14 years ago a group of people set up the Adult Carers Education (ACE) in Cornton, Stirling - they were funded 75% government funding and 25% from Council. Now ACE is fully funded from the Council. ACE started off very humble beginnings in a little room, with a sewing and an aromatherapy class, then we had two rooms with a shop front. Now we're part of the community centre with an office and a classroom, and run about 30 classes per week. I've been on the management committee since just after the first year.
Being involved in my community has changed my life completely. I was a single parent, stuck in the house, suffering depression and nothing to do - this opened up my life. At ACE we used CTDU for lots of training days. One of these was 'Pie in the Sky' and it was about attracting funding for ACE. Through CTDU we've been successful in everything we applied for.
ACE now has a coordinator, a part time clerical assistant, and an IT support person. We've also become a limited company and are now a board of about 8 or 9. I'm the treasurer.
I was on CTDU's first Active Citizen's programme in 1999. It was really exciting; a few of us from ACE - 5 I think - participated. It was a great programme, I didn't make all of the visits because I wasn't happy going too far from home. I remember doing my first public presentation! It was great going to Scottish Parliament. Through Active Citizens I met councillors, and MSPs and this gave me lots of confidence. Also the group helped each other - we all had different problems - it was like a whole new world.
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Something else I've learned at CTDU is to take photos of everything we do - before and after photos. I love doing that. Taking photos helped us to get money for ACE to employ our environmental worker - we had a big network meeting with all the people over Scotland that had that money - people at Communities Scotland came to interview us and said we were the only group that had shown photos. We also use photos to lobby the Council about things that we want changed. In the Cornton, I was part of a regeneration group which was given £1000 and a computer to survey community needs. We invited people from the community and did a SWOT analysis, which we had learned at CTDU. It was 5 years before we developed into a proper regeneration group - we did our own community plan in 2002, based on a big consultation meeting in the community. Stirling Partnership for Urban Regeneration folded because of changes in funding - but we've now formed ourselves into CAPP - Cornton Action Planning Partnership - from the regeneration group. A partnership of various community groups - come together to a meeting every fortnight with all the agency people. We've only been going for a year; the idea came out of the community plan. We'd like a new community centre, I'm involved in the newsletter group, which I really love - and we've brought in new volunteers to help. I'm CAPP's chairperson. I also learned to speak in public and how to work with small groups at CTDU. I've been on CTDU management committee for about 6 years and I've continued to learn as a committee member. I also go to lots of CTDU training, workshops and banner making groups. A few years ago, after learning and taking part in drama work at CTDU some of us from the Cornton created a wee play about our school crossing and staged it in different areas. We made another play about the broken down wall next to my house. Plays and banners are a good way of working because it's practical and it gets a message over. I notice people do listen and watch especially as the dramas are in broad Scots. Through
my church, I also help run a girls group - CTDU has helped me cope with 40 wee
girls! |
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CTDU is like a big wee family - we might not see a lot of people all the time, but we always catch up when we do. We listen to everybody's voice - everybody has something to say. At CTDU we all realise everywhere has problems and we can share ideas - meeting people - it's good to realise we're all on the same wavelength. | ||
