Dads' group rolls into Links and Gallatown

The very successful Dads’ Project, started by the Cottage Family Centre in the Templehall area, is to be rolled out to the Gallatown and Linktown areas thanks to a grant of £30,000 over the next three years.

And it will be used to set up special parent and child groups within both areas to give fathers somewhere to go to get them out of the house and to mix with other dads in their area.

Pauline Buchan, service manager at the Cottage, said: “A few weeks ago we did a walkabout in the Links area and saw lots of men walking about with children in buggies, but there’s nothing specifically there for them, and it’s the same in the Gallatown.

“We are hoping that these groups will encourage them to be more proactive and have better relationships with their children, and that will help build their confidence to engage with other services so that they can grow and have better life chances and spend better quality time with their kids.”

The Cottage Centre applied for a year’s funding to expand the scheme, but was delighted when the Cattanach Trust came back offering three years’ funding.

“We would hope to have things up and running by the end of the month and we will run the Gallatown group from Viewforth Church, where we already have services,” she said. “In Linktown we are still trying to identify suitable premises and have looked at the Philp Hall.

“If that doesn’t work we are considering taking a shop unit to run it from,” added Pauline.

“The one we set up in Templehall has been a huge success, with the dads going on to do other activities together which have improved their lives.”