£800,000 Lottery funding for Fife groups which bring local people together
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More than £700,000 has gone to a host of organisations which bring local people together and provide essential services.
The biggest winner was Fife Employment Access Trust (FEAT) with £149,000 which is till use to continue its work transforming Silverburn Park in Leven
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Hide AdAnstruther Improvements Association got £133,000 to continue to employ its community development worker to work on activity plans and lead events and festivals, while a £130,000 injection will allow St Andrews-based Families First to support families through challenges they face, giving children, young people, parents and carers access to a supportive, safe environment. Families supported by the group face a number of challenges including trauma, mental health challenges, poor physical health or disability, domestic abuse, low-income and rural living.


One community group to benefit is Blind Activities Support Events (BASE) who provide outings and social activities for visually impaired people in North East Fife.
Billy Horsburgh, 42, who is registered blind and has cerebral palsy has been a member of the group since 2009.
“I lost my sight in 1997 due to juvenile glaucoma when I was 15 years old. At the time doctors weren’t sure why I lost it at such an early age but thought that it might have been linked to my cerebral palsy.
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Hide Ad“The first activity I went to with BASE was a walk around the nature reserve in Leven. The chairman at the time instantly approached me and welcomed me and introduced me. I immediately felt a part of the group.
“BASE gives me something to look forward to. We try and do something different every month, we visit museums, castles, art galleries and gardens, all places I’d never go on my own. Every place we go to we arrange for one of the tour guides to take us around and describe everything to us. After each activity we have lunch and chat. There are a number of people in the group who live on their own so BASE helps them to meet new people and feel less isolated. It’s great to interact with people who face similar challenges. “
Elizabeth Waugh, assistant secretary, said: “This new funding will guarantee that BASE can fulfil a varied and comprehensive programme of events for our members during the next 12-18 months.”
In Kirkcaldy, Love and Harmony, the community interest group at the heart of the The Hive - the region’s biggest LBGT+ hub got £19,000 which will fund exercise, wellbeing and nutrition classes at its town centre base.
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Hide AdHome-Start Kirkcaldy also got £14,600 which will provide two years of funding to continue to run Baby Bookbug & Blethers sessions for children up to one year old, while in Burntisland, £19,800 went to Burntisland Community Development Trust for further sustainable activities, and £16,600 to Burntisland First Aid Services to fix the electrics and roof of its teaching and resource centre which will be made available to other community groups in the area.
Fife-wide dementia support group, STAND - Striving Towards A New Day - picked up £90,000 to help fund eight dementia friendly 'meeting centre' spaces across Fife in a three-year project.
Other funding went to: Community In Cupar (CiC) - £20,000; Crail Community Events - £6100; Crail Community Partnership - £12,000; East Neuk Recovery Group Initia-tive - £2200; Fife Alcohol Support Service - £20,000; Fife Beekeepers Association - £20,000; Hourglass (Safer Ageing) - £19,988; Hyperclub - £20,000; and Newcastle Early Learning Nursery - £12,380
Kate Still, National Lottery Community Fund Scotland chair, said: “It’s wonderful to see how the funding continues to help change lives for the better and just what can be accomplished when people join forces for a shared purpose or to support one another. ”
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