New well being projects at Fife beauty spot to help locals reconnect with nature

Sustainable Communities Initiatives (SCI) are running two schemes from the Earthship Fife visitor centre at Kinghorn Loch from this spring onwards.

The first is a ‘Well Being Well Doing’ project which has been funded by National Lottery Awards for All and will be held at the Earthship’s wildflower labyrinth.

It is free to attend and is open for anyone aged 16 and upwards.

The four-hour sessions will begin at the start of April and run until November.

The second project is a Youth Climate Stories Project which is aimed at teenagers/ members of a high school eco group and will see them working with local storyteller Dougie Mackay.

It will be a mix of allowing them to express how they are feeling about the future and traditional storytelling told by Dougie. The pilot project will culminate with the teenage groups telling their story in a special showcase.

Funded by Foundation Scotland, the sessions will run from April to May.

Paula said they have also received funding from a private trust to finance a maintenance co-ordinator for a year who will organise volunteering days once a month at Earthship Fife.

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Paula Cowie, development manager at SCI, said: “We have had the wildflower labyrinth for a few years now and it is well loved.

“I had an idea to use it more and enhance it so I was thinking we could put bird boxes/baths in and add more plants for the butterflies and bees. We are also going to plant more herbs so we can have our beneficial herb teas.

“We also plan to have the groups record what insects and birds come to the labyrinth.”

She said there is a lot of anxiety about the future and the climate crisis and so thought it would be good to to help people express their concerns and get support.

“There will be mindfulness, nature connection and storytelling facilitators who will do offer quiet activities like sit spots, writing and poetry.

She added: “These projects will help the groups reconnect with nature make them feel they are not alone with worries they have and bring people together in a more creative way. It would be really nice to see the labryinth well used and well loved. It is really nice to see people here together and they always go away really happy when they have been here.”

To find out more about the projects and how to get involved please email: [email protected].