Rattray Community Garden has 23 raised beds for planting and growing fruit and veg locally to help with the circular economy and cost of living by making more food available locally. 

Collecting water from main building and greenhouse:

3 x water butts £134.97

3 x Rainwater Diverter Kits £29.97

To support cultivation: wheelbarrows, watering cans:  £43.99 and £20.97

Progress/Activity chalkboard: £88

Signage: 3 signs @ £95 each - total £285

Installation costs £250

50% Running costs for 2024 - £960 water, £400 electricity 

Total request is £2,576

Impact

Implementing water collection and supporting running costs and equipment will bring the use of the garden to fruition alowing us to put it to full use which will include:

• planting fruit and vegetables in our 23 riased compost beds, involving locals and demonstrating how to plant, nurture and grow our own food
• working with schools and local groups/organisations on growing food locally - the garden volunteers, Blair in Bloom, Biodiversity Blair, SCYD etc
• offering the fruit and veg to volunteers, locals and selling some to help with on-going costs
• hosting events, food fesitvals, food demonstrations etc 
• demonstrating ways of collecting and using rain water which can be replicated at home thus potentially reducing water bills

All of the above is taken from the original business plan created back in 2019/20 and is aimed at providing food and knowledge to locals to reduce their food purchase costs by growing their own, allowing those without garden space to grow items and sharing the cost of growing locally. This will have a direct imapct on the local Cost of Living with the fruit and veg being made available and will have the longer term benefit of sharing the knowledge and ideas of growing your own food with the community and can be a stepping stone to create a wider, larger community farm where locals can grow and access home grown food thus reducing their food bills.

Glenfarg Freewheelers need to upgrade our two foldable e-bikes to top condition and pay for hall hire to run an e bike maintenance course  .  Freewheelers is a group of community members who are keen to promote active travel and promote and support the use of e-bikes in our community of Glenfarg. We have formed a committee and are now a constituted group. We ran a successful trial using 3 borrowed e-bikes. As a result of our linking with other local community organisations, 2 fold-up e-bikes were donated to the project. These now require new batteries and upgrading to a good standard. While we have applied for some new hybrid, non-folding e-bikes through another fund, we are keen to make full use of the donated bikes which have a limited range at present.  E bikes will be loaned out to members of the community for several days or weeks at a very low cost.  These fold up bikes specifically allow people to commute easily and to travel further in combination with public transport at reduced expense which will help with the current cost of living crisis. The maintenance course will be run by Sustrans and enable group members to to continue to keep these bikes at a high and safe standard for the users. The village hall will cost £15 per session.

Glenfarg Freewheelers are confident that the community will make good use of these two e-bikes which are easily transported on buses and trains. During the trial, they were very popular with less confident cyclists but have also been used by commuters and leisure cyclists.  The e-bikes need to be able to cover distances of up to 60 miles and have adequate power to get up the hills surrounding our village. Confidence in the bike batteries has been a major factor in people's willingness to try them out and use on a regular basis.

During the trial, bikes were used for active travel to get work, for leisure and for shopping.  Some families have chosen to only have one car and have made good use of the e-bikes. During the summer months we expect the same uptake and realise we have further work to do to encourage new and regular cyclists and continue the expansion of active travel in Glenfarg.  

This project will encourage well-being and support young families to cycle together and to access local towns and countryside. With long loan periods, general fitness will improve and in the trials some people increased from 3 miles per outing to 15 miles.   By supporting group outings and family outings, we will increase the social aspect of cycling together and family members appreciate being able to cycle together allowing for different levels of strength and fitness.   Because the village is in a hilly area, many people do not use their pedal bikes and promotion of e-bikes increases confidence in cycling from home. Where borrowers indicate that they will struggle to pay the borrowing charge, the committee will consider reducing or wavering it to ensure access for those on lower incomes.  Finally, we are very fortunate to benefit from the community buses and having reliable and effective foldable e-bikes will allow community members to take the loaned e-bike on the buses and travel onward to their place of work/other destinations allowing them affordable and active travel opportunities. 

Greener Glenfarg is an informal organisation, formed in February 2023 with the aim of informing and supporting Glenfarg to become a greener community. Our activities are designed to increase awareness of the climate crisis and provide verified information on the ways an individual can help to tackle climate change.

We looked at what issues were already being addressed in the village, such as the Community Transport initiative, identified gaps, asked the residents what extra could be done and set about putting plans into action.

In the last nine months we have arranged a trip to the V&A plastics exhibition, held two cinema events on the climate crisis, organised clothes swaps and tool shares, carried out litter picking, visited rewilding and flood mitigation projects, and held a Sustainable Transport workshop which led to the creation of the village's e-bike loan scheme "Freewheelers". These free events have been funded through the Community Council's access to windfarm funds.

We are now seeking funding to support our activities in early 2024. These will include an Energy Fair, cinema events, clothes swaps, tool shares and a talk /discussion led by an applied environmentalist with knowledge of the Binn Eco Park. We have just started a Glenfarg Grow Club to share skills, seeds and produce. The first meeting was so successful, with a room full of participants, that we are now seeking funds to support this new club for its first year. All these activities will help us to be part of the work to tackle climate change, but will also assist individuals with the cost of living crisis, as they will -

• increase public awareness and engage our community in tackling climate change
• discourage purchasing and reduce waste by sharing items within the community
• inform residents on how to reduce energy consumption, make use of green energy and save on energy costs
• explore ways in which the community can move forward with the new recycling technologies and community energy projects
• explore possibilities for rewilding and flood mitigation

We would like to raise awareness and promote discussion about climate change through thought provoking film, lived experience and information sharing by delivering a monthly programme over the next year. This programme would include topics which relate to the criteria identified by the Green Living Fund.

In order to be able to do this in the current climate, with no barriers, we would like to make this programme available at little or no cost to participants.

To facilitate this we propose joining an organisation called Take One Action –

“Take One Action nurtures communal exploration of the stories, ideas and questions at the heart of positive social change. Through film screenings, conversation and enquiry, we bring people together to inspire a fairer, more sustainable and more fulfilling world, in Scotland and beyond our borders”

This enables us to access a film catalogue and screen 6 films in a year without a license.

After each screening we propose to have a discussion on the topic, have information available and refer participants to other organisation locally that they can contact to take action locally – or nationally if relevant.

We have piloted this idea with a film called Riverwoods  - at the end we asked if any of those attending were interested in volunteering for a local rewilding project to leave their contact details. We checked with the project organiser recently and they were delighted by the number of folks who volunteered to help them.

In November 2023 Wisecraft sadly lost access to a neighbouring green space; an area which had been utilised by our clients and volunteers since 2013 (see former green space photos document). Plans will soon commence to develop this area into an outdoor eatery and bar by a local landowner, having a detrimental impact on Wisecraft’s surrounding environment and the clients who worked tremendously hard to maintain this beautiful space, entitled ‘Wellbeing Blooms’. To maintain our green approach and establish new client led opportunities, we aim to reduce the size of our car park and create a green space for growing fruit, vegetables and wildflowers (see existing car park photos document). To help insects thrive we will establish seasonal flowering plants and plant wildlife-friendly shrubs, and take a fully organic approach. We will reuse and upcycle materials within our joinery department to build new planters. These planters will hold fruit and vegetable crops for clients’ use during our Community Cookit sessions, or for them to enjoy at home with supporting Community Cookit recipe cards. Our Healthy Lifestyle Engagement Worker will deliver workshops on ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’; supporting sustainable living skills which can be transferred into clients’ day to day lives. We will provide/support waste education and awareness as a driving change towards waste and litter. Other sustainable practices will include collecting rainwater. Lack of space and gardening expertise is consistently shared as one of the biggest barriers for clients engaging in horticulture activity. Creating this supportive space will help remove this barrier and hopefully motivate client towards considering their green approaches at home; demonstrating how much can be achieved in a restricted area. To account for condensing the car parking area we will encourage employee car-sharing, and with help from Cycling Scotland, we will embrace our new cycling initiative ‘The Pedal Revolution’.  

‘Wisecraft Blooms: Renewal & Wellbeing’ fits three criteria within the Green Living Fund; that being Waste, Resilience and Engagement. By helping our client and volunteer community to grow produce on site, engage in accessible cooking groups and enhance skills to grow/cook at home, we are also supporting with the cost of living crisis.

YMCA Tayside’s Eco Ambassador programme is aimed at raising environmental awareness and promoting sustainable practices through five key local community partnerships that YMCA Tayside works with. This includes working with communities in Perth City, North Perth and South Perth.

The primary objectives are to empower young people and local communities to engage with energy reducing practices, promote active travel, reduce, reuse and recycle waste, learn about local food growing and increase public awareness on the necessity to engage with sustainable practices.

The project lead will work with a group of 5- 10 young people throughout the year. The group will be assigned the role of Eco Ambassadors and receive training, support and guidance to be equipped and confident in their role. The project lead and ambassadors will visit the 5 communities over the year to deliver a wide range of activities and workshops that will shape the local community and increase their knowledge and confidence in this topic. The five partnerships we will be working with are: Bertha Park Community Hub, Craigie & Moncreiffe Parish Church, North Muirton Youth Project, Perth Congregational Church and Kinnoull Parish Church.  

The ambassadors will visit each partner 4 times a year and work to create seasonal and relevant activities for the groups.

Example of Key Activities:

• Energy Efficiency Audit: Eco Ambassadors will work with their local community to conduct an energy audit. This can lead to cost savings and carbon footprint reduction.
• Sustainable Practices: Ambassadors will promote eco-friendly practices within the Youth Group/Events, e.g. encouraging the use of natural light, turning off electronics when not in use, and promoting waste reduction.
• Educational Workshops: Ambassadors will organise interactive workshops on climate change, renewable energy, growing your own vegetables and sustainable living to educate young people, youth workers and community members.
• Green Initiatives: Ambassadors will facilitate initiatives like a rewilding a community garden, beach/river Clean up, tree planting, or a "Clothes swap shop” campaign.
• Youth Led Summit: Bringing our community partnerships together to celebrate the work and progress made throughout the year. Keynote speakers, Dynamic Youth Awards, Volunteer Certificates and hopefully a Keep Scotland Beautiful Award.

By creating change in the local community through our programme of events we can empower young people and community members to become champions of environmental sustainability. Communities will have confidence in their ability to create change through increased knowledge and awareness, education, tools and resources, access to relevant funding and support from YMCA Tayside to apply.

It is estimated we will work with between 100 young people over the year.

Letham Climate Challenge is an established local charity, based in North Perth, which aim is to help people reduce waste , recycle , reuse and raise awareness of how people can contribute to tackling climate challenge. They operate the Letham Community Swap Shops in Garth Avenue, and also manage the Kingswell and Kinloch Terrace allotments. The organisation encourages both families and schoolchildren to grow their own food and discover the many health benefits of gardening and every plot is taken and there is a waiting list.

Water supply:

Letham Climate Challenge regularly engage with the plot holders, trying to improve the allotments and support their development. As result of listening to plot holders from the Kinloch Terrace site, Letham Climate Challenge is trying to improve access to water for the plot holders. Previously they group have tried to have water supplied to the site, but this proving challenging in terms of access to the supply and the cost is prohibitive. Plot holders have come up with the solution of installing 1000litre  water tanks together with water butts to be fixed to the communal shed in order to collect enough rainwater to support the site. This would the reduce the need to carry water to the site in vehicles and be beneficial in terms of encouraging the healthy growth of produce on the site. Furthermore, easier access to water would encourage participation from plot holders and volunteers as the task is less strenuous having water sources throughout the allotment,  and knowing that plants they have taken time to cultivate can indeed be watered. If we attached 2 waterbutts to the shed with guttering and drainpipes them we could collect rain water which could keep us going until the fire service can next refill the 1000litre water tanks.

Connecting Swap Shop and Allotments:

Letham Climate Challenge wish to encourage a better collaboration and community awareness between our Swap Shop based on Garth Road and our allotments at Kingswell and Kinloch Terrace.

In order to do so, we propose installing raised flower beds outside of the Garth Road store to give locals and shop-goers a taste of gardening to then signpost them to greater opportunities at our allotments.

We want to encourage everyone in our community to get involved in gardening, and learn new skills and techniques from our volunteers. We would like to educate people about organic growing for food security: Everyone can see the results of cooperation, hard work, and patience when they finally taste the fruits of their labour. By building raised flower beds which can be accessed by wheelchair users, we are encouraging everyone of all abilities to interact with nature and hopefully assist the next generation of eco-friendly eaters. Gardening can be a very sociable experience so by creating a wellbeing space and connecting with wellbeing groups we believe that we can foster positive social interactions for those suffering from poor mental health. Many people are suffering from isolation and loneliness due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we wish to alleviate these stresses by bringing people together in a safe and welcoming environment.  Within the flower beds, we wish to plant a fruit tree/ bush in each to create a free fruit supply for the local community.

Broke Not Broken support those living in poverty across Kinross-shire.

Part of this work is support through food parcels, but supporting people with food parcels we find they are often in receipt of food that may not be suitable to them for a number of reasons. This food can then be discarded, or returned to the food bank, meaning there is a waste of resources, food miles and energy spent. It means people don’t get what they need: suitable food. By supplying digital vouchers we will eliminate that waste of food, energy, fuel and time for both clients and volunteers. As we deliver food parcels by car to people’s home, moving to digital vouchers (if that is their preference) means less time spent in cars on the road delivering parcels. Food vouchers give dignity and choice to those who are living in poverty.

We would like to trial using vex an online shopping voucher distribution system to reduce food miles, as well as reducing our plastic waste through our current system of vouchers.

We work closely with referral agents across health and social care as well as a number of community organisations to ensure people access the correct advice and maximise their income where possible.

Foodbank running costs have increased by 37% over the past year. This is partly increase in demand with a 20% increase food supports required than the previous year, and partly rising cost of food.

Whilst we continue to work hard to meet the needs within the community we also look to combat the affects of climate change and work in line with PKC cash first approach this new pilot project for a six week period would significantly reduce our food miles and plastic usage while enabling us to meet our goal of providing dignity and choice; and give us the opportunity to assess the feasibility of this as a model moving forward. As a charity we have already taken a number of steps to work within an environmentally friendly manner, we grow our own produce in our garden, and source locally grown vegetables (where we cannot meet demand) and dairy; we run a school uniform project which encourages re-use and recycling of uniform across Kinross-shire; use local butchers and bakery for our winter warmer parcels all working within an eco-friendly manner.

So If you think that…

-You would like to reduce poverty across Kinross-shire

-We should protect our environment and that small changes can add up to make a big difference by reducing our food miles across Kinross-shire.

-People should have dignity and choice about the food that they eat.

Then please support us by voting for our Reducing Food Poverty and Food Miles across Kinross-shire Project.

Thank you

Broke Not Broken

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 congregation is carrying out a major refurbishment of the church sanctuary to create a new flexible space available for community use, with an Air Source Heat Pump heating installation to improve comfort levels in the building.

The current heating system is approx. 100 years old, lacks flexibility of control and is inefficient. Using renewable technology will improve energy efficiency, be environmentally friendly and be more versatile in its control.  The new space will allow larger community gatherings and activities to take place, with direct access created to our existing kitchen facilities.

The new flexible space will increase the capacity available to support the various Warm Space initiatives and Youth Drop In that we have started in the last year.  The building will be more accessible, less damaging to the environment and provide an improved public space for community use.

The community will benefit from our ongoing activities tackling social isolation and providing groups with a warm and comfortable place to meet.