Energy usage for the Centre will be from renewable sources through replacing gas heating with a renewable energy source.

We will convert our heating to a renewable energy source through installing air source heat pumps.

This will reduce emissions and increase our viability in providing services for the vulnerable in our community.

Crieff Community Gardeners are a constituted community group based in Crieff Community Garden. We have an active community food larder within the community garden which offers free surplus vegetables harvested from the garden together with surplus dry goods from Crieff Coop. The has been a great service for locals suffering from the effects of the cost of living crisis. They can discreetly take anything food they require on a daily basis.

Unfortunately we have suffered severe vandalism which means that our current shed hosting the food larder has been severely damaged and is no longer lockable. Vandals have kicked in the door and kicked the walls from the inside out. 

This is an essential service which we need to continue, but being unable to lock the shed, our volunteers can no longer do evening deliveries as we cannot leave the food unattended overnight for health and safety reasons. They are therefore having to do early morning deliveries on a daily basis which is causing a strain on our volunteers.

We require a new sturdy shed, together with mini polytunnels to asisst our veg growing and some new bulbs. 

Crieff In Leaf has operated as a successful environmental group which will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2024.  The group is comprised purely of volunteers who  enhance the environment of this historic tourist centre.  Their operating base is at Alichmore Road, where there is  presently a limited resource for composting.  The group are required to purchase  compost which is costly in terms of monetary value and environmental impact.  Given their environmental credentials and conscience, they use peat free compost which commands a higher price/cost.  Whilst they endeavour to compost some of the downtakings, it has been necessary to make up to 4 trips per week to the Crieff Recycling Centre on Broich Road, using  their Great Wall Stead vehicle which has a relatively high  emission rating of 200 g /km.  The distance from Crieff to the recycling centre is approximately 3km.  The distance fron Crieff to the Alichmore Road site is significatly less.  The needs of the group are to relocate  all composting to the Alichmore site and to become self sufficient in compost.  There is also a drive to more sustainable planting and to use the current polytunnels to overwinter plants etc; both  polytunnels  require re skinning. 

Should this application be successful, this will allow the group to purchase the following

4 x 189 litre rotating composting bins 

1 x Hyundai Chipper/Shredder 

4 x Standard Composting Bins 

Reskinning of Polytunnels and Associated Sundries 

What is Social Flock? 

Social Flock is a community clothing charity. We aim to mitigate the impact of poverty and reduce our community’s reliance on fast fashion by providing FREE clothing packs of pre-loved and new clothing.

What is in a Back to School Pack? 

Our packs include 3 shirts, 2 bottoms, 2 jumpers/cardis, 2 PE t shirts, 2 PE bottoms, a PE jumper and a school bag. We also aim to include school shoes and/or trainers plus stationary and other back to school essentials like pack lunch boxes. Everything a child needs for taking part in their school journey. 

Why do many days’ worth of clothing?  Well, Child Poverty Action Group research found that some children were reporting that they were missing school because they only had one uniform, and it was in the wash. If we give more, we empower young people to engage more. Especially with the rising energy costs, families will not be able to wash uniform as frequently. We want to keep children dressed in clean, high quality pre-loved clothes, for as much of the week as possible.

Packs are personalised to each schools colours and the child’s style preferences (so you can tell us if they won’t wear shorts, or will only wear cardigans!) and their sensory needs to make sure the packs are made to suit the individual. We also ask for bag colours and characters and try our hardest to match up to their personal style. One child asked for a Frozen bag and we managed to get one for her, she put it on as soon as she got her pack and didn't want to take it off! 

Who can apply? 

We believe in making our projects as accessible as possible so if you live in Perth, attend a local Primary or High School, and wear clothing you can apply, and all applications are successful.  This means anyone impacted by the Cost of Living Crisis, or interested in being more climate aware, can apply no matter their income.  

Everyone is feeling the pinch right now and a pack of uniform really helps with 40% of carers saying their 2022 pack improved their mental health and over 50% stating it made their children excited to return to school. 

Families can self-refer meaning no one else has to be involved in your application process. We share our links with local schools and nurseries to circulate and we're building more partnerships and direct links with schools all the time. We also have a list of great referral partners, like Perth and Kinross Foodbank and HomeStart.

Why is this important to our local community? 

Environment and Fast Fashion - Approximately only 20% of all worldwide textiles used are recycled and the UK sends 350,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill each year. By passing on high quality pre-loved clothing and redistributing it to families who will continue to utilise it, we ensure clothes are being used to the end of their life. We know children grow quickly, and their clothes are often grown out of before the clothing is unwearable (although some uniform won’t survive the first term back!). 

Poverty - We know that 1 in 3 households in Perth and Kinross are classed as struggling financially. As the Cost of Living crisis continues, this is unfortunately only expected to continue.  2600 children in Perth and Kinross are classed as living in very deep poverty. The Perth City locality has the highest number of children living in relative poverty. feedback from our service users highlights that our service allows them to redirect their household budget to urgent bills and other unavoidable expenses, with 67% of feedback participants stating receiving our free clothing allowed them to re-prioritise their financial needs and 78% saying it reduced their stress. What more could we ask for?

By redistributing School Uniform, we can ensure all children can return to school feeling positive and matching their peers. How children feel in their clothes will have a dramatic impact on their school experience, their ability to learn and improve their future prospects. We know there is enough pre-loved clothing to support our local children to engage and build a bright and successful future!

How do we know this is something our community wants and needs?

2024 will be our third year running our Back to School Pack. In 2021 we provided 152 packs, in 2022 - 340 and in 2023 we reached our 400 application limit before the school holidays had ended. 

We know we will continue to watch our application numbers skyrocket as poverty in our local population continues to increase, and as awareness of the impact on our environment that clothing purchases continues to be focussed on in schools and by us.

In 2024 in order to continue to meet the needs of our community we need staff who can work alongside our tireless, amazing, volunteers to organise donations, make up packs and deliver them to our local children in time for them to go back to school in August. 

SO IF YOU THINK THAT...

- All children should have access to high quality school uniform?

- We should protect our environment and make positive pre-loved clothing choices? 

- By making little changes to our own lifestyle to support others we can make big changes for the future of our children?

Then please support us by voting for our Back to School Pack project.  Thank you.

Team Social Flock

Community, Clothing, Climate

Quick Summary

Kirkmichael Community Garden are a charity, just starting out, and are looking for support to help fund the development of our garden. This money would go towards building raised beds, our welfare shed and potting/ tool sheds. We are hoping to get cracking with this work and the growing this spring, so we have produce to share with the whole community in the summer time. We have 23 volunteers lined up and the primary schools kids will have thier own space in the garden to learn about growing.

Description

is a SCIO established in November 2022, following around 1.5 years of work by our association to source land and consult with the community. We took ownership of 0.8 acres of land in June 2023, donated to the charity by a local land owner. We have a professional design, which includes community growing plots, 15m polytunnel, area of the primary school and scouts, wild flower area, sensory area and a large welfare shed, with potting/ tool shed.

We carried out a survey through our local newsgroup in Mid 2021 with 17 positive responses of local people, since then we held a community meeting in Summer 2023, to give a project update and carry out consultation on what the community would like to see in the garden. We currently operate a volunteer WhatsApp group which has 23 members, from this around 10 have volunteered so far with some of the initial development work. Once the garden is developed and ready for planting we plan to hold weekly volunteer session.

When we acquired the land we immediately dug a small plot with the school kids, so they could get started this season. They sowed seeds and harvested the first produce in October for their harvest assembly. Longer term, we plan to have raised beds and a small polytunnel for them to learn from, we have agreed with the Craig Loudon that the kids will work towards the RHS School Gardener Award next term, which the charity plan to support as much as possible.

We also eventually plan to deliver workshops for local to come and learn, not just for the community garden but to increase their skills for tending their own garden.

We have just been grant planning permission for the design and are hoping to get started with the main development this Spring.

Resilience

The heart of this project is about creating space so the community can grow food. Investment in this project will have an amazing, positive impact on the village now and for generations to come. Not only will the garden provide space for this it will also facilitate learning and spark interest in growing your own. We plan to have a large polytunnel also to optimise the growing season.

Within the garden there will also be wild flower areas to attract pollinators and to improve biodiversity, this work is already underway. The kids will also have a bug hotel. Kirkmichael does not have any significant outdoor space for the community, except a small seating area in front of the village shop. The garden will provide a space for outdoor community gatherings. There will also be space set aside for people to come and spend time, reflect and relax.

The garden produce will be given to our volunteer group for free, with the rest being offered to the community for an optional donation, through our own veg shack and through the village shop. Those who are adversely effected by the cost of living crisis can directly benefit from getting his healthy food from the garden. In addition, having the food available in the village could mean there is less need to travel to Blairgowrie and Pitlochry to food. 

Engagement

The community garden will provide a space for local people to come together to enjoy being outside in nature, while starting new or strengthen friendships, helping to address social isolation particularly for those who live alone in this rural area. Many people who live alone can lack the confidence to connect with others in a social setting, the garden creates a great opportunity for people to come and engage a little bit or a lot, just helping with odd jobs, so they can gradually develop stronger relationships in this setting. 

We plan to hold 2 volunteering sessions per week, where locals can come and help with the garden up keep. This will be a great opportunity for people again to connect and learn where guidance can be given on experience can be shared. We have already had a lot of interest in this, people with all level of experience and skills. We will offer the fresh, organic produce to the community as well as cooking workshops. Gathering to share recipes and good food will create a nice sense of community, health and well-being.

Community Action Plan

The best expression of local priorities can be found in the recently updated Mount Blair Community Action Plan (CAP). Amongst the issues highlighted by the CAP that align with the Community Garden project include the need to build better community involvement, spirit and resilience, better local facilities (particularly for children), the desire to tackle areas of abandoned or undeveloped land and the encouragement of projects that help establish, nurture or protect natural habitats and eco-systems.

The community survey activity that informs the CAP outcomes was undertaken in early 2022, so one huge issue it does not reflect are the effects of the tanking of the UK economy in September 2022, the war in Ukraine and the corresponding crises in inflation and the cost-of-living. These events bought the issue of increasing numbers of local households falling into food and fuel poverty into sharp focus. This has cast a new light on the ambitions of Garden which provides people with the opportunity and means to grow their own food.

Letham4All operates Community Fridge Projects in the Letham, Muirton, and Moncrieff areas of Perth City, collecting good surplus food from local supermarkets and suppliers to prevent going to waste. All the food is distributed, free of charge in the 3 community fridges and also shared with partners such as Martha's Kitchen and Giraffe to be used and prepared in their kitchens for free distribution in the community. Around 350 people a week access food from our Community Fridges and last year we prevented 5.4 tonnes of good food from going to waste, saving 13.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Initially, Letham4All collected only ambient fresh food products, bakery, unprepared fresh fruit and vegetables, etc, however, we have been testing our ability to collect fresh prepared food products such as ready meals, meat and meat products, fish, and other prepared food products. To carry out this test we have been lucky enough to borrow a blast freezer from Giraffe Check-In Works and have all the necessary environmental health policies and procedures in place to allow this to happen. By being able to blast freeze food on the evening of collection we are preventing more good food from going to landfill, as well as providing valuable sources of protein into people's diet. All the Community Fridges have freezers where the food can be accessed free of charge by local people.

We now need to return the borrowed Blast Freezer and are seeking funding to purchase our own, now we know that we can operate the collection and distribution of fresh foods safely and that these products are valued by people who access the Community Fridges . Very soon, we will be operating our Community Kitchen in the new Letham Community Hub and we will also use the blast freezer to enable surplus food to be processed and frozen for future use, such as bread, vegetables, etc. 

On the Mend is a learning and skills based upcycling project where the positive impacts of making and mending, on building self-esteem, good mental health, and a connected community are promoted.  The project has no barriers to participation and encourages creativity, trying a new skill, repairing, reusing or repurposing rather than buying new.  On the Mend works in partnership with the CATH Shop on the High Street.  The CATH Shop is Revolve certified (a Zero Waste Scotland quality standard for reuse) and last year customers prevented 48,000 items from going to landfill.  Between our existing shop on the High St and our new premises we want to highlight the journey donated goods take to being upcycled and all the environmental and personal benefits that can bring.  This project will pave the way for a changing city centre and developing a resilient stronger greener economy that is accessible to all.

The On the Mend project has operated from various locations across Perth but our most recent, along the Ladeside had no heating and was damp.  We were lucky, alongside other CATH projects, to be offered a vacant shop on the High St at a greatly reduced rent.  On the Mend moved to our new home at the end of November.  We have with little to no budget created a warm and welcoming upcycling space and true to the spirit of the project have completely furnished the space with reuse furniture.  

Funding from the Community Investment Fund has meant we are able to offer upcycling groups on Wednesday 1-3 and Friday 1-3.  These have been well attended and have generated interest with individuals wanting to volunteer to share skills in upholstery, sewing skills, upcycled clothing, knitting and crochet.  We have also been approached as a venue for repair cafes and other community groups booking workshops to support wellbeing.

The On the Mend project proposal for the Green living fund would support us to

1. Continue to rent a property on Perth High Street with a focus on reuse, waste reduction and recycling, putting reuse and engagement with recycling at the centre of the community.  Help to breathe some new life into a depleted city centre environment and make reuse the norm on the High Street.

2. Engage the community in recycling by offering open to all and free/low cost upcycling/crafting and making and mending opportunities.  Many shoppers in Perth see the benefit of buying donated items during the cost of living crisis and this project would promote creative uses for items that would go to landfill.

3. Allow us to open this resource for longer hours to engage with more people.

4. Share skills across the community with increased volunteer involvement.

We want to raise awareness of our local habitat and teach people to recognise local wildlife, insects and plants and to understand their needs for survival. We plan to conduct regular mini biolitzes asking people to look out for and record items they see over a short period of time (up to 24 hours). These will lead up to a larger raising awareness event in the Wellmeadow in summer 2024 to further engage the community.

Community greenspace is important. It contributes to our mental well-being and helps us keep fit. It can help us provide locally sourced, excellent quality food. And it can help nature. More and more species, many of them once common, are threatened as habitats are degraded.  Britain has lost 97% of its flower-rich meadows, and garden birds, bumblebees and butterflies are in serious decline.

BiodiversityBlair seeks to increase the variety of life in the area to the benefit of the natural world and the people who live here.

Costs include:

National trust kits: 15 x nestbox (£13.99) and 5 x butterfly hibernation house (£18.99). Total £305

Rattray Common - solar panelled battery operated wifi system for bird box camera - 2 x £219.99 = £440

8 x birdboxes = £240 1 x Insect tower = £40 1 x Insect Hotel = £30 Feeders £50.

Supply of bird food £200

Running event - £400

Admin & finance - £170

Total = £1,705