy couple to the Archbishop of Canterbury - and even a couple of corgis.

The woolly wedding is being raffled off at tinyurl.com/knittedwedding and you can see the knitted version in the window of Johnston Smillie Chartered Accountants in Roseburn Terrace.

Making a meal of it all

TALKING of the royal wedding, Tex-Mex restaurant Illegal Jacks, on Lothian Road, is tomorrow offering a free burrito to anyone who shares their name with the happy couple on presentation of a student card, driving licence, passport or any form of photo ID.

Even better, if a married Kate and Wills come in, the restaurant will give them their full meal free.

Just another Gray day

SCOTTISH Labour leader Iain Gray has had a tough election and yesterday he was in Morningside, where he surely expected nursery pupils to pose no problems.

But Mr Gray, reading the exciting tale of The Gruffalo, soon found himself faced with an audience of fidgeting, squirming, bored-looking faces. Which is not at all like the Scottish Parliament . . .