Scotland: National Rural Network
Connecting Rural Scotland - Promoting Rural Growth

The Fife coastal village of West Wemyss has been announced as one of six across the UK to be funded through Village SOS and feature in a BBC television series.  Responding to the plight of rural villages across Britain, Village SOS is supporting new community-led business ventures that will breathe new life into their areas, create new jobs and improve the quality of life for local people.

Villagers in West Wemyss applied to Village SOS last summer and fought off stiff competition from a range of different projects across the UK to be awarded funding of £374,977. They will use the money turn a disused pub into a community hub with the potential to house a licensed bistro, a village shop selling local produce, meeting rooms and holiday accommodation. The group also want to create small allotments and a woodland burial site, and they are also considering the installation of wind turbines.

Blair Denwette from the West Wemyss Development Trust Steering Group said, "This is fantastic, absolutely superb! Village SOS is going to put us on the map which is something we really need. After the local industries of coal and fishing died away there has been nothing to replace them with and there is nothing here for people to do. At Christmas we held a Village SOS event which was attended by most of the village and it was the first time I've seen so many people come together. Since then our confidence has grown and grown."

Helping the villagers will be their ‘Village Champion' Allison Hammett, who will move into West Wemyss for a year and use her experience to support the villagers in getting their community business up and running.  

West Wemyss will also appear in a six-part BBC TV series next year.

You can watch a video about West Wemyss and Village SOS below:

Assynt wins Learning award

Lochinver Mission Community Project has cause to celebrate too. Due to the high standard of the proposals Village SOS has awarded them funding as part of the Village SOS Learning Campaign. The project has been awarded funding of £433,840 to create a Marine Life and Sea Heritage Centre to attract new visitors and commemorate the maritime heritage of the area.

The centre, made from a redundant fisherman's mission centre, would have an adjoining cafe and would incorporate a lobster hatchery, marine archive and touch pools to teach visitors about the types of fish that can be found in Scottish waters. On-site bunkhouse accommodation would also be available to enable researchers, youth groups and tourists to stay at the facility.

Roger Glover from the Assynt Community Association said, "We're absolutely delighted to have been successful as part of the Learning Campaign. Although we won't feature on the TV show, the project's the most important thing and it's great to know that it will now finally be going ahead. This means a lot to the community who currently have nowhere to go for an affordable meal out and I think it will be extremely popular. "

Helping the villagers will be their ‘Village Champion' Violaine Roberts, who will move into Lochinver for a year and use her experience to support the villagers in getting their community business up and running.

You can watch their video below.