Anyone arriving into Cupar along West Port will have noticed the works being undertaken on the old St Michael’s Church on the corner of North Union Street. The church was built in 1837 as a ‘chapel of ease’ – to support the then growing congregation of Cupar Old Parish Church. Today, a new lease of life for the historic site is taking shape …
There’s nowhere to stay in Cupar … at least, that’s what many folk tell us. But we know there are guest houses, self-catering apartments and B&Bs with more than 100 beds available, all within an easy walk of the centre – and some are smack, bang right in the middle of town. We took a walk to discover a few and to highlight what’s on offer.
So when you next hear anyone say “there’s nowhere to stay” you can point them in the right direction …
In our work developing CuparNow, we have identified more than 380 businesses and organisations in the town – making and selling all manner of products and services to folk who live close to home and far afield. At our last Open Meeting, Fiona Adamson – a Partner in PLM Optometrists – came along to discover more about our project. And so to demonstrate how we can help, we turned the tables to focus on Fiona and her company. Here’s the latest in our wee profiles featuring Cupar’s businesses …
On our travels around the town, we’re always pleased to meet the people behind the company names and fascias. The town has an increasing number of independent businesses who are nailing their colours to Cupar’s mast and we’re delighted CuparNow is enabling us to showcase them as never before. In our latest profile, we met with Gail Brunton and her business partner, Andrew Fotheringham, the duo behind Eden Escapes …
CuparNow is all about showcasing businesses in the town – and we’re delighted to be able to profile some on these pages. When you head south along Crossgate and, before heading into Millgate, take a left onto South Bridge, you can’t help but notice the garage opposite. Aptly named Southbridge Garage, this small, family-run business is a great example of the independents that make up much of our town’s traders. We visited and met with Andrew Thomson to discover more …
There’s a great deal of chat about local services – #ShopLocal and #KeepItLocal are two hashtags that often trend on social channels when people are trying to encourage folk to spend more time and money in their communities. Earlier in the summer, (August 2019), The Herald shared a story on how the Federation of Small Business is calling for investment at a local level to help revitalise towns across Scotland. Two thirds of Scotland’s population live in 479 towns. We are helping to share local news, offers and events – seven days a week – and on our travels, we come across many organisations and community partners working hard to support the town. Cupar Library is no exception – and we discovered that they have a ‘Local Studies Department‘ so we went along to find out more. We spoke with Local Studies Supervisor, Andrea McMillan …
Our town’s museum and heritage centre has a fund-raising project – and they need everyone’s help. They are in the process of acquiring three Charles Lees’ paintings that were discovered by a local genealogist who loaned them to the heritage centre. The purchase was helped by the Cupar Common Good fund and the Fife Family History Society. The museum is now looking to raise funds to help to restore the paintings to their 19th century glory. We visited to find out more …
There are increasing numbers of people affected by dementia – and our town is no exception. Thankfully, we have some extraordinary people in our community who dedicate their time through charitable work that helps those who find themselves at a loss when dementia starts to take hold. We met up with two of them – Bob & Anna Farmer – trustees involved in a charity that runs a drop-in centre for carers …
Cupar is home to a unique resource – the Fife Family History Society – promoting Fife family and local Fife history … and offering to help like-minded folk by sharing resources, archives, publications and more. We dropped in to catch up with the society’s chair, Alison Murray, at their Archive Room within Cupar Library‘s Reference Room – their home for the last three years.