The Ecology Centre. Annual Report

Transcription

1 The Ecology Centre Annual Report 2016 The Ecology Centre was formerly known as Craigencalt Farm Ecology Centre and is registered in Scotland under Company Number (Scottish Charity Number SC028174). 1

2 Introduction Wow, the first year in which we have operated from our new building! At times over the past ten years we never thought we would reach this point but we have. We moved into our new facilities in October 2015 and spent the rest of the year and beginning of 2016 getting properly up and running again with our education programme, volunteer opportunities and trainee initiatives. Although, as can be seen from the details below it was not a quiet year and very quickly we became fully operational. Having high quality, comfortable facilities has enabled us to develop new offerings for either end of the age spectrum. These include school holiday activities for the young and piloting a dementia project for older people. The facilities and land purchase give us long term security and greater comfort but do not take away from the need to bring income into the organisation through both grant funding and income generation, to continue to deliver our services. New enterprise opportunities have been created with the new facilities, these include income from both venue hire and catering provision. Education This was the first year for the education team on our own, new site. We anticipated busy Spring and Summer months and we had busy Spring and Summer months. We were visited by 59 groups during the year and facilitated 81 off site visits in addition. Having fantastic new, warm and comfortable facilities enabled us to offer school holiday activities in the October, Easter and the Summer school holidays. We ran a range of events from our eco camps which take place between 9am and 3pm to specific 2 hour activities such as Potion Making, Nature Science and Bushcraft. Once again we facilitated the pond dipping sessions at Exxon Mobil s Fife plant. Exxon Mobil also helped to support some of our additional education work. The Robertson Trust funded our Education Officer for as part of a three year programme. It helped support the community activities that we offered. Kinghorn Common Good fund supported every child in Kinghorn Primary School to visit the new Ecology Centre and learn about the community owned land. Volunteers & site development At the beginning of 2016 we worked hard to build our volunteer programme up again after it had been minimised for over a year during building work. As the weather improved so did the volunteer numbers and with the help of our Wednesday healthy lunches retention has proven high. A total of 2,900 volunteer hours were contributed to the organisation in the year by 67 volunteers. The team worked hard to improve and develop the site to create a more interesting and useable space. The growing area now has a number of raised beds and the polytunnel is fully functional. There is a covered space on the site for sheltered 2

3 activities in the worst of the weather and the Sanctuary behind the row of containers is much improved with grass and wildflower circles. Funding from Fife Environment Trust and Fife Council s Community Works programme enabled these improvements to be made. In order to engage the wider community in the new Centre we tried a variety of weekend activities which included Volunteer Saturdays, micro volunteering and Family Sundays. The sessions that have generated the most interest have been the Family Sundays. We have run a couple of trial sessions and have decided to keep this programme running on the first Sunday of the month. In June we collected feedback from regular volunteers to explore the difference, if any, taking part in activities at The Ecology Centre made to their lives. The results showed that out of the 31 individuals surveyed 21 felt that their physical health had improved with 9 feeling it had stayed the same. A total of 28 volunteers said that their mental health was better as a result of being involved, with 3 saying it had stayed the same. When asked about social connections made at the Centre 27 said that they had better connections and 4 had remained the same. A total of 23 people had seen their confidence grow. In the year a number of specialist volunteers came on board including a Marketing Strategist and a gentleman who has created a number of interesting features for the site. Both of them have been invaluable to The Ecology Centre. The Wednesday Volunteer Team 3

4 Trainees A total of 7 trainees were supported in this year. Of these individuals 6 moved onto positive destinations including employment, further training, one into volunteering and one becoming a mother. The areas of employment that they moved into included the hospitality, construction and rural industries. Feedback from trainees includes: this job has increased my social skills and my strength I thought my biggest challenge was going to be getting up in the morning and staying motivated but I have surprise myself by being here everyday. I feel that I am a better person since being here As one of the main partners in Fife Rural Skills Partnership we became involved in the Our Bright Future (OBF) programme which is creating the next generation of Fife s environmental champions and workforce. OBF gave us the opportunity to build on what was currently offered to trainees and young people including hosting modern apprenticeships. Projects There were a range of projects in , they included: Tool Shed During this year the Tool Shed had 32 volunteers. A total of 15.3 tonnes of tools were recycled which includes 657 gardening tools which were put back into use and 8 kits that were sent off to Africa through Tools for Self Reliance. The tools that are collated into kits are sent overseas to help Africans set up their own small businesses. We also ran a dementia pilot in the Tool Shed with a small number of men with dementia coming along for a few hours one morning a week. The aim of the pilot was to determine how effective the sessions would be for these individuals. A total of 6 people came along for at least one visit with an average number of 2 attending each session. The feedback from relatives of the men involved in the pilot included; my father absolutely loves it at the tool shed, that it gives him something to look forward to each week. Makes him very happy and he loves attending... It gives him a purpose... it's like a light going on, he feels useful again... The tool shed is like his work and it makes him feel so happy. Another told us The tool shed has been a blessing for us as it is giving my Dad a new lease of life each time he goes. It is also a much needed break for me for a couple of hours as I care for him 24/7. The staff there are amazing and can't thank them enough for all that they do for my Dad. Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy The Easy Peasy growing project encouraged our community to grow its own vegetables and reduce the purchase of produce with high food miles. It also 4

5 supported our Tool Shed where volunteers renovate old tools to stop them from going to landfill. Easy Peasy was funded by the Scottish Government s Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) from April 2015 to March In April 2016 we received further funding from CCF to run our Lemon Squeezy project which emerged from the Easy Peasy project. Instead of helping people grow in their own spaces this project brought people together on the new site to create a growing hub. New Centre In September 2015 we moved into our own brand new Centre which was a dream that we had been trying to achieve for over 10 years. The facilities consisted of our main passivhaus building containing our offices, toilets, a commercial kitchen and gathering space and seven converted shipping containers. These housed the canteen, additional education space and our Tool Shed. A canopy of photo voltaic panels and a solar collector covered the space between the building and the containers. The new facilities were mainly funded by the Big Lottery with help from the Robertson Trust. Fife Council assisted with funding for two of the containers. We are extremely grateful to these funders for their support in helping us achieve a permanent home for The Ecology Centre. The new building 5

6 In October we celebrated the opening of the new Centre with the help of our MSP David Torrance and Kay Morrison, Depute Provost for Fife. Several open days were held for members, supporters and the general public. Ecology Centre Enterprise (ECE) Alongside many third sector organisations there is a need to generate our own income as funding available from the public and private sectors decreases. ECE has been established for ten years and previously focused on the design and manufacture of outdoor wooden products. Having high quality, comfortable facilities enabled us to provide additional services in which included our school holiday activities mentioned previously. We have also been able to offer venue hire for parties, meetings, mindfulness groups, training companies and community organisations. The commercial kitchen has been vital in enabling us to offer catering to visiting groups. We are continuing to develop the space that we can offer. Our outdoor wooden product service, Out of the Wood continues to make seating, raised beds and log benches for orders across the whole of the U.K. In this year ECE donated a profit of 4085 to The Ecology Centre. 6

7 A Memorial bench made by Out of the Wood 7

8 Number of Education Visits The Figures Education Type of Education Visit Onsite/Full Offsite/Half Onsite/Half Offsite/Full The above graph illustrates the number of offsite and onsite group visits for education and whether they were half or full day sessions. As can be seen in this year half day visits at other venues were the most popular closely followed by half days here at the Centre. The groups include schools and community organisations. Education Visits July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Months of Year This graph shows the spread of education classes throughout the year. The impact of the transition period and the move into the new Centre in October followed by the set up can be seen from the low number during July and December. 8

9 Number of Volunteer Hours Volunteer contribution Comparison of Number of Volunteer Hours / / /2016 Years The volunteer hours contributed to The Ecology Centre decreased in recent years due to the transition period when moving premises. In the figures are again on the rise. Incoming Resources Comparison 2015 and 2016 Bank interest Rent receivable Income from activities Grants received Donations, legacies Donations, legacies and similar resources Grants received Income from activities Rent receivable Bank interest received ( ) ( ) ( ) 2015 ( ) 2016 Finances The income for and is compared above. The grant funding is significantly higher in 2016 due to the Big Lottery grant for the new building. 9

10 Total Resources expended and comparison 228, , The resources expended graph shows the amounts spent in the above years. The majority of costs being for staff. 10

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