Scottish Government

Rural Voices: Action Research Competition
Newsletter

ISSUE 1 October 2003

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Introduction

GEOFF FAGAN, CHAIR OF THE RV: ARC ADVISORY GROUP FOR THE SNRP

The Rural Voices Action Research Competition has been astonishingly successful. As this was the pilot year, and the idea of local communities conducting their own research is quite new, we expected a small response to our advert in November. However, to our surprise, we were flooded by requests for support and most of the applications were very good. Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised. With public education being available to everyone in Scotland since the end of the 19th century, it should be expected that local people come to the task of local research with many years of education and competence behind them. However, the fantastic response did pose a few problems for the Advisory Group which had to measure one cracking project against another, in order that we could select the top eleven. It was a mammoth task. All the entries were read and assessed against the RV:ARC support remit criteria, which included: the benefits to the community, financial regulation arrangements, that the project was accountable to a constituted group, and the rural focus of the proposal. Having successfully negotiated these hurdles, each proposal was then compared to each of the others in terms the project's design strengths, the research team's capacity to achieve their aims and, lastly, proposals to disseminate project findings to others.

These two filters took many hours of work, but eventually provided the Advisory Group with a long list of potential projects. It was a hard process, but eventually it was decided that eleven projects would be supported, all of which demonstrated substantial quality, a valid research design, and which would provide real benefits to their local community. As best we could, we then allocated awards across Scotland to produce a fair share for all areas.

This Newsletter comes out at the half way stage of the first year, and you will read the substantial progress that most of the groups have made. Some of the ideas are really unusual; some are very simple. Each project engages local people in helping to reshape and rebuild their communities. This is the spirit of the Rural Voices initiative - helping local people to help themselves. Research of this kind is driven by the phrase 'does it fit the purpose and can it be done successfully and securely by ordinary people?'. The answer to both, as you will read in these pages is yes, without question.

Meigle Youth Development Survey

BY MARTIN ROBB, MEMBER OF THE RV:ARC ADVISORY GROUP

Meigle Youth

The project aims to research the provision for young people in Meigle and is designed by the young people themselves. They are looking at what are the concerns of local young people and what they would like to see in the village and surrounding areas, as well as how they can use the youth facilities elsewhere.

"It is all 'go' in Meigle with the Youth Project in full swing. Nicola, Rebecca, Barbara, Danii and Dominic have been very busy researching their project over the summer. When they finished the first stage they had to wait 30 days to purchase their cameras because of invoicing procedures, which nearly resulted in them going 'off the boil', but once armed with cameras they took to the road with a vengeance heading for Sutherland and the Orkneys in the north and to East Sussex in the south. They have gathered a wealth of ideas and proposals with which to create an exhibition and presentation.

News of the Youth Project award by Rural Voices was met with huge enthusiasm from various sections of the Meigle community, the elderly particularly wanting to be a part of the venture. The Bowling Club, normally a club for more senior members of the community, invited the young to play bowls on Tuesday evenings.

The Community Hall committee revised their charging structure in an effort to encourage the community to use the hall. Perhaps most significantly, when the scheme recommences in October, Tayside Police have agreed to include Meigle in their weekly 'Thrillseekers' coach trip to Dundee for recreational activities. Previously it was only for the young people of Blairgowrie, Alyth and Coupar Angus. This news was met with considerable acclaim by the Meigle community.

Sue Cole has hardly had time to take breath to keep pace with the children's enthusiasm and certainly admits to being on a 'steep learning curve'. The young people want her to become their "Youth Development Officer."

FROM SUE COLE, ADULT PROJECT FACILITATOR

"The youngsters have certainly kept me on my toes. It has been a steep learning curve as my only experience of working with young people is as a parent! However, I have enjoyed the challenge.

I have been surprised at how grown up they have been in tackling the project. I have tried not to interfere too much - just guide them when I felt they needed help.

The girls have also become involved in the development of a Strathmore Centre for Young Youth Dialogue: a 'one stop' shop for information and advice for young people to be based in Blairgowrie. However, rural transport is a big issue and we are keen that the centre will be accessible to all young people, especially the rural areas in the Blairgowrie High School catchments area."

Garelochhead and Portincaple Community Trust Youth Project

RECORDED BY GEOFF FAGAN

The project intends to assist the young people of Garelochhead and Portincaple to ascertain the needs and aspirations of their peers, with regard to youth facilities.

"Our project is going really well. The research is almost complete and we are now beginning to use the information it gave us. We collected everything through a series of 'pizza nights', a trip to a sports centre and a questionnaire - brilliant! We asked lots of people lots of things - lots of times, and really made sure that we got information that we could use. We are now struggling in trying to find a name for the new youth centre as we know that whatever we choose will stick forever: 'Boring no more', 'The Depot' and 'The Hut' are three that have been suggested. We also found it hard to make up questions that didn't confuse people - or didn't lead them into telling us what we wanted them to tell us. We have learned how to build a questionnaire, how to interpret the results and how to turn the results into something that is real. We were really surprised that we won the money, because we are just a tiny village. In all of the information we have got back it is surprising just how the young people seem to be as concerned as older people about the same things: litter, the state of the beach and the facilities in the village and many people have said that they have never had the chance to speak out in this way before. One member of the group said, 'It's not hard doing this kind of research if you put your mind to it'."

Filling out a questionnaire

Improving External Funding and Project Management Advice in Annandale and Eskdale

BY ELINOR PREDOTA

The project in Annandale & Eskdale has two foci - strengthening Community Councils, and building skills and confidence in community research, project planning and fundraising among community projects in Annandale & Eskdale. We now have a Project Co-ordinator in place, Elinor Predota, employed two days a week, which has enabled faster progress on all fronts.

We originally recruited eight research volunteers from the Federation of Community Councils, but this figure is now down to six. The volunteers have been very enthusiastic about the research, getting their teeth into deciding on what they want to find out, and how best to get the information. We hoped to be able to survey all Community Councils in Annandale & Eskdale (23), but with the number of volunteers down, that figure has been revised to 18. The Project Co-ordinator also has experience of serving on a Community Council, so may be able to take up some of the slack. We also have some information days planned for all Community Councillors in the area, on the new Local Government (Scotland) Act, on the Community Planning process, and on influencing decision-makers, but there has been little take-up so far. We are trying to find out what would increase attendance at these kinds of events.

We now have four community projects recruited, which are all at different levels of progress. A young people's group in Eastriggs has carried out a consultation of their community on the possibility of a skate park for the town, with the support of a consultant, and will soon move on to analysing the results. ClipICT, a community-based IT training organisation, is working with Annandale & Eskdale CVS and the Federation of Village Halls to look at delivering training, education and other services to isolated communities through their village halls. Our role will be to train and support hall committees in researching their communities' needs. The other two projects are realising the potential of a 5 1/2 acre field owned by the community in Beattock, and expanding the use of Eskdalemuir Public Hall as a community centre. The Eskdalemuir project is now very similar to the ClipICT project (which wasn't originally the case), so we are thinking about whether we have capacity to involve another community project in Lochmaben.

We are very aware of the limits of what is achievable within the timeframe of the project, and are trying to manage the expectations of volunteers involved in the projects, to keep them realistic.

Collieston Community Centre

BY RHYS EVANS

The focus of the project is how best to move forward with the redevelopment of Collieston Village Hall in a way that is practical, sustainable and inclusive.

The folks of Collieston Community Centre in north-eastern Aberdeenshire have been moving ahead in their quest to learn from other communities who have renovated their old village hall or replaced it with a new one. Sally Sheehan, Alan White, and Ken Ingram say that their search for ideas includes alternative uses, ways of building sustainability into the ongoing activities and life of the Hall, and, that common bugbear of many community development projects, how to find funding for it.

They are moving well through a plan to visit 11 or 12 halls across Scotland to learn from these communities' experiences, and have added visits to 'social enterprises' (businesses employing those who cannot access regular employment) to their agenda in a search to build sustainable activity into the Hall.

They will be holding a meeting in November in Newburgh, to which they have invited members from the communities they have visited, local and other groups with an interest, and development consultants CADISPA. This will be a kind of Focus Group and the results will not only be analysed, but they will be archived on digital video, as a resource for future exploration and inspiration.

They have completed their visit to Mull, and plan to go to Tyree to learn from people in those communities.

In the end they will produce a report on what they found, both to provide a guide to alternative ways forward for Collieston, and as a reference which might be of use to other groups coming to grips with how to rejuvenate an existing Village Hall. This will certainly contribute to increased community capacity both locally, and potentially, shared across rural Scotland. And, by developing the contacts they have made in their visits, they have access to wider networks, more experiences, and more alternative possibilities in how to build a vision for their Village Hall, and how to bring it about.

Ken Ingram, Sally Sheehan and
Alan White discussing the future of
their community centre.

Midlothian Rural Voices Initiative

BY PAUL THEWLIS

The project aims to look into the barriers faced by young people accessing services out with their own communities, barriers to the development of services within these communities and barriers to young people inclusion in the development of services.

Midlothian volunteers

Since May, the steering group of the Midlothian project has focused its activities on the following:

A mapping exercise of each community identified in the study

• The mapping exercise has allowed the steering group to build an accurate picture of what opportunities and services are currently available to young people in the communities of Pathhead, Birkenside, Rosewell and Roslin. Through this exercise the steering group have also identified existing community structures that could, in the future, provide expertise in the way of skills and knowledge, as well as support for the ideas for change that arise from this consultation exercise.

Awareness Raising and Communication

• Intrinsic to the success of the initiative is effective communication. Members of the steering group have been meeting with local representatives and groups telling them about the initiative and its benefits to the communities, exploring their involvement and building links.
  
  At the beginning of the mapping exercise, the steering group did not have an idea of the actual extent of community-based organisation. So far, the steering group has made contact and have met with over 40 groups and individuals. Establishing and maintaining effective communication has been a drain on our time, however, we hope that our efforts will be rewarded in the long term.

Recruitment and Selection of Youth Worker and Youth Facilitators

• Prior to the schools summer holidays, the steering group initiated a recruitment campaign to recruit youth work staff and youth facilitators to deliver the consultation programme in the communities. The steering group did not anticipate how difficult this activity would be.
  
  Community Learning and Development within Midlothian Council are assisting our project in kind through their contribution of four part-time youth workers. The youth workers will work alongside the youth facilitators helping them to plan, organise and implement their community-based consultation. During the summer, interviews for these positions took place and we now have four part-time youth workers in place to provide the necessary support and guidance to the youth facilitators.
  
  On the other hand, response to our recruitment drive for the positions of youth facilitators was exceptionally slow. The steering group turned to local community groups for support and further to a recent recruitment drive, the steering committee have so far recruited eight out of the 12 positions available.

Planning and Organisation of the Training Programme

• During the summer, the steering group appointed a consultant to assist us in the delivery of a training programme. Lynn Wotherspoon is an independent trainer in Participatory Appraisal. During the month of September, Lynn will deliver a training programme to both the Youth worker and Youth Facilitators. By the end of the programme, the steering group hopes that they will be familiar with, and confident in, the use of the different tools and techniques; have planned and organised a programme of consultation activities with young people in the four communities; and have developed a sense of team identity.

Summary

• Having experienced some difficulties over the summer holidays, the steering group feels that it is now back on schedule and expects that the youth facilitators will be engaging young people in the communities over the months of October and November.
  
  As a steering group we are taking stock of our aims and using action planning as a means to keep us focused on the task in hand.

Renewable Energy production on Unst & Westray as part of strengthening communities initiative

BY SANDY MACAULAY

The Rural Voices Project involving Unst in Shetland and Westray in Orkney, involves a community consultation and learning process focusing on the development of renewable energy within the two communities.

Recent changes in the organisational circumstances of the Unst Partnership, prompted a review of whether or not to proceed with the project. However, in response to widespread interest in, and enthusiasm for, the project in both communities, particularly amongst younger members, it was decided to proceed with implementation. Since the award was made for the Rural Voices project, there have been a number of positive developments in both Unst and Westray which have reinforced the project's value and relevance:

• the acceptance of the joint Unst/Westray application to the European Commission for inclusion in their "Campaign for Take-Off" community renewable energy initiative;
• the funding of the Westray Development Trust installation of a dedicated wind generator to power the Hofn Youth Centre in Westray;
• the installation of a wind turbine to provide direct heating to the Church of Scotland in Westray (where the Westray Development Trust meets);
• the commissioning (by Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Enterprise), of the Unst Partnership to introduce renewable energy learning packs into all secondary schools in Shetland;
• the formal commitment by Baltasound Junior High School (on Unst) to become an "eco-school";
• the undertaking in Unst of a technical "energy balance study" involving local students and graduates; and
• the development by both the Westray Development Trust and the Unst Partnership of major innovative community renewable energy projects (the one in Westray involving anaerobic digestion of agricultural slurry, and the one in Unst involving the production of hydrogen from wind power).

An additional spin-off benefit of the two communities undertaking this project jointly has been the opportunity to learn from each others strengths, and help address each others weaknesses. This community-to-community exchange of ideas and experience is covering more than just the shared interest in renewable energy - it is extending to provision within the community of care services to the elderly, the operation of the youth centre, transport issues, marketing and the development of new industries.

Combating Rural Disadvantages on Mull and Iona
ISLAND VOICES

BY JAMES HILDER

The aim of the project is to conduct a wide reaching survey of peoples' views on what is needed on Mull & Iona to become a better place to live, work, raise children and retire.

Yes, since attending the conference at the Boat of Garten the Mull & Iona research project has become known as "Island Voices", following a small meeting of volunteers in Tobermory where the project was planned and a "brand" discussed. Specifically we want to identify gaps in services for the elderly, young people, single parents and the homeless and defining our vision for the future. It's a huge undertaking but we are doing our best!

It's hard to believe its already September and we are 4 months into the contract. Although a lot of progress has been made, the major problem on the island has been recruiting more volunteers to help with the research. Mull alone is over 300square miles so we have tried to recruit volunteers from across the island, however with the delay in starting the project, we have been trying to do this at the height of one the busiest tourist seasons for years. Its always hard to get people to do things in the summer due to the seasonal nature of the economy, but the phenomenal success of the BBC2 children's TV series "Balamory" led to a big influx of visitors. Ferry's were fully booked, buses had to leave passengers at bus stops and there were hardly any beds available in the whole of the north of the island.

So the Trust has tried to support a team of 6 volunteers to move things on. Firstly, we agreed that public awareness of the project had to be raised. Letters were written to all community councilors, and to all community / voluntary groups on the islands. Articles appeared in the islands two monthly newspapers Am Muileach and Round & About and by the time you are reading this letter, there should also have been an article in the Oban Times, which is the most widely read regional paper in western Scotland.

The next thing to do was to pilot the questionnaire which would form the basis of the research. The ideal locations for doing this were the islands Highland Games in July and the two agricultural shows in Bunessan and Salen, in August. Volunteers helped at all of these events, with the result that the questionnaire went through seven different editions before finalisation this month.

We were really grateful for the help of our local authority - Argyll & Bute Council who are currently running a series of roadshows on the islands, trying to develop services for the elderly.. The "Better Neighbourhood Services" project agreed to put an "Island Voices" flyer into their mailshot to every household on Mull, and the Island Voices team is currently carrying out surveys at all these roadshows.

Importantly the flyer also advertises our website. Yes over the last month the Community Trust has provided free web space ( www.mict.co.uk ) so that the whole community can go online and download a questionnaire. Collection boxes are currently being arranged around the island so that people do not have to post them back - they can drop them off at local shops and post offices.

Most recently, James Hilder attended two school assemblies at Tobermory High School where a special "youth" questionnaire was distributed. After each assembly a small focus group met in the school library to discuss the issues raised by the presentation, and a collection box is in situ in the school library. An incredible 95% return rate was achieved with comments still coming in, many of them very interesting - particularly problems of public transport for young people. At the time of going to press, one of the volunteers is ploughing through nearly 200 questionnaires compiling results. Meanwhile Julie Paton is building the 'Excel' spreadsheet which we will use to analyse the many hundreds of expected questionnaires.

At this stage it is too early to say how the research programme is affecting the community. It has definitely got people talking, but we will find out a lot more when the village hall meetings are held later this year, and when we have had more meetings with special groups.

Meanwhile we are looking forward to hosting the second RV:ARC Conference Study Tour, here on Mull in November and meeting you all then !

www.mict.co.uk

Invergordon off the Wall

BY MARION RHIND AND ANTOINETTE BURGESS

The project envisages professional artists painting 20 gable walls in this small Highland town, depicting the essence of its rich heritage. The project is looking not only to transform the appearance and prosperity of Invergordon, but also to create the transition from apathy to involvement among the townspeople, restoring respect and pride in their town.

Digital image of a potential mural

There are steep learning curves and then there are those inclines that would give even Eddie the eagle a keen advantage. We, from Invergordon off the Wall, always keen on a real challenge, are definitely climbing one of the latter. Our crampon donned journey began in April with the jubilant news that we were to be one of the recipients of Rural Voices funding. The fact that the Scottish Executive took us seriously gave us as much encouragement as the financial bonus.

The process started with a leaflet delivered by a team of volunteers to every household in the community with an invitation to a series of presentations and open meetings. These were held in a variety of locations designed to attract a broad cross-section of the community.

Following these we circulated a questionnaire to gauge the reaction to the idea. Of 584 returned, 29.1% were very enthusiastic; 45.4% liked the idea; 13.3% were unsure 5.7% disliked the idea and 6.5% strongly disliked the idea. These results gave us a clear mandate to proceed. Our local press, we have to say, gave us a real boost with a series of front page stories and many local groups have shown interest and invited us to meet with them. Opposition came as surely as night follows day in the form of a petition, which, from feedback received, was conducted in such a way as to render it invalid.

The process of gathering stories and narratives as the foreground to the larger events of the town has started. We have set up our office for this purpose, adjacent to the market which is open on Fridays. A heritage ceilidh is planned to gather information on a larger scale, with a display of old photographs, prompt cards and appropriate music. By the end of the year we should have collected a very valuable resource and laid down firm foundations within community groups, encouraging collective ownership of the murals.

Support has come from a wide variety of sources. Lord Thurso, our MP, has offered to help in any way he can. Meetings are planned with our local MSP, Jamie Stone, and a presentation is to be given to Highland Council. Rhys Evans of the Arkleton Institute kindly offered to meet artists with whom we are corresponding in Canada following the recent Taking Charge conference. Our applications have been lodged for funding from various sources. Wish us luck and come and visit our open air art gallery next year.

CONTACT DETAILS

If you would like to know more about Rural Voices please check the news updates on the Rural Communities Gateway website: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk / or email us on RuralVoices@scotland.gsi.gov.uk .

Rural Voices Secretariat

Juliet Harvey - Programme Developer
Nina Loginova - Programme Co-ordinator
Environment and Rural Affairs Department
Scottish Executive
Pentland House, Room 241
47 Robb's Loan
Edinburgh, EH14 1TY
Tel. 0131 244 4183
Fax 0131 244 6662
Email: RuralVoices@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.scotland.gov.uk/ruralpolicy