Volunteers Green: Kirkcaldy town centre's green space still needs brought to life

The £800,000 spent enlarging and revamping the historic green has created a more open, welcoming and lighter space - a bit lacking in colour, but a big improvement - , but one that still feels as under-used as it was before. Isn’t it time we made a conscious effort to change that?

People make places. Not grass and plants, or benches and walkways, and Volunteers Green needs an injection of life. It needs to be used, and be seen to be used.

Any time I drive or walk past, I see no more than one or two people on the green. That emptiness was brought home the other week when Dysart Colliery Silver Band performed there as judges from Britain In Bloom were given a guided tour of the town centre.

The strains of the Floral Dance were unmistakable, prompting more than a few comments that we should do this more often. And we should.

Music can transform a space - even our High Street. Add a busker with a great voice and the soundtrack to your day lifts enormously. If only we could mute the ones who just make a hellish racket…

Volunteers Green has many aspects to it.

For town centre residents, it’s their garden space, for dog walkers a safe, enclosed area for their pets, and for folk out on a walk a chance to grab a seat. Absolutely none of these uses need be compromised by it also hosting small, informal events. Other than a Bookbug gathering staged, I think, by Kirkcaldy Galleries, I cannot recall seeing any group using it - possibly because no-one knows the protocol if, indeed, any exists.

Do you just advertise on Facebook plans for a wee gathering, open the gates and get on with it? Do you need permission? If so, from who? Is there paperwork?

There is not a single piece of information anywhere to explain how Volunteers Green can be used and what, if any, limitations may be in place.

So, what’s to stop some musicians using it as an informal, outdoor space for a Saturday afternoon jam? Or a book club taking deck chairs and enjoying an afternoon or early evening in the sun? A playgroup letting kids run free? Or a business networking group having a meet and greet somewhere other than a hotel function room? Or, how about a club taking its members and guest speakers into the great outdoors? Or talks about the green from the Civic Society?

I’d love to see Volunteers Green at the very heart of next year’s Langtoun Fest programme, so we have a full year to get thinking and planning. It’d be a fantastic place to start and finish autumn and winter walks too - the list of possible uses is endless.

The huge numbers who go back and forth along the Prom rarely step over into the green - they simply have no reason to.

Lockdown allowed us to reconnect with green spaces across the town, from the Prom to Dunnikier Park, but Volunteers Green, even after all the money spent on it, feels like it still stands apart in splendid isolation.

But in standing still, it lacks a sense of purpose; one that need not undermine the tranquility it offers that is important to people. In short, it’s not actually ‘doing’ anything of purpose other than it’s just there. There is still time to change that as we head into autumn…