Moo Food & Thurso Exchange
Lyn & Ele from the MOO Food staff team and Jenn from the working group took a trip to Thurso yesterday to meet with the Thurso Community Development Trust. Bethany from the North Highlands & Islands Climate Hub helped MOO Food with our application for a Community Learning Exchange which meant we would get our expenses paid (train tickets, food and drinks) and also it meant the Trust would receive some money for taking the time to give us a real experience of all the different projects they have been developing around the town.
We were met at the train station by Sharon from Thurso Grows and Bruce, a graduate who will be putting together a strategy and implementing the ways in which Thurso can become the first Net Zero town in Scotland. They took us for a cup of coffee and then up through an industrial estate into the area where the community garden now sits. Sharon designed this space with the help of the community, and where once sat an abandoned grassy area with just a fence and a shed, now sits a beautiful space with lots of raised beds, a polycrub, an outdoor cooking and seating area, newly planted trees, a cob oven, woodland seating areas, water harvesting on every corner, compost areas, a very colourful and - believe it or not - lovely compost toilet and a shed full of tools for the volunteers.
It was incredible to see the transformation of the area to what it is now and to see the potential of what could happen in a community space. Attached to the shed door, Sharon keeps the picture of what the garden used to look like and the plans along with the pictures of the vision during the design phase. Included in the vision ideas is a photo of the MOO Food growing boxes from the visit the Thurso Trust made to Muir of Ord several years ago and today in the garden now sit some of their own large tattie growing boxes with the Thurso Grows logo painted on by a volunteer.
The Growing space is maintained by the volunteers, a core group of about 4 people and a more ad hoc group of around 20, nearly all of these people being new growers. At the moment, they are able to ask Sharon for any help and advice they need. The space is open for anyone and everyone to use and they often see support workers and other health professionals along with the people they are working with using the space to find a little peace and quiet in the garden.
Of course it’s not all been plain sailing and without difficulty and initially there was a bit of opposition from one or two of the houses that sit next to the garden, but as time has gone on it appears that the garden has been accepted as something that is beneficial to everyone. Occasionally there might be the odd person sitting at the picnic table when she arrives but Sharon says that with the ‘Everyone is welcome’ attitude, there is never any bother and it seems to me like that it is a really respected and well looked after space that the community are really happy to have.
After the garden visit we walked through the town centre (where sit several new planters installed by Thurso Grows) to meet Joan, the Thurso Community Development Trust manager and to see their new zerowaste shop ‘Socially Growing’. This was another moment of ‘oh my god, this is amazing,’’ as inside the newly renovated shop are bulk dispensers full of a variety of different wholefoods, bulk cleaning products, fresh vegetables and locally made soaps and other eco products. The shop has only been open for a few weeks and employed by the Trust to run the shop is a full time shop manager along with 7 volunteers. It must have been a huge amount of work to get this off the ground but what a beautiful job they have made of it! Their long term goal with this shop is for the shop to be able to make enough money to sustain itself as well as providing a training centre.
The Trust rent the whole building which means that now they have an office space upstairs which again, is newly decorated and a bright, colourful and welcoming space where some of the staff were busy working away on their various projects. The Trust currently employ 13 people working in various areas including Thurso Grows, Thurso Eats (which includes cooking workshops, the sharing shed and reducing food waste), the greenhouse project, Net Zero Thurso, the Socially Growing shop along with staff to help with communications, admin and finance and of course the never ending task of finding funding, maintaining the projects and developing new ideas! The staff are supported by a voluntary board, some of which have been awarded for their work with the Trust.
The office and shop sit in the middle of the town which Joan points out was really important when making the decision on where they were to be based. Part of the Development Trust’s vision is to have a thriving local economy and they’ve been working hard to help support local businesses and to promote the ‘shop local’ idea, which means that being accessible was very important. People can now pop upstairs to the office to chat to the staff or what happens more now the shop is open, is that the shop itself also provides the function of a community hub.
It is clear that, as with any project, that funding is always an ongoing and never ending issue. With so many staff and projects to maintain (including Joan’s own role) it is something that is always having to be looked at and the pressure must be huge with so many projects on the go. Joan explains though, that this year for the first time, they are in a position where they can look ahead to the future, to funds coming out and what they want to achieve to develop a clear funding strategy. She’s already looking ahead, for example, to a fund that is coming to an end next June and to how they can help support that staff member into another role in either a new project or a development of the current project she works in. Funding for the staff and resources come from various pots but includes the Roberston Trust, Lottery funding and Adapt & Thrive. Nobody wants to fund the running costs or the continuation of projects no matter how successful they are so either adapting or developing the project or coming up with brand new projects is the only way to secure funding. What was clearly evident to us, was that not only providing employment and opportunities in the area was of importance to Joan but also looking ahead to the future of the staff involved in those projects.
After some lunch, we went across to see the new greenhouse project, Joan pointing out the another overgrown green space that will be developed by Thurso Grows, a walkway where they want to add murals and plants, and the tennis courts where they hold their monthly community market Behind what looks like just a stone wall sits several abandoned greenhouses and the remains of 2 polytunnels. The space used to be run and owned by the council and has recently been transferred over to the Trust. The idea is that these greenhouses will be transformed into a place where they will grow and sell plants, vegetables and seedlings as well as providing a training centre. Polycrubs will be put in place of the old polytunnels and the glass building in between will be transformed into a community workshop space (complete with fairy lights of course!).
Before saying goodbye, Joan talks about more ideas she has for the future including more polycrubs, more community spaces for workshops, a natural play area and the big dream of having a larger community hub, and - judging by all the other ideas that have clearly come into fruition - we have no doubt, that in a few years time, all of these will be on the go!
We left Thurso feeling truly inspired, not only by the projects that are on the go and in development at the moment, but also by Joan and her team’s vision for a better future and the journey they hope to take the Thurso community on with them.
If you are interested in doing a Community Learning Exchange via the Hub to learn about another climate action project throughout Scotland, please get in touch with us and one of our Development Officers will be delighted to take you through the steps.
