Category: News

Anam Cara – Empowering and Supporting Women

Richard Cross on 30 November, 2022

Anam Cara is a charity run by women, for women, in East and Midlothian. They offer a programme of workshops aimed at empowering and supporting women to improve their wellbeing by learning how to develop better self-care and coping mechanisms. Anam Cara is motivated by its three core values of compassion, courage and connection, which run through all of the projects and activities that the organisation provides.

Anam Cara helps women who are at risk of slipping through the net of other services that can help them, therefore missing out on the support they need. This can include women in unpaid caring roles, those with substance use issues or other health and wellbeing issues that they need additional support to deal with. Their approach is forward thinking and non-judgemental, with a focus on prevention, harm reduction and early intervention to support the mental health needs of women, particularly those from more vulnerable or deprived communities. As such, Anam Cara was well placed to receive a grant in Year 1 of the Midlothian Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.

The organisation successfully obtained £8,456 from the Fund to put towards salary and equipment costs for peer support activities with women, including monthly meet-ups and extended one-to-one support that had initially taken root during the first lockdown. In Autumn 2022, we checked in with Marion and Karyn from Anam Cara to see how their projects were developing.

What goes on at Anam Cara?

Every woman who comes to Anam Cara is invited to take a 4-week wellbeing course consisting of live workshops plus access to around 70 online short videos covering a wide range of topics. The videos were a more recent addition aimed at reducing barriers to participation due to information retention difficulties and poor attention span among some participants. They have proved very useful for practicing wellbeing skills in short bursts and have allowed participants much greater flexibility in their uptake of Anam Cara’s services.

“The online wellbeing videos are like a medicine cabinet of information. They give you the chance to develop and revisit these skills and keep on top of your mental health.”

Karyn, lead volunteer with Anam Cara and Midlothian Volunteer of the Year 2022.

Women are also encouraged to repeat the course 1-2 years after initially completing it, because Anam Cara know how useful it is to receive support over a longer period, as life evolves and different challenges come to the fore. They understand that someone may come back to Anam Cara and learn something new, not only due to personal circumstances but because the course itself is constantly being reviewed and improved.

The Sanctuary

The community orientated focus of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund links particularly well to Anam Cara’s core value of connection. The grant enabled Anam Cara to develop their Sanctuary drop-in service, where women needing a sense of connection and togetherness with other women have a safe and welcoming space to meet. The Sanctuary offers refresher workshops for women who have already completed Anam Cara’s main programme of workshops, allowing them another chance to practice the mindfulness and wellbeing techniques they learned initially. This is especially important as the programme relies on continued engagement in order to be most effective.

Within the Sanctuary, there are a variety of activities on offer including aromatherapy, holistic healing work, dance classes and more. Each of these activities is centred around improving and preserving good mental health and aims to give women the social connection they need to develop a sense of belonging. Feedback from participants has shown that attending workshops helps women to feel less isolated and alone, whilst also encouraging them to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining when looking after their mental health. Women coming to workshops show positive differences in their outlook even from week one.

Maria, the founder of Anam Cara, believes that this is a result of the organisation’s services being comparatively unique, in that they allow women to gather and support each other in ways that derive from a place of personal experience. There is a very low drop-out rate at Anam Cara, suggesting that its services are not only empowering and inspiring, but effective. Women are learning to reflect on their mental processes, how their minds work, and why they behave the ways they do. They are learning to respond to unhealthy behaviours with better choices, enabling them to move forward and make significant changes in their lives.

“Anam Cara was my only open door. It has strengthened my wellbeing, opened mental pathways, and helped me to develop a safety net to support and protect me. Women here are learning to embrace life and learn tools for their future. It is so important for women to have an option like this that doesn’t just involve hospitals or medication but focusses on togetherness and wellbeing as well.”

Karyn

Future Plans

Moving forward, Anam Cara would like to develop a service focussing specifically on women in later life. Maria had noticed that women in the 45+ age group were going through major life changes, often stepping into unpaid caring roles for elderly parents, whilst dealing with the stress of family life, menopause and sometimes finding themselves using alcohol or other substances to cope – sometimes also working into their 60s or even 70’s. Addressing this unique set of challenges alongside older women is a key future goal for Anam Cara.

Anam Cara are also looking to expand their bank of volunteers to accommodate the increasing need for befriending calls, and to potentially offer the Sanctuary up to women to run themselves as an independent project for users of the service. It all sounds really priomising and we can’t wait to see how Anam Cara develops this work in future. It’s fantastic to see that alongside the other grants they receive, the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund has enabled continued development of this valuable local organisation for women in Midlothian.

MAEDT Really Makes It

Richard Cross on 16 November, 2022

MAEDT is a community development trust dedicated to creating opportunities and improving outcomes for the local community of Mayfield and Easthouses. A key value of the Trust is to work towards alleviating poverty. With that goal in mind, MAEDT runs a wide range of different projects that share one key thing in common: the creation of long-term solutions for local people.

MAEDT has been running since 2007 and new projects are continuously being introduced, including the Community Food Pantry which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. As well as the pantry, MAEDT runs and hosts projects including a school uniform bank, debt and energy clinics, drop-in sessions with the local Citizens Advice Bureau, employability support, a men’s mental health group, a kinship carers group and a ‘wheelbeing’ hub for bicycle repairs and socialising. Central to these groups and projects is MAEDT’s pavilion, community garden and café, where a hub of different activities take place on a daily basis, come rain or shine.

MAEDT’s Pantry and Pavilion

Over the last 2 years, MAEDT saw how the pandemic increased unemployment and food bank referrals in the Mayfield and Easthouses area. Wanting to focus on reducing food poverty and improving people’s access to healthy food, MAEDT introduced a community food pantry. ‘The Pantry’ is a shop where food items are marked as either 1 or 2 credits each, and shoppers can buy 10 credits for £3.50. In addition to the credits, members are offered free fresh fruit and vegetables, sanitary products and bakery items.

To shop at the Pantry, individuals must become members. This free requirement helps to create a sense of equality among staff and users, so that people can be open about what they need and when they need it. The get-to-know-you membership model has helped people to feel comfortable in sharing personal stories about their mental health, challenges within their home life and stressors they are experiencing. It has become a hub where trust between local people can grow.

The Pantry helps to remove the stigma associated with accessing free and discounted food, providing resources that are much needed in a dignified and empowering way. Rather than feeling shame about not being able to afford food or cook from scratch with it, members are encouraged to broaden their cooking knowledge, introduce new flavours and be imaginative with healthy ingredients. Additionally, buying more affordable food from The Pantry means that members can put money towards other essentials such as energy bills, making this a service that helps in more ways than one.

The outside space at MAEDT’s ‘Pavilion’ hub underpins a lot of their work. Gardening activities act as vehicles for volunteering, community payback and rehabilitation. Using the garden in these ways is a non-stigmatising option for people belonging to vulnerable groups and can help them to better manage their own wellbeing. Moreover, the garden offers a safe space for people to improve their mental health by making connections with others, their community, and with nature. Local women Sharon Hill, who is also the manager at MAEDT, explained to us that individuals volunteering together at the Pavilion learn to bring out skills in one another, for example using maths to plot out a garden project, or conversation skills to engage with other volunteers who may find socialising difficult.

“All of our volunteers offer something unique; a skill, knowledge or vulnerability that can help bring out something in another person.“

Sharon Hill, MAEDT Manager.

How was the Fund used?

Part of the grant that MAEDT received from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund was used to pay for MAEDT’s Enterprise Development Worker, so that the Pavillion could open more often. The funding also paid for a structure in the garden called a Polycrub, as well as a pergola, making the expansion of gardening projects for volunteers possible.

What next?

MAEDT is always looking to the future and thinking about what the community in Mayfield and Easthouses will need next. Aside from the impending cost of living crisis and responding to what looks set to be a difficult winter, ideas for upcoming projects include a sensory park, an electronic rickshaw, and collaboration with partner organisations to embed the pantry model in other areas. For other places in Midlothian to set up their own pantry initiative, a large, centralised project would need to be organised to ensure that food is being dispersed equally. Sharon’s idea would be to use MEADT’s Pavilion as the central location for donations, and to use it as a network hub for distribution.

Reaching this point has taken several years of hard work from MAEDT volunteers and those who work for the organisation in a paid capacity, but it certainly seems as though all the hard work has been worth it. We applaud the team for their worthwhile efforts, and we look forward to supporting the Trust with its ongoing development in the years ahead.

Bonnyrigg Rose Community Football Club: Championing Football and Mental Health

Richard Cross on 16 November, 2022

Bonnyrigg Rose Community FC (CFC) is a football club that is gaining recognition for its work championing mental health and wellbeing in Midlothian. As such, it was one of four local charities to receive a larger grant from the Midlothian Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund in 2022. A total of £36,884 was awarded via Midlothian Third Sector Interface to enable the ongoing development of services for local people, including peer support groups, mental health training courses and refurbishments to the club’s community hub building.

The way the BRCFC’s staff and trustees see it, football and mental health are deeply inter-connected. It wasn’t always this way however, because prior to 2019 the club’s main concern had been to ensure that its ageing astro-pitch was replaced. Community programmes were seen as being important, but up until that point they had been viewed as more of a side project to football related activities.

A pivotal moment came when the club held a special one-off community event in the summer of 2019, with the input of Midlothian Council’s Communities and Lifelong Learning team. At the event local people were asked about what their town needed and what they wanted from the club, by completing a survey tool known as the ‘Place Standard’. The responses gathered highlighted that Bonnyrigg lacked groups and activities for older people, as well as needing more targeted opportunities for young people. It also became clear that the club had the potential to play a role in championing grassroots mental health initiatives. This meant moving beyond a focus on sport alone, embedding themes such as wellbeing and connectedness more deeply throughout the club’s community programmes.

Trish Sime (Development Manager) and Jim Wilson (General Manager).

Since 2019 the club has worked with organisations such as Health in Mind to expand the delivery of initiatives including ‘Midlothian Men Matter’. BRCFC’s premises also provides space for several groups which help to reduce loneliness and isolation among local people. Given the high rates of suicide among young men in Scotland and the club’s ability to reach this target group through football and sport, an key date in the calendar for Bonnyrigg Rose is Suicide Prevention Week, which takes place every year in September. To raise awareness of this issue, the club has hosted free Mental Health First Aid training for anyone in Midlothian with an interest in attending. Group based coaching work with younger men who are struggling to cope has also been a feature of the club’s provision over the past 18 months, alongside school-based wellbeing programmes, yoga, free counselling and peer support activities.

We caught up with Trish Sime (Development Manager) and Jim Wilson (General Manager), a few months after they received the club’s grant from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, to find out what has been achieved so far. Trish and Jim explained that the Fund has given them more freedom to continue linking football and mental health together by giving them additional resources – including core staffing hours – to focus in on progressing their plans for more community-based provision. Knowing that physical space is a particularly important resource and in short supply, the club got to work quickly in using their capital grant to replace old windows in the community hub building, making it a warmer and more welcoming facility. By investing in physical spaces where people can connect with each other more, the club is paving the way for further investments in community mental health and wellbeing.

Having charted the huge efforts made by BRCFC to support mental health and wellbeing in Midlothian, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) found that the impact of community participation in the club was worth an amazing £3.95 million. This commendable achievement is underpinned by UEFA’s commitment to support the club and its activities in the longer term, helping to build an even stronger foundation for the involvement of the community in helping to decide on future priorities (not just those that related to football)

Speaking about the connection between sport, community and mental health, Trish Sime told us:

“Sport brings people together. Through teamwork and a positive attitude, relationships are fostered, and trust is created. People rely on their teammates, friends, and peers to help them through challenges – both on the field and off. Using the power of football and sport in general to talk openly about mental health and to break the stigma is positive, and it’s the right thing to do.”

Trish Sime

We couldn’t say it better than that, and we’re keen to see what comes next for the club because the future for BRCFC looks bright. You can follow BRCFC on Twitter or check out the main BRFC club website for more info about what they are up to.

Resist potential cuts to third sector budgets

Richard Cross on 25 October, 2022

We are once again concerned that there will be cuts to third sector budgets by statutory funders.

We wish to strongly resist this, and we are keen to make sure that decision-makers are aware of the impact of cuts. Therefore, we have created this short survey which aims to identify how much additional funding statutory grants/SLAs allow us to lever in, the volunteer input it facilitates, and the number of jobs at risk. Please take a moment to contribute to this very important research.

Complete survey

Midlothian Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund goes live this Monday

Richard Cross on 13 October, 2022

An image of a sunflower is being used to promote the Fund in Midlothian.

We’re pleased to announce that the Midlothian Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund will re-open for Year 2 applications at midday on Monday 17th October. Our local guidance documents will be released then as well, along with application forms for three separate grant streams.

The Fund, which has been issued by the Scottish Government to every TSI across Scotland, is being used to promote mental health and wellbeing through community based activity led by local third sector organisations and voluntary groups. TSI’s will distribute the Fund to these other organisations over the next few months.

The Fund has a strong emphasis on collaboration, capacity building and the development of creative projects that can work at a very grassroots level, together with local people. It is being overseen in Midlothian by a team of staff and volunteers from the TSI, Midlothian Council, Health in Mind, CAPS Collective Advocacy and Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership.

In Year 2, we will be looking out for project proposals related to themes including suicide prevention (particularly younger men), bereavement/loss, trauma, community transport and accessible spaces. The use of creative approaches such as the arts, sport, or physical activity is very relevant and could even be the main vehicle for project delivery, so long as clear links are made to mental health and wellbeing outcomes. The Fund is geared towards those groups that are most at risk, including people from black and minority ethnic communities, LGBTQ+ people, and those living in poverty.

This is a great opportunity for people in communities to turn ideas into reality by sourcing some new or additional money to get things going. If you’ve got a proposal for how the mental health and wellbeing of people in your community could be improved, get in touch for a chat to see if it would be worth applying. More information about the Fund in Midlothian, and the Year 2 guidance for Midlothian, can be found here.

TSI Statement on the Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Richard Cross on 9 September, 2022

We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the afternoon of Thursday 8th September 2022. The Queen dedicated her life to serving the British people and was a strong supporter of charities and volunteering in Scotland. It is the end of an era and marks the passing of time in a period of significant change and uncertainty.

Midlothian’s Lord-Lieutenant and Provost Richard Callander, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and the UK Government’s Prime Minister Liz Truss all paid tribute to The Queen yesterday. Books of condolence will be open on Friday 9 September from 10am at venues across Midlothian. There will also be the opportunity to leave flowers in some locations. You can find full details of this on Midlothian Council’s website.

We are awaiting information about what will happen next and will circulate a further update to the third sector in Midlothian once guidance is issued. 

Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2022

Ellis on 10 June, 2022

The Midlothian Volunteer Awards are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian.

The awards take place every year during Volunteers’ Week and are a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

[robo-gallery id=4481]

Winners & Nominees

The winners of the Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2022 are as follows: 

  • Outstanding New Volunteer: Margaret McMekin from Transform Volunteering.
  • Befriender/Mentor of the Year: Alan Paterson from Thornton Rose Riding for the Disabled.
  • Active Volunteering and Climate Change: The Amazing Brains Committee, Art Club.
  • Service to the Community: Juliette Paris from Rosewell Community Council.
  • Health and Wellbeing Award: Margaret Canning from Hearing Link Scotland.
  • Dedicated Service: John McVeigh from Health-in-Mind.
  • Equality & Diversity: Joanna Haba from Home Link Family Support.
  • Saltire Summit Award: Sam Ewens, Lucy White, Andrew Hogg, Caitlin Chambers, Kari Calder, Jaylynn King.
  • Volunteer of the Year: Karyn Mcgrath.
  • Volunteering Team of the Year: Ageing Well Volunteer Team.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Recognising and supporting unpaid carers in your workplace

Richard Cross on 30 March, 2022

There are an estimated 1.1 million carers in Scotland and an estimated 1 in 8 people in the workforce are unpaid carers. Many carers juggle employment alongside their role as an unpaid carer.

Who is an unpaid carer?

A carer provides unpaid care to a family member, partner, relative or friend of any age who needs help to manage a long-term condition, disability, physical or mental health condition or addiction. Many carers don’t see themselves as a carer, instead they consider it part of their duties as a partner, parent, son, daughter or friend. Regardless of who a person cares for, or the reason they provide this care, it is important that carers are identified and supported.

Balancing work and care can be a challenge at the best of times, but ever changing situations and the transition back to the workplace may also present additional stress. Anyone can become a carer at any time in their lives and some of your team may have new or increased caring responsibilities.

Ensure your team members know that you’re happy to chat and address concerns they might have. One simple way to make your team feel they can talk about caring is by mentioning it in a team meeting. It’s always a good idea to ensure staff know about your organisation’s internal policies, such as carer’s leave, time off for dependents and flexible working that may support them in their caring role. Changes in legislation also mean that carers will be able to request up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave.

Identifying carers

Managers might be worried about initiating conversations about caring but likewise, team members might also feel reluctant or nervous to discuss their personal circumstances, especially if they are unsure of the support that is available.

As a manager, try asking your team members some of these questions:

  • It sounds like life is quite busy/challenging just now. How are you feeling? What’s keeping you going?
  • Would it be ok if I asked you a bit more about….It sounds like you may have a caring role?
  • What would help you? What can I do to support you?

Ensuring staff feel supported and valued at work will have a direct positive impact on morale, productivity and health and wellbeing. It can also help staff to stay in employment which will benefit your organisation and the individual.

Simple adjustments at work such as flexible hours, a carer’s leave policy, and an internal carers’ network can go a long way to ensuring carers are supported in the workplace. Employers can also signpost carers to VOCAL (Voice of Carers Across Lothian).

VOCAL can help

VOCAL is a charity that provides support for carers including access to information, counselling, legal and benefits surgeries, and free learning and leisure events.

VOCAL can support employers with a range of tailored training courses including ‘Identifying and Supporting Carers in the Workplace’.

Visit www.vocal.org.uk or email ku.gr1755148718o.lac1755148718ov@na1755148718ihtol1755148718dim1755148718" title="Midlothian@vocal.org.uk">ku.gr1755148718o.lac1755148718ov@na1755148718ihtol1755148718dim1755148718 for more information.

MVA AGM & Review of Midlothian TSI’s work in 2020/2021

Richard Cross on 19 January, 2022

Join us for the joint Midlothian Voluntary Action Annual General Meeting and Review of Midlothian TSI’s activities in 2020/2021

We’ll be showcasing the achievements in 2020-2021 of both MVA and the wider Midlothian Third Sector.

The meeting will be held online on 8 February 2022 from 7PM.

If you’d like to come along, please register here.

Preparing for winter

Richard Cross on 9 December, 2021

Winter can be a hard time for older people – from trying to stay warm to dealing with dicey pavements. With Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership we’ve published a newsletter to help older people make the best of it.

Our Winter Newsletter provides tips on wellbeing, heating bills, staying social and is full of useful links to local organisations.

Forward Mid, who represent the interests of disabled people in Midlothian have also released their December newsletter with details on how to stay safe over the festive period. Free copies can be picked from the MVA office, in Midlothian libraries and online.

Let’s all stay connected and help each other through this challenging winter.

Midlothian’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is NOW OPEN

Richard Cross on 30 November, 2021

A new fund to support mental health and wellbeing is being launched in Midlothian today with £241,000 to be distributed to local third sector organisations and community groups. Social enterprises will also be able to benefit from the Fund, which aims to promote initiatives that will benefit adults aged 16+.

The money will help to address the impact of social isolation and loneliness caused by the pandemic, as well as health inequalities that have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding has been provided by the Scottish Government as part of a wider £15 million programme for Covid-19 recovery and renewal.

In Midlothian, the Fund will be overseen by representatives from the TSI, Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership, Midlothian Council, Health in Mind, Penumbra, CAPS Collective Advocacy and people with lived experience. There will be £241,000 across three separate grant streams consisting of micro-grants up to the value of £2000, small grants up to £10,000 and a limited number of larger grants in the region of £30,000 each. Money will also be available for capital spend on land or building projects, to compliment the small and larger grant streams.

Lesley Kelly, Chief Officer of Midlothian TSI, which includes Midlothian Voluntary Action and Volunteer Midlothian, said of the Fund, ‘We are really excited to have been given this money to distribute locally, whilst working together with our partners over the next few months. We know that there is a huge amount already going on in Midlothian’s communities to support mental wellbeing. The Fund will help local groups and organisations to build capacity, enabling more people to make social connections and access opportunities that promote mental wellbeing.’

It is hoped that a similar amount of money will also be available in the next financial year (2022-23) and that creative proposals will be received for a wide range of activities with a focus on wellbeing in the community. Priority areas include recovery from addiction, social isolation and loneliness, suicide prevention, dementia community supports, access to physical activity, support for carers and anything else to promote mental wellbeing for adults aged 16+ at a grassroots, local level.

To find out more, go to the Funding page on MVA’s website, where you can read the Partnership Plan and Fund Guidance. Application forms can be downloaded from there. Please also share this article and spread the word about the Fund with others in Midlothian.

Image: metin.gul

Social Enterprise in the Spotlight: Penicuik Carbon Challenge

Richard Cross on 10 November, 2021

With the UN Climate Change conference (Cop26) happening in Glasgow from Sunday 31 October to the 12th of November, Fraser Waugh caught up with Rene O’Reilly at the Penicuik Carbon Challenge (PCC) to talk about all things eco-friendly, sustainable, and how this project aims to educate residents on how to lead more eco-conscious and less wasteful lives.  

How did PCC get started?

The Storehouse Penicuik sells goods that are good for people, the community and for the planet, always ethically sourced and local as possible. Everything we sell uses small-scale suppliers and short supply chains to ensure sustainability and traceability. Through this, and our customers shopping with us, we aim to be a pivot point in enabling people to live a more sustainable life.

What are some of the responsibilities you have at the PCC?

I deal with the zero waste lifestyles portion of Penicuik Carbon Challenge i.e. bicycles re-makery, the tool library, eco art classes, fixing and repairing normal everyday household objects, use surplus food to supply to Food Facts Friends and am involved in a variety of other community projects as well

Crochet crafts at PCC!

How does someone go about volunteering at the PCC? What roles could they get involved in?

They can come to us directly at our premises in Penicuik town centre where they can share their ideas and what they are most interested in, so that they can share their skills and expertise with others who come in asking about getting help with that specific service that PCC offer.

It’s all own the volunteer’s own terms- if they want to do something we don’t currently offer we can facilitate this. And we are very open to suggestions- we have a space for this on sticky notes at the front our place on John street.

Tell us how you seek to be a hub for the community?

We see our location in the town centre as a marketing tool because it is essential for people to know more about what we do at PCC. By engaging with the community in this way at our premises we talk to a wide range of people that we wouldn’t usually, therefore widening our audience and opportunities for promotion.

What can people get involved in?

This is our autumn programme of activities which will be updated with new events taking place in the future, here’s what you could expect:

PCC’s Autumn Programme of Events- more to follow in the future!

When people come into PCC they often ask if we would take…?

And the answer usually is yes! We do even if we haven’t taken anything in like that before! We take everything and anything, we’ll find a way to reuse/recycle it to be as useful as possible- to give it a second life. It is all about learning to repurpose seemingly useless items.  These could be donations of bikes, tools, electronic goods that we have a specialist that PAT tests for us, materials for art classes etc.

*****

As Rene has mentioned the PCC’s mission is to enable people to live more sustainable lifestyles within Penicuik and the surrounding areas. This is in parallel to two of Cop26’s goals- adapt to protect communities and natural habitat and working together to deliver climate change targets. Penicuik Carbon Challenge achieve this by adjusting people’s habits, working together and getting them active in the natural environment- all reducing their carbon footprint and taking steps closer to net zero targets.

Social Enterprise in the Spotlight: Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust

Richard Cross on 12 October, 2021

The green shoots of community-led regeneration are bearing fruit in Mayfield. Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust (MAEDT for short), is showing how local communities can address social issues such as poverty and loneliness while also helping to combat climate change. MAEDT used the lockdown period to incubate two social enterprise projects that are already bringing benefits to local residents. First, they have transformed the old pavilion and bowling green in Mayfield Park into a beautiful café, meeting space and community garden. With the help of a new staff team including Phil (pictured below) and local volunteers, the garden is now bearing its first crops of fruit and vegetables. These are available to customers for a small donation.

The Pavilion café is open for lunches as well as teas and coffees. It also has meeting rooms and an outdoor shelter that can be hired for all sorts of community events. People interested in volunteering are encouraged to drop into the garden and have a chat with Phil. The project will also be part of Midlothian’s first Green Prescribing programme, through which local GPs and other NHS health practitioners can informally ‘prescribe’ some clients to get active in their community in order to support recovery and improved health. 

MAEDT has also opened Midlothian’s first community Food Pantry. The Pantry, which aims to help members make their money go further and support local households out of food poverty, is open to people who live in Mayfield and Easthouses. Since opening, it has already gained more than 200 members who can shop once a week.  Each shop costs £3.50 and members can purchase food, toiletries and other household essentials, typically worth up to £15.00. Warris (pictured below) and his team of volunteers are keeping the pantry well stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables from the

garden, donated from the local Tesco at Hardengreen and through a partnership with Mark Murphy Total Produce Group   As well as non-perishable goods second-hand school uniforms and winter coats for children are also available. The Pantry is located at MAEDT’s office in Bogwood Court and is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-2 and Wednesdays 1-6.

To launch these projects, MAEDT has secured grants from Midlothian Council, National Lottery Community Fund, the Supporting Communities Fund and the DTAS Pockets and Prospects Fund, as well as smaller amounts from Foundation Scotland, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, Greenspace Scotland, and the Mushroom Trust. There have also been donations from the Co-op, Scotmid and the Jafaria Foundation in Easthouses. Income through trading activities will help sustain the projects as they grow. 

Sharon Hill, Trust Manager, is looking forward to what the future will bring for MAEDT and the community: 

“We have plans to move and develop as our customers feedback to us.  We can already see how the Pantry can grow and change with time and member involvement, and the possibilities for growth in the garden and pavilion are almost endless.  It’s an exciting time for us and we are grateful for the support of our volunteers, members, customers, funders and partners.”