The Ecology Centre Annual Report 2015 The Ecology Centre was formerly known as Craigencalt Farm Ecology Centre and is registered in Scotland under Company Number 188446 (Scottish Charity Number SC028174).
Introduction The year 2014 to 2015 was a year of great change for The Ecology Centre. The lease of the land and buildings at Craigencalt Farm was due to cease in November 2014, and the plans for an alternative site now had to be consolidated. Thankfully in July 2014, the purchase of a new site on neighbouring land came through after more than ten years of attempts to secure it. Planning permission for the new building had been received and in November The Ecology Centre was given the wonderful news that the Big Lottery had awarded the funds to build it. Everyone was very keen to see the Passivehaus design, energy efficient building, come to life. The building complex was to include 5 refurbished shipping containers in which the Tool Shed workshop and canteen would be housed. In January 2015 the turf (or mud!) was cut and by the end of this financial year (June) the new Centre was well on its way. The move from Craigencalt Farm was a major task. Staff and volunteers were sad to leave what had been the original base from where the organisation had been established and where it had built the reputation it has today. Alongside this upheaval we managed to continue to deliver our education programme in other locations and the Tool Shed continued to operate from their new workshop, one of the first buildings on the new site. Even though this year brought a lot of upheaval and change for The Ecology Centre, it was a big step in the right direction. The foundations for a permanent home on a permanent site were laid. Education As our last education programme on the Craigencalt Farm site came to a close, we began to plan new partnerships in order to deliver an offsite programme in 2015. We established connections with Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline and Silverburn Park in Leven, hosting 11 and 8 visits respectively at those sites. We are grateful to Fife Council and Fife Employment Access Trust for allowing us to use their fantastic venues. Working in these new locations enabled us to raise the profile of our work and connect with different schools. As our new site was not yet suitable for education classes we also ran an outreach programme in this year. The Ernest Cook Trust funded us to deliver our Eco Explorers project to 12 primary schools who would not normally be in a position to access our programmes. A total of 1055 pupils benefitted from this funding. Recognition for this particular programme was received in this year with Fife Voluntary Action awarding us their Environmental Improvement Award. In early 2015 Lorna Mitchell began working with us as our Education Officer. With Lorna s background in community arts, she was an asset to the Education team and helped develop and deliver our new programmes. As well as our mainstream environmental education programme we also delivered our Nature Therapy programme to some of the local schools. Nature and creativity were used as therapeutic tools to improve mental and physical wellbeing allowing 2
participants to reflect on their experiences, communicate their feelings and develop resilience. This in turn left them better able to cope with their life circumstances. Children s comments I really liked this session a lot I loved playing all the games and I hope we get the time again! This was the best. Lorna is Amazing! Group leader s comments The range of activities and information provided was a fantastic learning opportunity for the children Garvock Out of School Club The children enjoyed the minibeast hunt and the different games played especially the bat game (echo location). Everything was well organised and pitched at just the right level for the children. Super Day! Inverkeithing Primary School Lots of interesting activities just the right length of time for the nursery children. Cowdenbeath Nursery In 2014 Tullis Russel, the local papermaker, asked us to take over the running of the education programme at their TREE (Tullis Russell Environmental Education) Centre. Up until this point we had been working in partnership with them to deliver the programme. Sadly in April 2015 Tullis Russell went into administration, closing it s doors for the final time. TREE contained high quality, hands on interpretation which highlighted the impact of climate change and how we can reduce our impact on the planet. The TREE Centre was not part of the main Tullis Russell company but it s staff were. Unfortunately, the Centre has therefore been mothballed and now no programmes are delivered from it. 3
Out with our projects, we received support from Scottish Natural Heritage to subsidise our general Education Programme and to work with some of the harder to reach groups. Volunteers Our general volunteer programme drew to a close in September 2014 to allow us time to focus on moving out of Craigencalt Farm before the end of November. We enjoyed our last healthy lunch with staff and volunteers in the Hive, the kitchen volunteers putting on a splendid meal. Our general volunteer programme would not be up and running again until October 2015. We did have assistance from corporate volunteers in this year in the form of time and finances. HSBC donated over 21 000 to the organisation to enable us to create growing space and paths to improve the new site. HSBC staff also gave their time to create these various features. Corporate volunteers giving a helping hand Trainees We were delighted to be able to offer employment training places to 5 young adults through Community Jobs Scotland and Fife Youth Jobs Contract. The key purpose of these placements is to support young people into sustainable employment through meaningful paid work experience in third sector organisations like The Ecology Centre. The success rates from this programme were encouraging with all of our placements securing employment in a related field or going onto college. 4
One of the trainees who we had managed to retain for 12 months went on to study Conservation Management at the Scottish Rural University College. The experience and knowledge gained at The Ecology Centre had inspired him into further education. He had previously had no clear career path. We also had 1 Project Scotland placement in the year from which this individual moved onto a job. Projects Easy Peas-y Our Easy Peas-y project was funded by the Climate Challenge Fund and started in April 2015. The project aimed to help the local community learn about growing food. With the help of volunteers and staff, new people have learnt skills and have enjoyed the support and company of others as they have developed growing areas at home and in the local schools. They have all discovered how Easy Peas-y it is to grow fresh produce at home. The Tool Shed has refurbished garden tools to assist individuals and groups to grow their vegetables. A bug hotel to encourage bugs that will help produce vegetables 5
The Tool shed The Tool Shed moved into it s own suite of containers this year as we moved out of the farm buildings. Three containers were welded together, insulated, fitted out and initially operated from a generator over the winter and spring of 2015. The Shedders turned up to the new site through rain and blizzards to continue refurbishing tools to make up the kits for Africa. They were our first volunteers on our new site. The tools that were renovated in this year made up the following kits: February 2015 - Carpenters kit for Tanzania February 2015 - Carpenters kit for Sierra Leone November 2014 Carpenters kit for Zambia July 2014 - Carpenters kit for Sierra Leone August 2014 - Carpenters kit and cane furniture kit for Malawi Three shipping containers welded together 6
The new Tool Shed The Benarty Tool Shed Our second Tool Shed in Fife, located in Benarty, was set up in March 2014. Funds from The People s Health Trust and Fairer Fife were secured to enable this to happen. A range of individuals and groups were involved with this shed from people with learning disabilities, to primary school children, to individuals looking to get into work. The Benarty Shed helped people make social connections, feel more valued by their community as well as offering something different to the people in that area. New Centre With the land purchase of the new site on the east bank of Kinghorn Loch going through in July 2014, the organisation was now in the position that it could start relocating from Craigencalt Farm. The lease at the farm was due to finish in November 2014. In the summer we started to dismantle the features on the old site in preparation for moving out. This included our willow tunnel, growing areas, plastic bottle greenhouse and the troll. We were able to set up some items on the new site including the troll which is now a welcome feature there. Clearing out the buildings took a bit longer! We sold, re-homed and recycled as many of the treasures we had accumulated over the years as possible. 7
On the new site we set up a porta cabin which would become the site base for the trainees and volunteers. The first containers were purchased to create the new Tool Shed (as pictured above) and a large container was bought to house materials and equipment. Work began on refurbishing the Tool Shed containers to enable the Shedders to continue their tool renovations. In November the offices were moved into Carlyle house in Kirkcaldy, a central base near the train and bus stations. Cutting the turf, March 2015 Lis Dean (previous Chair), Julie Samuel (General Manager), Ronnie Mackie (first employee and co-founder) We finally left Craigencalt Farm on the 28th November 2014, our home for the past 17 years. A couple of weeks before the move, we had had the wonderful news from the Big Lottery s Growing Community Assets team that our funding bid had been successful and that we had been granted 920 000 towards our new Passivehaus building and upcycled container complex on the new site. The funding including contributions towards our running costs for the next five years. We also received funding from The Robertson Trust towards the build and to help support our education programme. With our planning permission, building warrant and tenders already in place, we were able to grant the build contract to Kirkcaldy based joinery company, John Smarts. The turf was cut in January and the build gradually started under the watchful eye of Development Manager Alison Crook who made sure procedures were followed, and that the Big Lottery were kept up to date with progress and the project moved forward as it should. The Ecology Centre moved into it s new base in October 2015. 8
The new Centre starting to take shape, with our old farm base in the background, April 2015 Support We are extremely grateful to the list of funders and supporters for their ongoing backing especially in this time of flux. We would also like to thank the owners of Craigencalt Farm for allowing us to use their facilities over the past fifteen plus years. 9
Financial Summary The following graphs illustrate aspects of our financial position and make a comparison to previous years. Detailed accounts are also available. Income & expenditure comparison 2013 to 2015 450,000.00 400,000.00 350,000.00 300,000.00 250,000.00 200,000.00 150,000.00 100,000.00 50,000.00-2013 2014 2015 Income 300,493.00 388,156.00 375,245.00 Expenditure 284,590.00 240,854.00 306,271.00 Income Expenditure 350,000.00 Income comparision 2013 to 2015 300,000.00 250,000.00 200,000.00 150,000.00 100,000.00 50,000.00 Donations Grants Activity income - 2013 2014 2015 Donations 6,782.00 36,902.00 18,964.00 Grants 230,443.00 306,165.00 311,650.00 Activity income 37,046.00 43,315.00 44,079.00 10
Expenditure breakdown for 2015 1,399.00 15,652.00 2,593.00 31,937.00 Charitable activities Governance costs Management/Admin 226,354.00 Telephone, postage & stationery Premises costs 11