Tag: The Living Memory Association

Building stronger social connections

Organisations awarded share of £3.2 million fund

More than 50 projects tackling social isolation and loneliness throughout Scotland have received a share of a new fund.

Edinburgh recipients of Social Isolation and Loneliness Funding include Big Hearts Community Trust, Edinburgh Tool Library, Pilmeny Development Project, Pilton Community Health Project and The Living Memory Association.

Activities delivered by the organisations include community choirs, walking football, Men’s Sheds and volunteering opportunities.

Equalities Minister Emma Roddick visited Inverness Foodstuff, one of the successful projects, to see the impact of their work and hear how support through the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund will benefit the local community.

Ms Roddick said: “Social isolation and loneliness can affect anyone, but especially those most affected by the cost of living crisis such as disabled people, younger people, and those who live alone.

“The Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund is providing support to a range of projects across Scotland which deliver vital services in their communities. Inverness Foodstuff is a great example of how this Scottish Government funding will help to bring more people together, creating stronger social connections and improving public health.

“We are determined to tackle the harm caused by this hidden problem and this Fund is just one of the actions we are taking to help tackle social isolation and loneliness through our plan, Recovering our Connections.”

Inverness Foodstuff has been awarded a grant of £72,000 to deliver their lunch club twice a week in the Hilton area of Inverness. The lunch club will benefit an estimated 2,400 homeless and vulnerable people in the area over the duration of the Fund.

Chair of Inverness Foodstuff Stuart Black said: “Inverness Foodstuff has operated from Ness Bank Church since 2015 offering hot food three times a week, utilising surplus food.

“But, it’s more than just a meal. We offer access to clothing, debt relief, IT support, mental health support, housing and homelessness support and access to hairdressing. Inverness Foodstuff also provides 75 volunteering opportunities.

“Over the past year we have served 8,500 meals in our city centre premises, an increase of 58% compared to 2021-22. This reflects the cost of living crisis and the extent of poverty in our city.

“We are delighted to gain Scottish Government funding to expand our service into Hilton, a recognised area of need, in partnership with Highlife Highland.”

St Columba’s Fashion Show at Ocean Terminal

Join us on 21 Aug, 2pm @ The Wee Hub brought to you by The Living Memory Association in @Ocean_Terminal for a fun-raising fashion show in aid of the Hospice!

We’ll be celebrating our volunteers and showcasing a selection of bridal gowns and evening wear.

Entry is free!

National Lottery winners deliver festive cheer to Leith’s Living Memory Association

Christmas has come early for a group of elderly residents from Edinburgh after a group of big-hearted National Lottery winners donated a wealth of festive goodies to a local National Lottery-funded charity.

Six winners visited The Living Memory Association in Leith yesterday, hand delivering a Christmas tree and luxury gift hampers to be distributed among local people who rely heavily on the support the charity offers. 

Armed with Santa hats and Christmas jumpers, the winners got to work putting up and decorating the tree, as well as putting finishing touches to the hampers which included everything from individual Christmas puddings to Fortnum & Mason tea bags. 

As part of the festive surprise The National Lottery winners, who have a combined worth of more than £62 million, spent the morning with charity staff at its Wee Museum of Memory at Ocean Terminal. 

Based in Edinburgh, The Living Memory Association was established in 1986 and uses the power of memory and reminiscence to bring people together, regardless of their background or age. 

The charity has received over £1M in National Lottery funding since 2005 with much of this used to involve and empower older people throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians who have been badly affected by loneliness and isolation, particularly during the pandemic.

This includes those living with dementia and their carers. Using the evocative powers of sight, sound and smell, staff encourage visitors to recall past memories with many people spending hours browsing the museum’s displays and artefacts.  

The charitable National Lottery winner group included Fred and Lesley Higgins, originally from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, who won £57,975,367 on EuroMillions in July 2018.

The couple, who have supported a number of deserving causes since their win, were also joined by fellow Dundonian Ray Storey who won £1,050,000 on EuroMillions in 2014. 

Also visiting the charity yesterday was Libby Elliott from Fife, who won £2,159,664 on Lotto in 2012, alongside East Lothian couple Alan and Claire Gray who scooped £1,000,000 on EuroMillions in 2019.

Alan Gray, who visited the charity with wife Claire, said, “We had a really lovely time visiting the Wee Museum of Memory. 

“The team at The Living Memory Association really do some amazing work and we feel proud to have played a small part in supporting its work with elderly and isolated people. We hope our donations mean local residents can still enjoy a special Christmas treat on us!”

Miles Tubb, Project Coordinator at The Living Memory Association, said, “Everyone has had a tough time over the past 18 months but for elderly and isolated people it’s been particularly difficult. We are passionate about tackling loneliness and a big part of this is getting people together and reliving memories of days gone by.

“We are so grateful to players of The National Lottery for their continued support and to our new friends who visited us. What they have donated is incredibly generous. Despite the restrictions and challenges these hampers will provide some much-needed festive cheer.

“We are lucky to have previously received funding support from The National Lottery, so we are delighted to be able to continue our great relationship.”

The Christmas season has always been a special time for National Lottery winners with many coming together during the festive season to support charities across Scotland. However, COVID-19 restrictions have meant that The National Lottery has had to think differently over the past couple of years.

With safety and wellbeing paramount, all winners and wider team members adhered to safe working practices, following current guidelines and with face masks and regular hand washing mandatory.

By playing any National Lottery game, players generate more than £30M each week for National Lottery-funded projects. This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nation’s athletes win Olympic and Paralympic gold medals.

To date, over £45 BILLION has been raised and distributed to National Lottery Good Causes through more than 660,000 individual grants.

Thanks to National Lottery players, over £1.2bn. is being used by charities and organisations affected by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, which includes over £600M in funding support from the National Lottery Community Fund which is being used to help groups best placed to support people and communities through the crisis.

Irvine Welsh backs ‘magnificent’ Old Leith Rediscovered project

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £90,100 to The Living Memory Association to create a unique experience of the streets, buildings and people of old Leith. The project, named Old Leith Rediscovered, is a collaboration between the Living Memory Association and Spirit of Leithers Facebook page.

The Living Memory Association, in partnership with The Spirit of Leithers, is excited to be opening a second Wee Museum of Memory in Ocean Terminal later this month which will be dedicated to the project. The new venue will also have a walk-in exhibition space to celebrate the memories, places and people of Leith.

Much of old Leith was swept away as part of Edinburgh’s ‘improvements’ of the 1920s and 1960s and knowledge of what was lost now relies mainly on old street maps and photographs.

One of these maps, a Fire Insurance Plan dating to 1892, records significant details, such as building footprints, construction materials, number of storeys, room arrangements and function, location of doors and windows, and much, much more. For an example showing the old Kirkgate, see here.

Using a digital copy of this map created by the National Library of Scotland, Old Leith Rediscovered will add a wealth of information, including hundreds of surviving images scattered across numerous collections, to bring the historic townscape of Leith to life.

The project team conceived of Old Leith Rediscovered during lockdown as a way to celebrate the history of Leith and her people, to foster a pride and inquisitiveness about Leith’s past, and to provide a focus for Leithers to share memories and stories of days gone by. The interactive web-based map of Leith will be published online at the end of 2022.

Miles Tubb, Project Co-Ordinator, The Wee Museum of Memory, said: “We are thrilled to have received funding for this exciting project, which will link these wonderful historical maps with the Leith community.

“We are especially delighted to be working in partnership with Spirit of Leithers Facebook page, National Library of Scotland and Ocean Terminal. Our Wee Museum of Memory has been based in Ocean Terminal for over 7 years and this new unit dedicated to memories of Leith will bring different generations together to learn about the rich history of the Leith community.

Christopher Fleet, Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland, added: “We are delighted to be associated with this project, which will integrate our maps with related historical information, including photographs and oral history resources.

“Maps present the past in one of its most engaging forms, allowing endless insights into what was there, and into how people lived and worked. Moreover the plans that form a focus of this project are one of the most detailed types of urban mapping ever surveyed of places such as Leith.

“We are thrilled that this project has been funded, as it will provide new ways of enjoying and understanding the maps, as well as gathering new information for further research.”

Irvine Welsh, author of the Leith-based classic novel Trainspotting, said: “In the current age of drab uniformity, as manifest in our urban architecture and design, where modern construction renders everything generic, it’s important to remember the richness in the heritage of places like the great port of Leith.

“Thanks to this magnificent project, Leithers old and new can now immerse in the vibrant community of bygone days. As Bob Marley once said ‘in this great future you can’t forget your past…’ So we can now connect with where we came from, which you have to be able to do in order to truly know where you are going.”

Fraser Parkinson, administrator of Spirit of Leithers Facebook page, said: “Our page is dedicated not just to buildings and streets but to the people of Leith who have come before and are here today.

“This project is another huge step in building bridges across the globe between all those who wear their association with Leith as a badge of honour. We look forward to welcoming visitors and hearing from them at the new Spirit of Leithers and Living Memory Association unit at Ocean Terminal.”