THE National Lottery Heritage Fund has granted an award of £247,000 to the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust to help create the innovative Dunfermline & West Fife – Wellbeing Through Heritage which will use heritage as a means to improve the mental health and wellbeing of local people in most need.
The project will make use of Dunfermline’s Heritage Quarter and the West Fife villages’ natural heritage, as well as the intangible heritage and social history of the area, to support a Covid19 recovery focussing on access to heritage through a series of facilitated and enriched activities to promote wellbeing.
The overall cost of the three-year project is £383,000 with the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s grant being complemented with funding from Fife Council’s Area, Town Centre, and Dunfermline and West Fife Common Good Funds; Fife Cultural Trust; and the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, itself.
This project will focus on a wide range of heritage in and around Dunfermline. This includes the ‘Heritage Quarter’ made up of Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries, Dunfermline Abbey, Nave and Palace, the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, and Pittencrieff Park. The project will also extend to the West Fife villages, to ensure engagement of a wide range of people, exploring the natural heritage of Valleyfield Woodland Park, Inzevar Woods and Blair Tower.
It will provide an opportunity for a wide range of people living in and around Dunfermline to engage in heritage as a means to tackle mental health and wellbeing issues, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The project is a timely response for the increased need for improved mental health and wellbeing support following the impact of the pandemic. This project will allow for a coordinated effective response to the damage that has been caused, tackling issues of isolation, loneliness as well as the significant economic loss of jobs and opportunities.
Caroline Clark, Director Scotland of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
“Our historic places, landscapes, parklands, and nature form the bedrock of our culture and heritage, improving wellbeing, inspiring and connecting the communities surrounding and inhabiting them and Dunfermline, and Fife as a whole, has an incredibly rich cultural, industrial and natural heritage.
“The Dunfermline & West Fife – Wellbeing Through Heritage project allows all these elements to be brought together to deal with the serious issue of mental health and wellbeing, especially following the unprecedented effects of the COVID19 pandemic.
“National Lottery players have highlighted community heritage and nature as especially important and we are delighted to award Dunfermline & West Fife – Wellbeing Through Heritage a grant to support improved mental health and wellbeing through the medium of heritage, highlighting its value to all our lives.”
The project aligns with local priorities and initiatives. These include the Fife Health and Social Care Partnerships (FH&SCP) obesity project, local dementia campaigns and the Fife Council school build programme. Fife Council’s Communities Manager has also advised on how the project can support the Fife Strategic Assessment 2020 and the Local Community Plans for Dunfermline and West Fife.
Councillor Helen Law, Convenor, Dunfermline Area Committee, Fife Council, said: “We are keen to work with communities in Dunfermline and West Fife who are in need of support after experiencing so many challenges and difficulties as a result of the Covid19 world pandemic.
“We are over the moon that the “Wellbeing Through Heritage” project has been successful in being awarded National Lottery Heritage funding. The funding will allow the partners to work together throughout Dunfermline and West Fife area developing activities for all ages that will promote wellbeing and a greater understanding of our own world-class heritage assets.”
The project will deliver a programme of activities over three years utilising the NHS’ five ways to wellbeing to engage a wide range of people with heritage to improve mental health and wellbeing.
Four programmes to be delivered are:
- Explore and connect – people will be given the opportunity to socialise and get physically active through walking and learning about local heritage.
- Learn and create – creative activities and a traditional building skills programme, including a programme for school leavers with building skills taster sessions and a heritage skills summer event.
- Volunteer – promote the chance to get involved with local heritage through volunteering including the delivery of a heritage volunteering fair.
- Inspire – connecting local social care organisations and charities with heritage bodies. Increasing understanding and awareness of the potential for heritage to promote wellbeing.
Gillian Taylor, CEO, Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, said: ““Carnegie Dunfermline Trust is excited to be leading on this new project working with Fife Council, OnFife, Fife Coast & Countryside Trust and NHS Fife Health & Social Care Partnership.
“The project will offer an innovative three-year partnership programme of activities that will use the rich heritage of Dunfermline and West Fife to improve the health, happiness and wellbeing of our local people, particularly those in most need. This investment in wellbeing couldn’t have come at a better time and we are keen to get started.
“All the partners are delighted to be able to work together to help our communities recover and rebuild their health and wellbeing after the challenges of the Corona Virus pandemic and the limitations of lockdown. We are committed to helping people discover the unique heritage on our doorstep, and to make much more of it.”
Ongoing events and activities will also include a monthly heritage drop-in social club, a regular programme of outdoor activities (including habitat creation, orchards, and herb gardens) and ongoing creative activities using locations in the Heritage Quarter.
A new website will be developed promoting the use of heritage sites for improved wellbeing based on the five ways to wellbeing and there will be the development of a digital mindfulness tool using heritage experiences from the Heritage Quarter and virtual walking tours.
A full-time Project manager will be recruited to lead the project with the support of a part-time Project Officer. A project steering group will be established which will meet quarterly including Dunfermline Heritage Partnership, Fife Council and Fife Health and Social Care Partnership
Young people will also be targeted as part of this project and will be given the opportunity to develop skills through programmes delivered in collaboration with Fife Council and the Job Centre. Skills training will focus on the development of traditional building skills and techniques.
