Summary of our 2025 Community Projects

In 2025, we continued to fund and co-fund a number of community projects and residencies. Here is a summary of what we got up to:

Outdoor Bushcraft Day for Youth Groups:

Last year we funded three days of outdoor activities and bushcraft for three separate youth groups at the Do It Outdoors woodland camp. The groups were the Young Carers Group from Denny High School, Perth Autism Support and Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow.

Under the expert guidance of Ian Macfarlane, the group members enjoyed activities including archery and axe-throwing, fire making, shelter-building and foraging.

An excellent time was had by all!

 

Midlothian Sure Start: 

 During 2025, we once again collaborated with Laura Kinsler  and Midlothian Sure Start. Laura is an experienced coach and facilitator and Midlothian Sure Start is an organisation that supports infants, young children and their families to ensure that they are building best beginnings.

Our funding supported Laura’s work in a number of schools across Midlothian. For these schools, she developed a number of 16-week mindfulness programmes. These programmes aim to help children who have experienced various levels of trauma and/or are severely neuro diverse, as well as children suffering with severe anxiety. With our funding, Laura was able to donate materials to the schools involved so that they could keep the practice of mindfulness alive in the classroom after the programmes ended. These materials included playdoh; a sound bell that the children loved to ring and listen to; packets of origami and a crystal for each child. Laura also held a party at the end of the programme and gave out a certificate to each child to celebrate their progress and achievement. Laura also works on a one-to-one basis with a child in care and was able to give her the same follow up materials.

Laura’s mindfulness programmes and her individual sessions have been incredibly well-received and successful. One of the teachers involved in the programme gave the following feedback about what her pupils gained from the workshops:

‘I think the children are much more able to sit in uncomfortable feelings and express their feelings to others. They have been equipped with lots of practical tools to help them check in with themselves and their feelings and to help them be present. They have also gained a real understanding of what it means to be mindful. The workshops have allowed them space and time just to “be” and enabled them to learn in a completely different way.

As I came into one of my schools for a session, one of my mindfulness kids was chatting with the Headteacher and his mum. He was having lunch at home. I asked if he was going to come back for the session, he looked at mum and the HT and said yes. What was later shared with me was that he had had a rough day, spending most of the day in a field with teachers trying to bring him back. He had also almost broken a window. When he came into the Mindfulness session, we did a check in. He shared why he had done what he had done that day. The Learning Assistant told him she would pass this on to the teachers, with his permission. I was so proud of him, and the work we are doing. So proud he was able to articulate his feelings and why he was feeling them. So proud of the learning assistant and the kids, for creating a space that he felt ‘safe’ enough to share with us what had triggered him.

An unexpected benefit of these sessions is that the children became more able to take feedback and to be reflective of their behaviours. I also witnessed a huge amount of vulnerability from the children. It was wonderful to watch them develop the ability to persevere when things were tricky.’

Leaf Print and Bind Workshop:

In 2025, we were delighted to once again support the community work of Bookbinder Cass Barron. In October, Cass ran a workshop with Friends of Victoria Park. This is her summary of the event:

‘The event started with a tour of the trees in Victoria Park (an ongoing community project), collecting leaves and then doing some printing and bookbinding back at The Heart of Newhaven – this was a free event open to all with targeted advertising to local groups and support services. A mix of people attended, a few families and individuals ranging from early 20’s to 70s – the majority had never been to The Heart of Newhaven before or really engaged with the trees in the park. There was a such a nice atmosphere with people exchanging stories, helping one another and celebrating each others artwork.’

The event received a huge amount of positive feedback, including the following comments from participants:

“Everything was great. Loved learning about the trees and collecting leaves. Fantastic printing and making the book.” “

”Everything – the new trees!”

“Being creative, being outside and walking, being sociable”

“Being out in nature, having a booklet to take home”

“I really enjoyed the walk through the park. It was very informative. The different leaves are so pretty, it’s such a different medium to work with”

“Meeting new people in the community who are like-minded to attend this workshop. Lucy and Cass are both so lovely, knowledgeable and passionate about craft and nature. I reall  y enjoyed foraging for our own leaves in the park, learning the different types of trees, getting to do our prints and to take away our own bound books. Thank you”.

“I really enjoyed it and it gave me a focus other than work and looking after my parents who both have dementia. I got up early every morning to try and fill in my book in the holidays. It was great doing some crafting as I’ve really missed it. I did a bit of stamping, printing with the leaves, a bit of watercolour painting and a wee origami box. I had great fun and have now made a point of trying to do something crafty each week, so thank you very much.’

We look forward to continuing to support Cass as she develops new community projects.

 

COVE AND KILCREGGAN BOOK FESTIVAL:

 

In November of 2025, we once again sponsored an event at the Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival. Our support funded an author event with Scottish poet William (Billy) Letford. Billy published his first collection of poetry while working as a roofer. Since then, his work has been adapted into film, projected onto buildings, carved into monuments, adapted for the stage, written onto skin, cast out over the radio, and performed by orchestras.

If you’d like to watch Billy’s hugely popular event, you can do so here.

TCCL:

In 2025, we were honoured to once again provide funding for  TCCL (Tayside and North-East Fife Children with Cancer and Leukaemia). This charity was founded in 1994, and has since been providing support both to children with cancer and their families.

The charity specialises in supporting families in their local area who have a child under the age of 18 who has been diagnosed with either cancer or leukaemia. It works with the local health services to provide additional supportive care during treatment and up to 3 years after treatment is completed for those who need it. TCCL also supports free holidays for families in its Lodge in St Andrews.

Our funding helped to support a variety of wellbeing services for families coming to the lodge and also provided financial support over the Christmas period.

HELENSBURGH BOOK FESTIVAL: 

 

We were proud to support the 2025 Helensburgh Book Festival. This unique, intimate festival is run by the Helensburgh Community Hub. Gill Simpson, manager of the Hub and Festival co-ordinator had this to say about the event:

‘Hundreds of people of all ages attended the 19 different events in 7 venues including: schools events, big name author talks in the iconic setting of Hill House, drawing room Treasure Island map drawing for youngsters, a fantasy writing workshop for teenagers, walk and talk event with mental health writer Chris Carse Wilson, a very fun What’s Hot session discussing new books , a pitching session for aspiring authors and plenty more. We were especially delighted to have Ambrose Parry at Hill House for one of our author talks.

We had great feedback from audiences and authors alike who commented on the nice community feel to the festival.

FEV BUCHANAN:

It was a pleasure to be able to support interdisciplinary artist Fev Buchanan in staging her exhibition The Performing Body at Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh. Fev is an artist who uses her body as a vessel to explore the complexities of the human condition, with a particular focus on the political and social struggles tied to womanhood and identity. Her practice engages deeply with the tension between life and death, flourishing and decay—exploring how environments shape what thrives and, what withers. She fascinated by the passage of time, and how surrendering control to natural cycles mirrors the way she navigates uncertainty in her own life.

 

MAGGIE’S EDINBURGH:

In 2025, we were delighted to continue our support of the wonderful Maggie’s Centre at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. Like all the Maggie’s centres across the country, this one is a haven for anyone going through cancer treatment and for those caring for them. As one centre user described it: ‘When you walk through the door at Maggie’s, it literally feels like a huge hug.’

Having previously supported ‘Creative Writing for Health and Wellbeing’ workshops at Maggie’s and their Green Spaces programme, we were thrilled to support their new Creative Spaces programme, which continues to makes use of the beautiful new garden room at the centre and to bring together nature, mindfulness and creativity in a way that supports those dealing with a cancer diagnosis, their carers and those grieving for the loss of a loved one.

We were also pleased to support the purchase of new books for the growing library at the centre, which is such an important resource for centre users. We also contributed support for the upkeep of the bench we donated to the centre, which sits in a peaceful spot in the beautiful gardens.

Like all the Maggie’s centres, Maggie’s Edinburgh is a unique and valuable resource and we look forward to continuing our support of it.

 

 

 

 

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