Getting Alongside Communities – Buckhaven, Fife
A bit about Buckhaven, Fife
Buckhaven was once a thriving weaving village and fishing port, and in 1831 it had the second largest fishing fleet in Scotland. Fishing declined during the 19th century, but in the 1860s Buckhaven developed more into a mining town. It later became a Fife coast holiday resort and recreation area for locals.
One fun fact people might not know about Buckhaven is that Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party is a former pupil of the high school here.
What’s been happening?
Louisa has been working alongside and in partnership with local people in Buckhaven since July 2017, meeting people by walking about and chatting to groups and individuals as well as going to community events and groups to see what is going on in the community. Louisa works to identify the strengths, talents and skills within the local community. The Getting Alongside Communities programme helps facilitate and enable capacity building within the community; widening community participation; seeking out voices that are seldom heard; and ultimately resulting in locally-led actions being taken.
Since 2017, the Community Council has been reinstated and has been staging events such as a Bonfire fireworks event and a Christmas event. These developments, as well as the new Bakery project, have contributed to increased energy and enthusiasm from the community in Buckhaven. This has resulted in over 1600 completed ballot papers being returned for the recent PB process led by the local organisation CLIMB, which shows that local people feel able to engage in local decisions about where funding is needed. Other activities also happening in Buckhaven are; the Community Café, Bield Social group, Beehive Pottery, Arts, Knitting and crochet, Musical bands, Gala Group, and the Cycle club.
How can you get involved?
You can find contact details for the Buckhaven Community Co-ordinator on this page. Please get in touch, as we’re keen to get to know the wider community. You might like to tell us about changes you’d like to bring about, or if you represent a group or organisation, how we could work together.
We asked Louisa what one of her favourite things about Buckhaven is so far, and she said…
The friendly people and all the fantastic community led environmental projects.
You can find out a bit more about Louisa here
Community Co-ordinator Contact Details:
Louisa Cocris
louisa@corra.scot
07860 855022
Burgh Chambers, 1 College Street
Buckhaven, Leven
KY8 1AB, Fife
Can we help you?
For general enquiries and to find out more about any of our grant programmes, please see our contact page
