Cupar’s Big Tidy Update

Many of you will be aware that in the last few weeks, Cupar has undergone a ‘big tidy’ – with thanks to Cupar Development Trust for coordinating all of the multiple partners and volunteers involved. The impact of the collective works is clear for all to see – a huge community effort that has achieved the goal of tidying up the town. Congratulations to all involved!

The following is their ‘final report’ …

As part of the Big Cupar Tidy, Anja Armstrong (CDT’s Development Officer)  and Ian Sloan (CDT’s Administration Officer) organised and ran three sessions of weeding, litter picking and general tidying of the public areas around Cupar. There were two morning sessions, and an additional evening session for working residents. An additional six sessions were held with:

  • Bell Baxter High School Global Goals Group
  • Cupar Cub Scouts
  • Cupar Brownies
  • Cupar Guides

The sessions fulfilled four main goals:

  1. Build community spirit and pride in the area.
  2. Improve the look and feel of the town for residents and visitors.
  3. Provide an opportunity for local residents of all ages to socialise and be active.
  4. Show the positive contribution that Cupar Development Trust (CDT) can achieve.

The project took a large amount of time to co-ordinate and plan, but the results were well worth the effort. The turnout of volunteers was good, and a great many town organisations participated in the project. We received great feedback from all the volunteers and organisations involved, with unanimous feedback that they enjoyed the experience. Many would like to see this offered again on a regular basis. The community should be exceptionally pleased at the outcomes detailed below.

Assistance was provided by many different departments of Fife Council, and the Community Pay Back Team provided two days of support. Without the extremely generous support and assistance from Fife Council, this project could not have run.

Our sincere thanks go to the Bruce Charitable Trust for funding this project with a grant of £1012.84. The project was completed within the allocated budget.

The final part of the Big Cupar Tidy project will be the Community Roofworks scheme where CDT (with assistance from Fife Council) have organised works to remove vegetation, clean and repair gutters and make minor repairs to stonework and tiles/slates.

We will also be conducting drone surveys to determine the extent of remedial works required on the historic buildings in the centre of Cupar.

The owners of 22 residential properties, 9 commercial properties and 1 church have requested assistance through the scheme and eagerly await works. This will be progressing over the coming months.

Many hands …

Summary statistics from our volunteer days for the Big Cupar Tidy:

  • Over 180 black bags of waste were collected
  • 166 volunteers were involved in the project (excluding Community Payback Team)
  • 445 “man hours” of volunteer time were spent on the project, excluding admin time by Cupar Development Trust staff
  • Including administration time, the project comprised a total of 520 “man hours”
  • Many of the public areas were litter-picked over the week including:
    • Duffus Park
    • Haugh Park
    • Fluthers Car Park
    • Bonnygate Car Park
    • Moathill
    • Around Bell Baxter High School
    • The central streets of Bonnygate/Crossgate

Deep cleaning …

Teams addressed a further 16 areas in need of deep cleaning and weeding, this included:

  • Bell Close
  • Sun Close
  • Cross Keys Close
  • Fluthers Car Park Inner Wall
  • Bonnygate Car Park Short Stay Area
  • Cupar in Bloom planters at Fluthers Car Park
  • Short Lane
  • The corner of Provost Wynd
  • Castlefield Steps
  • Castlehill
  • The Watts Building
  • The War Memorial
  • The Crichton Statue
  • The vacant “garden” area at the end of St Catherine’s Street
  • The vacant garage site opposite the entrance to Fluthers Car Park
  • The back alley of the vacant business premises opposite the Fluthers car park

Keep Cupar Tidy …

A successful “Keep Cupar Tidy” poster competition involved all the Cupar schools.

An evaluation discussion was held with the volunteers after each session. The volunteers unanimously reported that they enjoyed the sessions as friendly, sociable and fun. Quote from one participant: “I really enjoyed taking part – we achieved so much in the short time, and I was able to reconnect with old friends too”.

Many Cupar town organisations took part including:

  1. Cupar Rotary
  2. Cupar in Bloom
  3. Cupar Women’s Group
  4. Cupar Arts
  5. All Cupar Churches
  6. Cupar Cub Scouts
  7. Cupar Guides
  8. Cupar Brownies
  9. Bell Baxter High School
  10. St Columbas RC Primary School
  11. Westfield Family Nuture Centre
  12. Castlehill Community Centre
  13. Cupar Y
  14. Cupar Youth Café

YouTube …

Many photos were taken on across the different sessions: CuparNow has compiled into a short YouTube clip that can be viewed by clicking on the link below …

Timeline …

Before the week started, the Community Payback Team did an excellent job repainting the bollards on Bonnygate and repairing and varnishing the benches on Bonnygate, Crossgate and Ferguson Square. The Street Cleansing, Grounds Maintenance Team, Protective Services, and Transport Teams at Fife Council have been involved in planning and supporting this project, and completed many additional tasks prior to the volunteer week starting, such as: cleaning road signs, power washing pavements and bus stops, additional weeding and replacing dead trees.

  • Tuesday 10th September –
    • 16 volunteer took part today, plus the Community Payback Team, and a team of 20 staff and pupils from Bell Baxter High School.
    • One team weeded the area at the corner of Provost Wynd, opposite the Cupar Old Parish Church
    • The area around Short Lane, outside the dance studio and Royal Mail sorting offices was also weeded.
    • Another team helped Cupar in Bloom to tidy the Fluthers car park planters ready for autumn, and also weeded the inner wall of Fluthers car park.
    • Litter picking teams covered the area along Moathill. Several bags of litter, two bags of glass bottles, and a large nitrous oxide canister were removed from the area.
    • Another team took on weeding and moss removal on the steps from Bishopsgate to Castlefield.
    • The Community Payback Team did a great job of deep cleaning and weeding some of the Closes off Bonnygate– Cross Keys close, Sun Close and Bell Close
    • The Community Payback Team also managed to weed under/around the Crichton Statue area by the station.
    • On Tuesday afternoon, a team of several pupils and staff from Bell Baxter High School took part in a litterpick around the school premises and orchard area.
  • Wednesday 11th September
    • 30 volunteers took part today, plus Cupar Brownies  and Cupar Guides (11 Brownies with 4 Leaders and 13 Guides with 3 leaders)
    • On Wednesday evening, the Cupar Brownies and Cupar Guides completed a litter pick of Duffus Park and the skatepark/playpark area.
    • Volunteer teams completed a litterpick in Haugh Park, in front of the Watts building, and along Coal Road.
    • Another Team managed a litterpick of the Fluthers car park and up Castlehill to the Corn Exchange.
    • The Cupar Y Youth Café team completed lots of weeding at the Bonnygate short stay car park and around Press Close.
    • More weeding was completed at Castlefield and Castlefield steps, with lots of overgrowing vegetation cut back.
    • The Watts Building frontage was given a weed and tidy.
    • The war memorial at St Catherine’s Street was also given a weeding and sweep.
  • Friday 13th September
    • 28 volunteers took part today, including a number from Cupar Y (Cupar YMCA).
    • The Cupar Y Youth Employability Group weeded the Bonnygate short stay car park.
    • Another team went to weed the rest of the War Memorial steps.
    • A team was dispatched to the gap space opposite the War Memorial at the end of St Catherine’s Street, where they weeded and cut down the buddleia on the adjacent wall. A local gardener, Decland Smith, kindly volunteered to strim the long grass to complete the tidy up.
    • Another team completed a large amount of weeding on Castlehill itself – down the lane leading to the Factory Shop and Burnside.
    • We also cleared the back area of the vacant building opposite the Fluthers car park – and removed some dangerous items; including lots of broken glass.
    • The area of the old car garage opposite the entrance to the Fluthers can park was swept of leaves and weeded.
    • Two teams went litterpicking. One went along the pavements along the Bonnygate, Bonnygate car park, Kirk Wynd, and back up the Crossgate. The other team covered the route from St Catherine’s Street, past the War Memorial, Watts Building, Cupar Station, South Bridge and back along Crossgate.
  • Week beginning 16th September:
    • The Cupar Cub Scouts undertook two litterpicks of the areas around the Scout Hall, Duffus Park, Haugh Park and The Westfield Playing Fields (BBHS) on the 17th and 18th September.  21 young people and 5 leaders were involved in each session.
    • Bell Baxter High School Global Goals Group undertook a further litter pick on the 17Th September, which  involved about 20 pupils and staff.

Big Tidy poster competition …

A poster competition was held with all the Cupar schools. The posters had to feature the tag line “Keep Cupar Tidy”.

We received lots of colorful entries, and it was a really difficult task to choose the overall winners. The winning entry received £100 for the school and a £50 art supplies voucher or book token for the pupil. Pupils awarded runner up prizes both received £20 art supplies vouchers or book tokens.

Photo: Winning entry in the middle with two runner up entries either side, pictured with judges Margaret Robertson of Cupar Arts and Euan McLeod of Cupar Development Trust

The winning entries were:

  • Overall winner – Joe Crawford, Bell Baxter High School
  • Runner up (highly commended for best team effort) – Rowan Room, Westfield Family Nurture Centre
  • Runner up (highly commended for best graphics) – Hollie McGregor, St Columba’s RC Primary School

A huge thank you to Westfield Family Nurture Centre, St Columbas RC Primary School and Bell Baxter High School for taking part in our Keep Cupar Tidy poster competition.

 

Need more?

Click on the link below to hear from CDT Chair, Tony Miklinski, who explains more on the Trust’s work and how you can get involved …

If yu want to get in touch with CDT, please click on this link to message them via their website.

 

 

Thank you for reading!