Civic Conversation: We need to be inspired by Kirkcaldy's unsung heroes

For all its many faults, Scotland is, on the whole, a beautiful country with a warm, welcoming people.

No two places are alike, and it can take time to discover and appreciate the value of what’s right in front of us.

At its best, many see Kirkcaldy as a home – a peaceful place to raise a family with stunning coastline and parks.

At its worst, it is seen as a post-industrial “shell” whose best days have long since faded into memory. It is perceived as a town of wealth inequality, dilapidated buildings and restless youths desperate to flee.

Both of those perceptions may be true at once.

The Lang Toun consists of many disparate lives that, like Scotland, create a whole. If we’re being honest, Kirkcaldy is a bit odd, even by those standards. It’s too big to be a small town, and too small to be a city.

While the town once followed a “lang” strip running along the coast, it has expanded inland over the last century, turning its back on the Forth and hosting an increasing number of commuters who may well stay here, but whose working life is in the city and whose family lives are lived mostly in private.

There are many Kirkcaldys between the centre and the commuter belt, and the geographic spread makes it very easy for those different versions to never see, hear or interact with one another.

Waterfront development in Kirkcaldy thrown out by councillors

Despite the best efforts of heritage groups, much of Kirkcaldy’s history is not just lost but almost unknown to many of its new inhabitants. Much of our architectural heritage is now either decaying or outright demolished.

Given the lack of importance Kirkcaldy’s planning committees have given to Kirkcaldy’s history, it’s hard to expect newcomers to the town to feel any lasting connection beyond their gardens when their only frames of reference are new-build homes.

In economic terms, Kirkcaldy’s challenges are not unique.

Once a thriving producer of linoleum and coal, the town has precious little manufacturing industry remaining. The town certainly hasn’t been as badly affected as, say, Kelty or Balingry, but there can be no doubt that the closure of these industries left a gaping hole in its identity.

As with all High Streets in Britain, the advent of Amazon pulled footfall back into the living room.

This was compounded by the development of a retail park at the “top of the toon.”

Commuters and motorists can easily skip the town centre, where a Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s sit handily on the outskirts. The closure of the town centre support BID, Kirkcaldy4All, was another source of understandable anxiety.

It’s also staggering that Kirkcaldy still doesn’t have a cinema since our last one shut in 2000.

Yet, as much as I love film, it’s probably time to accept that the oft-talked of dream of a new cinema isn’t happening - at least, not any time soon.

My biggest bugbear is how Kirkcaldy’s greatest assets are so frequently overlooked.

Sitting on Fife Coastal Path, the views from Seafield to Kinghorn or Pathhead Sands to Dysart are strikingly beautiful on a clear day, looking over to Edinburgh and the Bass Rock with seals and ancient castle ruins.

Kirkcaldy’s spacious green parks are frequented by dog walkers and joggers, but rarely see any major events.

While I’m a big fan of the marquee events in the town centre, so much more could be done to make the most of Kirkcaldy’s outdoor space that just isn’t.

And yet, the supposed demise of Kirkcaldy remains greatly overstated.

There have been some very welcome steps in the right direction in recent years.

The 2019 Kirkcaldy Parks Half Marathon was a remarkable success and inspired me to get into jogging. Greener Kirkcaldy in particular are relentless to get more residents outdoors by running cycle workshops and walking festivals to promote just how good our natural assets are.

The Beach Highland Games have been a fun, if wet, fixture of the annual calendar, and the decision to extend the pedestrian areas of the waterfront – while controversial – is a long overdue step to make the most of our natural assets.

I recently participated in an online event hosted by Greener Kirkcaldy and Love Oor Lang Toun called Kirkcaldy After Lockdown.

It was an interesting evening which highlighted the example set by the Midsteeple Quarter in Dumfries in regenerating their town centre. I’d encourage anyone unfamiliar with that project to take a look, as there are a lot of lessons to be drawn there.

Greener Kirkcaldy and Love Oor Lang Toun are both pushing hard to improve Kirkcaldy’s fortunes and make the most of our potential, and I’m optimistic of what can come from of those efforts.

'Serious impact' on finances as Fife's leisure centres remain closed

There’s a momentum, and an energy, and a growing consensus that we can step it up and meet our challenges.

We should never to wait for an authority figure to arrive and fix all of our problems. We should set about making the most of the opportunities where we can affect change ourselves.

There’s a great phrase, often attributed to Ghandi, which asks us to “be the change that you want to see”.

This has always been Kirkcaldy’s strength. The most inspiring initiatives have always come from the community, where there is an endless source of goodwill and leadership.

One recent example is Ally Caldicott, who took the initiative to lead a growing number of volunteers in his Litter Picker Brigade down to Dysart to clean the beach every Tuesday evening.

Louise Canny’s Artisan Fridays have been a huge success in encouraging footfall and promoting local traders.

Dave Gillespie also deserves a shout out. Through the Auld Kirk Collective, he’s raised funds through live gigs at the Wheatsheaf for countless charities in the town, all while giving local artists an outlet and boosting the local music scene.

And, of course, there’s the Kings Theatre Kirkcaldy. What the team has achieved in just a few short years is nothing short of miraculous, and the Live Lounge is bringing much needed footfall to the oft-neglected waterfront.

So, short of an economic revolution and the closure of Amazon, what would my ideal future for Kirkcaldy look like?

My own view is that it will be at its best when we succeed in bringing the disparate, isolated bubbles that exist here together, and encourage more people to appreciate the make the most of Kirkcaldy’s incredible, unique assets that they may have overlooked.

We also need to recognise – and be inspired by – the remarkable achievements of the many unsung heroes who walk our streets.

For my own part: I buy my Fife Free Press every week. I listen to Kingdom FM and K107 while I’m driving, and I enjoy nothing more than a coffee in Kangus or the Cupcake Coffee Box with a good book. I enjoy long strolls through Ravenscraig and always get a kick out of grabbing a few beers with my friends in Betty Nicols.

I particularly love a wander along Kirkcaldy High Street and seeing the growing number of truly independent shops that are genuinely thriving.

For a number of years now, I’ve been on first name terms with many of the traders, and you can’t get that level of human connection when shopping online. Besides, there will always be a need for barbers and coffee shops.

Kirkcaldy is somewhere that you get as much out of as you’re willing to put in.

If you want to engage with the community, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.

And if you want to see it at its best, you’ll find much to love and explore.

I believe most of us could live happily anywhere, so long as we have a meaningful life, surrounded by the people we love.

Wherever I end up in the future, I’m content living in Kirkcaldy right now.

Rather than asking ourselves why people would want to escape, perhaps we should spend a bit more time reminding ourselves of why people would want to stay.

GavinHugh.scot

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspapers - the Fife Free Press, Fife Herald, St Andrews Citizen and East Fife Mail.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Allan Crow, Editor, Fife Free Press