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.

Our project collects surplus food from the Blairgowrie Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl and 2 Co-op supermarkets and utilises it in several ways:

Saturday & Wednesday lunch clubs, Home cooked frozen meals, Surplus food store and Community larders

Over the past 2 years we have saved over 100 tonnes of food from going to waste. The store is open to all and offers surplus food for free or a donation to help with running costs and hance has a major impact on reducing waste as well as dramatically redcuing food purchase bills for locals.

We are applying for funding to help with the running costs of the BaRI Building which houses our store but also is a base for local mental health support provided by service providers as well as a meeting place for community groups etc. Running the building costs:

£12,500 rent £7,400 electricity

The store is open 4 times per week with people in the building to setup, run and close totalling 12 hours per week hence around 1/3 of working week. We are applying for £3,000 to help cover the rent and utilities to allow us to continue to reduce surplus food.

Kinross-shire Climate Cafe is proposing to set up a Repair Cafe, video link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvIvvJl09dg.

This initiative would be the first of its kind in Kinross-shire, based on the experience of the Repair Cafes in Crieff, Pitlochry and Aberfeldy.

Our aims:

- encourage local people to reduce waste through repair of their broken items with a positive outcome of waste reduction and mitigation of climate change,

- reduce living costs as it is usually more cost effective to repair a good quality old item than to buy a new one,

- develop community links and exchange of expertise in the practical setting of Repair Café,

- strengthen our community in climate change adaptation with a supportive popup climate café,

- provide a swap shop facility to further reduce living costs and promote sustainable fashion.

Kinross-shire Repair Cafe would be a community-led project run by Kinross-shire Climate Café volunteers. The events would take place on four different weekend days in 2024 from 11 – 3pm in the local town halls. The format of the Café would be informal: a walk-in café where people come and bring their broken items to be repaired. Clients would not pay for the repairs but would pay for parts and materials used. There are two possible locations that we envisage for the location to widen the area of provision: Kinross and Milnathort. But the Repair Café would also be providing repairs and working with a wider Kinross-shire community with the total population in excess of 11,000.

The events would be advertised through the local press, leaflet distribution at Kinross Farmers Markets, social media and Loch Leven Community Library. The project will support the local economy by involving small local businesses with repair expertise, links with the future Repairers have been made. It will create opportunities for people with skills currently out of employment or retired who are experts and craftsmen. The repair Café would involve 10 volunteers for each event, which amounts to 200 volunteer hours.

One of the aims of the project is to reduce the living costs as through repair you lower your spendings in the long term especially if items that are broken are of better quality. This helps to reduce the effect of inflation on your household budget.

Finally, as part of Repair Café we would also hold a swap shop to reduce textile waste and a pop-up climate café to have friendly chats on different aspects of climate change adaptation and how to cope with the climate change crisis.

Our proposal for this fund is to investigate and research the feasibility of setting up and establishing a community Cycle Crieff Cargo bike delivery service! 

The easiest way to describe how we want operate is – A do anything local delivery service easily accessed using cargo bikes and helping reduce vehicle use.  Run by locals helping visitors and locals to use their community services and facilities. Pay what you can afford!!

Cycle Crieff Cargo!

How It Works

1. You call, email or contact us via the website and let us know what you need picked up and delivered, where it needs to go and by when.

2. We will confirm the details and price with you. If cost is an issue, please offer what you can currently afford!

3. Once all agreed, we will come and collect on our delivery bike.

4. Once we deliver your items, you will receive a confirmation message that it has been delivered safely.

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

LEARN HOW TO UPCYCLE FURNITURE

Tayside Upcycling & Craft Centre is a “Not for Profit”, Community Interest Company set up to champion the environmental and social benefits of Upcycling.

We showcase the creations of close to 40 Artisans all of which produce unique items which have been either upcycled or recycled. We also offer free advice on upcycling whilst selling all the materials customers need to embark on their own upcycling journey.

We are very proud of the impact we make in Perthshire having diverted over 50 tonnes of furniture from landfill and especially proud that as individuals and businesses aim for net zero, we are way beyond that and are Climate positive.

With this funding we hope to launch a series of upcycling workshops that will highlight the environmental and social benefits of Upcycling. We will hold some of them here in the Centre but also use a local Community Centre in order enable larger attendances. We will train attendees in basic upcycling step by step, giving each of them an item of furniture that was destined for landfill and teach them how to give it a makeover. We will explain the environmental/carbon impact of the project as well as highlight the cost benefit and affordability of upcycling, especially during a cost-of- living crisis. We will also evidence the fun and wellbeing of the creative process and how it benefits mental health as well as the pocket.

ENGAGEMENT How have we identified the demand for this your project in our community?

Based on the success of our current Upcycling outreach project (funded by Perth and Kinross Council Community Investment Fund), we have been inundated with requests on giving Upcycling workshops/courses as a direct result of the educational talks we have given. We also have visitors to our centre asking regularly if we could teach them how to upcycle an item of their own furniture. Visitors more than ever now understand the financial and environmental benefits of Upcycling but need a helping hand to start their own project. We will also lay on specific workshops for parent/child (14 upwards) sessions and group bookings as well as we already have interest from many local groups.

We will try to ensure that every person that takes part in this project becomes an advocate and ambassador for the environmental and social benefits of Upcycling. We will hope to generate more workshops once the funding is spent but make them financially sustainable whilst ensuring that affordability is not a barrier for people that can't afford them.

WASTE- reduce, reuse and recycle.  Our aims to tackle this and Affordability

With the cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency impacting on everyone we will demonstrate how much more affordable it is to upcycle rather than buy new as well as highlight that although they may be working on an item of furniture that is 50 years old, they can give it a makeover that will last another 50 years. Not only does this divert furniture from landfill, it reduces the amount of CO2 that would have been generated in producing a new item of furniture. The Upcycling process is a very rewarding one with both physical and emotion benefits, it can be hard work at times but we will demonstrate ways around this for those not fit enough whilst showing that the design and creative element is FUN! We now have Artisans selling their own creations here that started on their journey with us 3 years ago with no experience and mental health issues and now have their own small business.

We are very confident that our project will be fully subscribed due to the number of requests we have had from our Outreach project, from visitors to our Centre as well as the many Community groups  getting in touch with us.

Ember has introducd an all electric bus service between Dundee and Edinburgh, with the availability to alight/disembark in Bridge of Earn.  Zero exhaust emissions means it is good for the environment enjoying a smoother, more peaceful journey – no engine rumble or fumes.

This service has been well received by the residents with in the Earn Ward.  However, presently no bus shelter for a very exposed stop.  This service also offers the opportunity for disabled users to travel and likewise cyclists with storage available for chairs/bikes.  The success of this service is also attracting cyclists to use the service, and SUSTRANS now have a project underway for the provision of a bike rack nearby to leave bikes safely.

A bus shelter would compliment this stop and be most welcome by users.

Earlier in 2023 we ran 6 sessions with local people showing them how to plant, nurture and grow their own fruit and vegetables and would like to repeast that again in 2024 to extend the reach and knowledge. The project provided the containers, compost and seeds and participants came along each week to learn how to plant their own which they took away to look after at home, complete the growing to fruition and ultimately enjoy the fruits of their labours! Costs cover all of the items for 20 people:

Compost & Growbags  - £250

Equipment (planters, potato bags, canes and sundries like gloves, twine etc) - £200

Seeds &Plants - £170

Admin £60

Total £680