Community projects starting to take shape following Kirkcaldy's You Decide funding initiative
Earlier this year members of the public voted for the local projects they wanted to see receive a share of a £300,000 pot of cash.
A total of 32 projects received a share of the funding through Fife Council’s community led ‘You Decide’ initiative.
A wide range of ideas are now being realised following the public vote which decided which projects were funded. Groups and individuals received funding from a minimum of £500 up to the maximum of £15,000 with the aim of “building better communities”.
Among the successful projects to receive money through the scheme were Linktown Boxing Club; Dysart Coastal Regeneration Project; Kinghorn Whale Park; The People’s Sauna; Linton Lane Playpark; Beehives in Ravenscraig Park; Beveridge Park Community Cafe and Dunnikier Park Sensory Garden.
The You Decide campaign is overseen by a community led steering group (CSLG) of residents from Kirkcaldy, Dysart, Burntisland, Kinghorn, Auchtertool and Puddledub, working with the council’s Kirkcaldy area community development team to deliver the initiative.
Ideas were sought across four categories – Community/social; Creative/cultural; Ecology/environment; Leisure/recreational – with selected projects going forward to a public vote in March this year to choose which would be funded.
Local engagement with the project proved high, with over 5000 people across the Kirkcaldy area making their choices and casting votes at an in-person voting event at Adam Smith Theatre and then online.
Councillor Ian Cameron, convenor of the Kirkcaldy Area Committee, said: “You Decide is a noteworthy example of local democracy in action. The response from local people has been fantastic, the ideas diverse and exciting and the desire of the community to have their say considerable.
"Along with the community led steering group, I would like to thank everyone involved and look forward to seeing these chosen projects flourish and help build even better communities across the Kirkcaldy area.”
Paul McGhie, chair of the CLSG, added: “It’s been inspiring to see local people put forward their own ideas for projects in the Kirkcaldy area. It’s exciting to hear that projects that are now moving ahead, and we wish them every success.”
This week we caught up with two of the successful projects to discover how the funding is being used.
Beveridge Park Community Cafe
Park users in the town’s Beveridge Park can now enjoy a selection of refreshments during their visit thanks to the team at the Beveridge Park Community Cafe. The project to create the cafe saw Kirkcaldy Rugby Club receive £15,000 of You Decide funding.
The cafe can be found at Kirkcaldy Rugby Club and is open to all from Sunday to Thursday.
Stuart Oliver, from the club, explained: “The rugby club has been in existence for over 150 years and we’ve been in the park since the 1970s.
"We have been looking at developing the club house, and as part of that we did a survey of the park users.
"One thing we noticed from the survey answers was people said the park was missing some sort of cafe.
"We’d previously been involved in holding Bite and Blether lunches in the club in partnership with the council to provide free lunches for isolated members of the community and they proved quite popular.
"We have got the catering facilities and the tables and chairs here, so we thought it would be good if we could offer a community cafe.
"The Beveridge Park is one of the iconic areas of Kirkcaldy and most folk will tell you they’ve been and it’s a nice place for a walk. However, by offering a cafe it gives the community a focus, a point to meet friends, enjoy a coffee while walking the dog – it offers a better facility and makes it an even more attractive place.”
The cafe opened its doors in August, offering breakfast and lunch as well as hot and cold drinks from 9am to 3pm, Sunday to Thursday. There’s seating inside and out, and the opportunity to takeaway.
Stuart continued: “We’ve been quite involved in the community, asking what they want and we’ve been up and running for about six weeks now.
"We’ve had good footfall through the door and a lot of positive feedback from people.
"Many have been saying that something like this in the park has been needed for years.
"It’s still in the early stages but we hope to build from here. There are still some who don’t know we are here.
"It’s important to let people know that the cafe may be in the rugby club, but it’s a facility for everyone to use in Beveridge Park. There’s no need to have an affiliation to the club, everyone is welcome.”
Kinghorn Whale Park
Along the road in Kinghorn, work is progressing on plans for a Whale Park. The brainchild of local man Ronnie Mackie, the aim is to transform an underused piece of community land on the coast to create an education and art celebration of ‘The Return of the Whales’ to the Forth.
Work is already underway with the first of the artworks already in place at the site, which was once used as a putting green and is a popular area for spotting local marine life.
Ronnie explained: “The whole idea is there’s quite a lot of people sit there and we get lots of whales and dolphins in the Forth that we can see from Kinghorn.
“The area used to be the old putting green and it’s where we watch the whales and dolphins from. Some of us do surveys from there.
“Whale sightings from Kinghorn have become regular since early 2017.
"My idea was to try and encourage local people to take an interest, to improve the area and attract more people to Kinghorn.
"A lot of people use the area and it’s on the Fife Coastal Path.
"I submitted the project for funding as an individual and I’m working with local artists and crafters.
"The first part has been completed for a few weeks and it’s getting incredible feedback. There’s about 70 metres of wall that’s been painted with a mural of sea creatures. It’s been painted by artist Hazel Terry and her daughter Freya Ledingham.
"There’s a bespoke bench being installed in the next few weeks, made out of Scottish oak which will have words from a poem carved into it. It’s being made by Nick Farr.
"I’m working with Catherine Lindow to design an information board which will be a mix of educational information, art and poetry.
“Then I’m hoping to have a big mosaic of the humpback whale that was in Kinghorn one New Year’s Day and put on a display for locals. Jo Hobbett is helping with that.
"The feedback has been fabulous so far. Lots of people have stopped to talk about it, from a massive cross section of the community as well.
"I’ve got more plans for the future too, but that will be for the next phase. I’d quite like to get sculptures in place and improve the picnic area further.”