About Berwickshire Project

About Berwickshire was a two-year community development project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland. It aimed to raise awareness about and strengthen the support that third sector organisations provide to local communities as we navigated the changing social landscape resulting from COVID-19. This project’s overall aim was to help to address some of the social isolation we saw in our communities, as well as build on the community activism that emerged during the pandemic.

 

About Berwickshire events in 2022

  • A new programme working with Village Halls and Community Centres to start up new groups.

    During the pandemic, village halls and community centres closed their doors to the public. This saw all the events and groups that ran on a regular basis come to a halt. Some of these groups never started back up after the pandemic, and have been severely missed by communities.

    The Incubator Programme aims to help village halls and community spaces to start these groups up again. We are able to offer initial funding to cover the cost of hall hire, publicity and, in some cases, equipment. Several halls have already used the incubator and have groups running on a regular basis. Activities include games afternoons, Pickleball, Thinking Allowed, Community Conversations, Yoga and Pilates.

  • Workshops to help get more of our communities online. Facilitated by Face PR the workshops help people to learn new digital skills and promote digital inclusion.

    Digital Workshops are for a maximum of eight people and focus on helping people to develop skills on their own devices. Topics covered range from how to take photographs, to how to send emails and texts. Our facilitator helps to break down barriers that stop people using their devices and build confidence.

    The workshops are delivered in collaboration with village halls and community venues. The committees in the venues are well placed in knowing their communities and anyone that may be interested in taking part. They play a key role in actively publicising the events and booking people onto the sessions.

    Some workshops we have already delivered have led to committees setting up their own Digital Drop-in sessions, where people drop-in to the hall for peer support with their devices. Some of these halls have Digital Champions and others are in the process of becoming Digital Champions.

  • In the winter of 2021, we ran Winter Woollies on Wheels events. These saw the About Berwickshire project team up with the Bavs charity shops and Berwickshire Swap - in 2022 Winter Woollies is back!

    Previously, we visited the community larders in Eyemouth, Chirnside and Reston, taking with us a selection of warm winter clothing and coats. Those items were available for a donation, or could be taken away free. In total, over five events, we re-homed 145 pre-loved items of clothing.

    In the second year of our project, we are running Winter Woollies again but in a slightly different way. We have some static selections of winter woollies that are available for people to take away when venues are open. We are working again with the Bavs charity shops and Berwickshire Swap, who will be providing Winter Woollies on Wheels. These pop-up events will coincide with Warm Hubs and Community Lunches around Berwickshire, with the aim of making pre-loved items of warm clothing accessible to more people.

    You can find the Winter Woollies in:

    Chirnside Parish Church Wednesday - Friday 8.30 am - 3.30pm

    Eyemouth Community Larder and Fridge Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am - 11am Tuesday 3pm - 7pm

    Westruther Food Hub

    Monday - Sunday 8am - 4pm

    If you would be interested in Winter Woollies visiting your town or village, please e-mail aboutberwickshire@bavs.org.uk

A selection of sessions from our Incubator Programme that are already up and running. Why not pop along and join in!

A Taste for Life

A Taste for Life was a series of taster sessions based on improving mental wellbeing through new experiences and social interactions. The seven events ran over the course of 6 months and saw About Berwickshire work in partnership with other organisations from across Berwickshire. The sessions brought together people from all walks of life and gave them the opportunity to enjoy something they were familiar with, or to try something completely new.

What some of the participants said about the sessions:

“Enjoyed not only the activity, but the warmth and inclusivity of the group leaders and interacting with new people.”

“Thanks so much for this opportunity. It was really a lovely day and made my whole week!”

“Taste of the sea was so good for me as for the first time in a very long time I had a real buzz with sense of achievement. It meant so much to realise that with friendly support and complete trust in the instructor I have not lost my independence and determination and ability to get myself to do something new.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed relaxing and enjoying a new experience.”

The organisations we worked with on A Taste for Life offer fantastic opportunities to get involved. Visit their websites via the links opposite to find about courses, events and volunteering opportunities.

 

  • A Taste for Creativity

    In partnership with Retweed

Let’s Get Active!

The Let’s Get Active! event focused on showcasing accessible sports to the Berwickshire community. The aim of the event was to encourage the start up of accessible sports in community venues. We were lucky enough to have Boccia, New Age Kurling, Choga, Disability Darts and Table Tennis. We were also joined by Sea the Change with Coldingham beach wheelchairs.

Following the event, a Boccia group started in the local high school, with another to be formed in Duns. The event highlighted the need for inclusive events in Berwickshire and, as a result, we are having more conversations with the organisations we work with.

What people said about the event:

“I enjoyed getting everyone together - to see people with disabilities confident enough to come out of the house and get involved. And good cake! Thank you very much!”

“Choga. Wonderful organisation, great people and lovely food!”

“I liked seeing others and enjoyed the boccia and table tennis. Enjoyed the different sports and polite staff understanding me.”

We have taken part in partner events, too

Berwickshire Swap (Paxton House, July 2022)

Eyemouth Community Cafe (Eyemouth Community Centre, September 2022)

We visited Burnmouth Village Hall for its monthly Coffee Morning.