Scotland: National Rural Network
This is the second part of the event report on the Scottish National Rural Network Forth Valley and Lomond regional event that took place on 19th January 2010 at the McLaren Leisure Centre in Callander. The event had a focus on Rural Development and the Environment and included a LEADER showcase exhibition. In this part you will find information on the two project presentations and the facilitated discussion session. Remember to take a look at Part 1 for details from the Information Update session.
David Pickett, Area Reserves Manager for Scottish Natural Heritage gave an interesting presentation on Flanders Moss, communities, LEADER and Creative bog partnerships. Flanders Moss is a National Nature Reserve and a peatland of international importance. However, it had a tradition of being inaccessible and was considered to be dangerous by local people.
SNH thought the site could benefit communities in the Carse of Stirling and could be a tourist destination too. They wanted Flanders Moss to offer something to local communities but needed their help as well.
The first project around Flanders Moss was the Connecting People with Peatlands project. They went for a transnational project with Finland, France and Ireland, so they could learn from the work being done in other countries. The project comprised of an arts project called 'Art on the Moss', the installation of the Flanders Moss boardwalk and a web-based publication with information from the project.
Mr Pickett said the international connections showed that different places peatlands had in the societies of the different countries. For example in Finland people go out into the bogs to collect berries and the peatlands are used for hunting, while in Ireland the bogs were viewed as somewhere to go for work not recreation. In Ireland they were working to reconnect people using inspiring art projects and youth workshops.
After seeing what was being done there, SNH decided on the Art on the Moss project, working with Thornhill Primary School. The children made pictures inspired by the Moss and they were so proud of them that they made a DVD. Mr Pickett said the DVD was a great way to get news of Flanders Moss out into the community.
Flander Moss has lots of hidden ditches, and lots of people walking on it can cause damage to the bog. The boardwalk was made from recycled plastic and allows people to get out and access the peatland safely. You can get much more information about this project in the Connecting People with Peatlands web-based publication.
Even with the new boardwalk and arts project, it was felt that something was needed to really sell Flanders Moss. The second LEADER project was the Flanders Moss Viewing Tower which gives a whole new perspective and allows people to see the site without doing any damage.
They wanted to build a really special tower and it has turned out to be everything they had hoped for. The tower is made from local materials and merges into the landscape. But what do you do once you have the Tower? A couple of projects have been running - The Oral History of Flanders Moss, and People, Peat, Poetry.
For the oral history project they interviewed people with strong connections to the moss and put this into an archive. The People, Peat, Poetry project saw poets come in to work with a range of people from nursery school to an older people's group. Participants produced their own poetry, which took a range of forms from ballads to haikus to raps! A DVD was made of the project, and a community event where performances were shown, took place at the McLaren Leisure Centre.
And what impact has the project had? Mr Pickett said that people who live and work in the area now look at Flanders Moss very differently and are developing ownership of the site. There has been extensive community participation, benefit from international experience, infrastructure installed and visitor numbers have increased and continue to do so.
You can get more information on the project, and see some great photos by downloading the Flanders Moss presentation from our documents library.
Dr Crispin Hayes gave an in-depth presentation about the Springfield - Stratheden Path Project. He began his presentation by acknowledging the Springfield Community Trust, the volunteer and community effort that went into the project and the funders: SNH (path construction); Fife Environment Trust (path construction), Fife LEADER (interpretation phase), Fife Council (project feasability study).
The Springfield - Stratheden path is a 1.1 kilometre all abilities path linking two villages. Instead of paying a contractor to do the work, it was decided that training for local unemployed young people would be provided. A deal was made with the young people - they would be given free training and work experience if they were willing to volunteer to build the path.
The benefits of this approach included more positive outcomes for the same cost, community ownership and increased social capital. Disadvantages included the need for 100 percent supervision and more risk in terms of liability, timescales and health and safety.
The young people were taught how to use a range of equipment such as excavators. A wider range of people were also involved as groups from a day centre for people with additional needs also got involved. The Greenwoodworking interpretation phase saw lecturns, fingerposts and furniture such as benches being made. Local school children got involved with the interpretation boards for the path.
Those involved with the project realised that despite their efforts to attract local female youths to participate, the project had largely engaged with male youths. They ran an Environmental Art Workshop targeted specifically at female youths with the aim of producing an iconic point of interest.
At the end of the path were some fallen trees and the young people came up with the idea of building a turtle. They worked with an artist and a chainsaw artist finished off the sculpture. The end result is very impressive and has become a local talking point.
Did the project offer value for money? The path was constructed, high quality industry entry training was given, work experience was recorded, social capital increased, environmental costs minimised and spend was focussed locally - all for the same cost as a contractor built path.
You can find out more about the project, and see some great photos of the participants in action (and the turtle sculpture) by downloading Dr Hayes' Springfield - Stratheden Path Project presentation from our documents libray.
The afternoon session took the form of a facilitated discussion session led by Sheila Fraser. Groups discussed lots of innovative and inspiring projects taking place in the Forth Valley and Lomond area. At the end of the session groups were left with post-it notes with very brief descriptions of the many stories that had been told. The group as a whole were asked to identify themes that had emerged during discussion, and then post-its were arranged accordingly.
The themes that emerged were:
Projects that we heard about included the Callander Youth Project, an eco loo and the Old Logie Graveyard Group. (A graveyard was also talked about at the Rural Aberdeenshire event, so this is becoming something of a theme!) At the end delegates were asked to tell stories that they'd heard during the session.
Daye Tucker talked the need for people to work together. She gave the example of a Minister who gave everyone in the congregation £1 when they left the church. They weren't told what to do with it, but they invested it and raised more funds.
Graveyard projects have come up at the two regional events that have taken place so far. We've never had any articles on this kind of projects before, and we would love to hear from you if you're involved in a graveyard project or know about one in your area, especially if you have experience to share. Join in our Graveyard forum discussion.
The Forth Valley and Lomond event is one of a series of 20 taking place across Scotland. For more information go to our Regional Events section. You can get event reports from other events in our Rural Network Regional Events archive.
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