Author: Duncan Maccann NEF

Last week’s Conservative Party manifesto launch was dominated by social care. But it also included proposals for “Future Britain Funds”, a new approach to capture public revenue for social interests.

Implemented correctly, a sovereign wealth fund could have a hugely positive impact on our economy, as seen in other countries around the world – from improved intergenerational fairness to much needed infrastructure investment.

To be a success in Britain, such a fund would need to follow seven principles:

1. PROVIDE PLANNING AND INVESTMENT FOR THE LONG TERM

It is vital that we start to think long term. Britain has historically not been good at long term investment and planning, and a wealth fund must be geared towards improving the lives of current and future generations.

2. THE FUND SHOULD BE PERMANENT

The principal should always be protected and maintained in line with inflation. Norway, owner of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has a strict rule that a maximum of 4% of the total can be spent in any one year. Checks such as this protect against governments using the fund for short term political gain.

3. THE FUND MUST HAVE A SOCIAL FUNCTION

A wealth fund must come with clear criteria about the societal challenges it is designed to address.

Alaska, for example, uses their fund to tackle inequality, distributing dividends directly to all residents. As a result, it has one of the lowest levels of inequality among US states.

Britain’s fund could tackle collective social problems like adult social care, the housing crisis or climate change, all of which require large quantities of stable and patient capital.

4. THE FUND MUST BE ETHICAL

Investment decisions must be taken using strict ethical guidelines, focusing on the overall impact to society as well as economic returns.

A large scale consultation should be conducted to understand how this should be applied in the UK, similarly to the process followed by Norway. After a multi-year consultation to develop the criteria, the country now has an Ethics Council which decides which industries and companies should be excluded. As a result, the fund avoids companies responsible for human rights abuses and environmental destruction.

5. THE FUND MUST BE TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE

Appointments to the board, investment decisions, annual reports should all be transparent in order to ensure accountability.

The board should be a mixture of appointed people with specific skills coupled with citizen representatives, who could be elected. The board would be accountable to us all as collective owners and would be required to act at all times in line with governance structures and rules that had been set up.

6. OWNED BY BRITISH PEOPLE, COLLECTIVELY – NOT BY THE STATE

The fund needs to be owned by those whose interests it has been set up to serve – the British people. This means setting up a new ownership structure outside the traditional public/private dichotomy.

One example of this can again be found in Alaska. Its Permanent Fund has shown remarkable endurance and stability in the face of hostile moves by the state government. The courts there ruled in favour of the people and prevented the state government from accessing the fund. Attempts to close the fund were also rebuffed by a referendum.

7. THE FUND SHOULD MAKE BEST USE OF THE PUBLIC ASSETS WE ALREADY OWN

The UK public sector currently owns about £360billion worth of land and property which is managed sub-optimally and could be actively used to solve our pressing housing crisis. Rather than flogging the land off in a counterproductive firesale – often abandoning valuable assets to big property developers – we could take control of this public land portfolio and use it as the starter investment for a wealth fund.

The Crown Estate provides a useful model for how this can be done. It manages a property portfolio of over £12bn and generates surplus profits of £300million through active management while maximising their total contribution to society and not just their bottom line.

Plans for shale gas funds may follow similar rationale, but it is vital that proceeds are not used simply as part of efforts to encourage local people to tolerate potentially dangerous activity.

Orkney and Shetland have shown it is possible to recoup money from industries for disturbances caused by extracting natural resources. These funds are then best used as part of efforts to mitigate the future impacts of climate change – not simply to offset a continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels, for which we will all eventually pay a heavy price.

Author: SFLT

The Scottish Farm Land Trust (SFLT), in collaboration with Nourish Scotland, is undertaking a survey to find out who is looking for farmland in Scotland and what they want for it.

www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/scottishfarmland

Our aim is to increase access to land for ecological agriculture, and we want to build SFLT as an organisation led by small-scale farmers, growers and new entrants.

This survey is an opportunity to share if you are, or ever have been, looking for farmland in Scotland. We’re interested in your ambitions, any challenges you have faced, and what you think about the aims of SFLT.

We want to hear from everyone who has even thought about looking for farmland so please pass this email on. We will use the survey results to inform the development and strategy of SFLT, as an organisation to support new entrants and sustainable food production in Scotland.

The survey will be open until Monday 24th July, but please fill it out as soon as you can.

Thanks for helping out and let us know if you want to get involved. Our email is contact@scottishfarmlandtrust.org

The Scottish Farm Land Trust aims to create secure and affordable opportunities for young farmers and new entrants to farming, to help them establish and sustain small ecological farms. SFLT will achieve this by purchasing land in trust and making long-term leases available.

Author: NDT

Neilston Community Windfarm, in East Renfrewshire, has been acquired by The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) as part of an agreement that will see the creation of a new fund to invest in the long term development of the local area. The four turbine 10 megawatt development, opened by the Nicola Sturgeon as Deputy First Minister in 2013, was 28% owned by Neilston Development Trust (NDT) and 72% owned by developers Carbon Free.

After repaying the loans taken out to fund NDT’s share of the windfarm and deducting legal costs, there will be a surplus of approximately £2 million. This will be used to start a charitable fund to support local facilities, services, jobs and community life in the Neilston area.

This sum is in addition to £400,000 already received by NDT over the last 4 years, which has contributed to the employment of staff and the provision of key services from the NDT’s ‘Bank’ community facility. The scale of the return reflects the strength of the investment model used by the Trust with substantially higher payments earmarked for the local community than would have been the case with traditional community benefit models.

“This agreement gives us guaranteed funding to invest in the future development of our community”, commented NDT Chair Pauline Gallacher. “The windfarm was not a risk free investment but the high level of return over a short period is a tribute to those who supported the principle of a joint venture.  We hope that this agreement will result in wider support for more community led investments in Neilston and elsewhere.”

NDT has highlighted a number of reasons why the offer from TRIG was particularly attractive at the present time.

Gordon Keenan, Chief Officer explained: “Although the wind farm’s prospects are good, NDT found it difficult to manage the variations in income in light of the fixed interest loans we took out. This was caused by changes in oil and gas prices and the loss of certain subsidies. This extended the period before funds could be made available for community projects and grants. By selling our share of the project to a well-regarded and experienced investor, the funds are guaranteed and available, when needed, to support the sustainable development of the community.”

Joanne Karatzidis, Investment Manager at Social Investment Scotland, which supported NDT’s initial investment in the wind farm said: “We are delighted that the NDT Board has found a way to secure a long-term legacy for the community and look forward to continuing a positive and productive relationship with NDT.”

Daniel Wilson-Dodd, Head of Lending at Big Issue Invest, added: “We have been impressed by the management, foresight and professionalism of the NDT board.  The sale of NDT’s interest in the wind farm is a positive outcome for the people of the area and we are delighted to provide an initial donation to the proposed legacy fund which is being established with the sale proceeds.”

The windfarm will continue to contribute to Scotland’s green energy supply, generating 2.5 times the annual electricity requirement for Neilston.

Neilston Development Trust is to hold a community meeting to outline the plans for the new fund, which will be constituted as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), at St Thomas Church Hall, Neilston, on Tuesday 30 May from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

Author: CommonSpace

For more information on the Fintry Four and the Fintry Development Trust click here

A pioneering ‘smart energy’ project in a Stirlingshire village is powering ahead after more than a quarter of local residents signed up to take part.

The village of Fintry has become the first “smart village” in the UK using the latest technology to allow residents to buy their electricity directly from renewable energy generators in the local area.

The SMART Fintry project, which aims to help cut energy bills and CO2 emissions, has been awarded funding for the second year in a row by the Scottish Government and has been signed up to by a quarter of people in the village.

Due to be completed in March 2018, the village of 700 people will see another 100 households plus some businesses take part in the project to see how a local community can sustain energy use from local renewables rather than from large-scale sources.

Gordon Cowtan, resident and co-founder of Fintry Development Trust said: “The households taking part have already switched to a special renewable electricity tariff with Good Energy and have had new meters installed to keep track of their energy use.

“As well as more control over their energy use, SMART Fintry participants have the added benefit of being supplied by 100% renewable electricity – much of it from local sources.” Will Vooght

“Over the next few months, they’ll start to see even more benefits as we launch a new online portal showing them how and when they’re using electricity, and linking this to the output from our local renewable generators.

“In the long run, we hope that by reducing the strain on the national grid smart, local energy systems like the one being piloted in Fintry will help drive down household energy bills and make communities more self-sufficient”.

The first of its kind in the UK, the project aims to set a new blueprint for communities to become more energy self-sufficient by making better use of local wind, solar and other renewable resources and balance local renewable electricity generation with local demand.

A new smart meter is given to villagers to help monitor electricity use along with a special renewable electricity tariff. The project helps locals to match their electricity use with the output of three local renewable generators, including two wind turbines and an anaerobic digestion plant.

SMART Fintry is funded by the Local Energy Challenge Fund and the project is being run by a consortium of commercial, academic and local partners: including Fintry Development Trust, Veitch Cooper, Energy Assets, Heriot-Watt University, and renewable energy supplier Good Energy.

Will Vooght, head of research and innovation at Good Energy said: “We’ve had a fantastic response from Fintry so far.

“As well as more control over their energy use, SMART Fintry participants have the added benefit of being supplied by 100% renewable electricity – much of it from local sources.”

Author: Quintin Bradley

Is neighbourhood planning enabling a progressive localism, or embedding inequality? Dr Quintin Bradley, co-author of the first overview of neighbourhood plans, assesses their impact

With over 2000 neighbourhood plans underway, and more than 300 already part of the statutory planning framework, it is a good time to assess the impact of neighbourhood planning, and to see what practical differences it has made.

A new book ‘Localism and Neighbourhood Planning: power to the people’ by Sue Brownill and Quintin Bradley does exactly that. The first overview of neighbourhood planning since its launch in the 2011 localism act, the book asks what genuine power, if any, has been transferred to local people, and what has really changed on the ground.

The book reviews the impact of neighbourhood planning across four themes – whether it has devolved ‘power to the people’; what impact it has had on planning practice; what it means for state and citizen relations more broadly; and finally, how might it bring progressive change now and in the future.

Power to the people

Neighbourhood planning has given statutory planning powers to urban community groups and rural parishes and this has brought about some tangible change. For the first time there is space for citizens’ control in planning. Community-leadership, innovative public engagement and direct democracy are now part of the formal process of state decision making over land use and development.

In rural areas this has given a voice to the sense of belonging and stewardship felt by local communities, like St. Ives, in Cornwall, whose neighbourhood plan put a stop to the unregulated growth of second homes and took back some control over inflationary housing market. This passion for place explains why the turnout in a rural neighbourhood plan referendum can be as high as 71%, and why voter turnout on average compares favourably with municipal elections. The situation in urban areas is quite different, however, and points to continuing inequalities in access to plan-making.

It takes around four years of volunteer time and commitment to write a neighbourhood plan. Getting your head around planning policy and legislation is not easy and this partly explains why the majority of neighbourhood plans are still coming from the more affluent areas with better access to skills and resources. The fact that a healthy 23% of plans are in the least affluent areas is largely because some local authorities, like Leeds, with its 35 neighbourhood plans in one city, have taken a strategic approach to targeting support to ensure greater equality. Perhaps the thing that makes the real difference, however, is what practical benefits neighbourhood planning can bring.

Making a difference on the ground

In our book we argue that neighbourhood plans are taking a distinctive approach to issues of housing supply and asserting a renewed social purpose for planning. Given the task of reconciling economic growth with environmental and social sustainability, neighbourhood plans have prioritised the need to foster place identity, enhance green space and uphold local distinctiveness. They appear to be promoting a different model of housebuilding, supporting affordable, cooperative and self-build housing on brown field and infill sites. Lauded by government for boosting growth, they welcome development where it helps build community.

This approach has not been without controversy. Developers appear to have an inexhaustible appetite for legal action against neighbourhood plans, and neighbourhood planners have been forthright on their contempt for the speculative model of the volume housebuilders. A national planning framework that is determinedly pro-growth tightly constrains what it is possible for neighbourhoods to achieve. The expansion of permitted development rights means they are powerless to regulate office residential conversions or change of use in retail so many big issues are outside their control. Despite this, neighbourhood plans have made innovative use of land use policy to pursue regeneration, and foster employment and training. Neighbourhood forums in inner city areas have helped establish a new tier of local governance and this has sparked a fresh wave of community action, bringing new and powerful connections to play on local issues.

Citizens, localism and governance

Neighbourhood planning enjoys broad political support and the recent Housing White Paper, and before that, the Housing & Planning Act demonstrated clearly that government sees the locality, or neighbourhood, as key to achieving its aims. This provides citizens with a unique opportunity to work new spaces of power and has brought neighbourhood planners powerful friends. It complicates relations with local authorities who have a duty to support this widening of political engagement while struggling to find further resources. It also means that citizens are now expected to do the work of professionals and acquire technical proficiency in planning while still toiling at the lowest level of a governance hierarchy.

Most neighbourhood plans get substantially amended at formal examination – sometimes changed to the extent that the community no longer recognises them as their own work. The recent increase in neighbourhood plans failing examination, on top of a number of legal challenges on some of the more technical aspects of plan-making, emphasises the heavy burden that falls on communities that dare to explore the uncertain opportunities of localism.

Is a progressive localism emerging?

Neighbourhood planning has made planning more democratic and renewed its social purpose. The uneven geography of its take-up and its barriers to participation can in no way detract from this advancement.  The limitations on what communities can achieve are formidable. The scope of neighbourhood planning is undermined by continuing austerity, constrained by deregulation and out-gunned by a speculative land market.

Still there is no sign that neighbourhood planning has run out of steam or that communities have given up hope. Instead there is a pragmatic enthusiasm. The statutory recognition that plan-making confers on communities is highly prized. Neighbourhood planning bestows a legal identity on an activist citizenry and their community action.

One thing is clear: neighbourhood planning has changed the institutional architecture of planning and unleashed a new and powerful force in the government of the local.

•             ‘Localism and neighbourhood planning: power to the people’ is edited by Sue Brownill and Quintin Bradley and published by Policy Press, price £21.59.

Author: Jim Bachor, Unworthiest

Click here and  here to see Jim’s work on Instagram

Nobody likes potholes. Really no one, whether you’re a cyclist who has to swerve so you don’t fly off your bike or a driver who’s concerned about what the hole will do to your suspension, they’re a menace to our roads.

In Chicago – a city with harsh cold winters and hot summers – they also crop up (or should that be down?), so when in 2013, local artist Jim Bachor opened his front door and discovered a great big one, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

“We had a particularly bad pothole season in Chicago and my street was particularly beat-up. There was this one pothole outside my house that would refuse to stay fixed. The repair crews would fill it with asphalt but then, six months later, it would pop out again.

“I put two and two together and realised I had my passion for a really durable art form, mosaics and this pothole outside my house so why not merge the two? I made up some artwork and installed a piece of mosaic in that pothole in 2013.”

Almost four years later and 45 pothole mosaics down the line, Jim Bachor’s become something of a celebrity.

‘Pothole guy’ as he’s affectionately known – well at least that’s what people shout at him in the street (“Hey, you’re the pothole guy!”) – is not only creating beautiful pieces of art, he’s essentially providing a civic service to the city he loves.

Now, it’s not only locals paying attention: his potholes have become a tourist attraction. This is something he finds hard to get his head around.

“It blows me away!” He explains. “Some people have done these news articles like, ‘Here are 10 art things you need to see while you’re here’. They’ll mention Picasso, The Cloud Gate [a famous sculpture in the city’s Millennium Park] and also my artwork. Sometimes they mention my stuff before Picasso so it’s very funny, ridiculous, humbling and great.”

“It’s got more attention than I ever thought it would,” he continues. “I’m very aware I’m very fortunate. I don’t take it for granted – I try to answer any email or phone call. I try to take advantage of it because I know it’s not going to last forever but it’s been a cool ride.”

It may indeed be a cool ride – but it’s also hard work and time-consuming. He’s turned the basement in his house to a studio, and that’s where he creates the mosaics. For each pothole, he’s looking at an 8-10 hour art session. Then a few days later he’s got a two-day job on his hands to install it.

Laying the mosaic takes a couple of hours, but he then has to protect it with traffic cones, leave it to set overnight, come back the next day and clean it up using wire brushes. At that point he’ll document it and take loads of pictures, “because I’ve learnt that it’s never going to look as good as it does then”.

None of this, though, is the hardest aspect of his work – that’s discovering the perfect pothole to begin with.

“Finding the right one is the biggest hassle of the whole process because it can’t be any old pothole. It can’t be in the centre of the road because I can’t block traffic.

“The street itself has to be pretty stable, so what I do now that I have more followers [on Instagram] is I’ll say ‘I’d love to do something in this part of the city, if you see something that’s the right size send me a photo and address of where it is,’ and if I use it I’ll usually send them something. So people do get involved, and I get a lot out of it too.”

Not only is he making roads better for the city’s residents and creating art in the process, he adds to his Best Neighbour Ever attributes by leaving a goodie bag nearby to a new installation.

“I tape it to a nearby tree or post and then on Instagram I send out a picture of it explaining it’s a new installation and where it is. Usually within 30-40 minutes someone will have come by and nabbed it, so there’s public participation to make it fun.”

Yet is everyone a fan? How about the authorities – the ones who have specialist pothole filling teams?

“The City’s never contacted me in any way. The only contact I’ve had is when the Chicago Tribune wrote an article about the campaign a couple of years back. They contacted the City for a response and they said they ‘appreciated the spirit of the campaign but I should leave the work to the professionals’ – so they didn’t say no but they said I should leave it the professional pothole crews.”

He is, however, regularly stopped by the police, who want to know exactly what he’s doing: “I’ve had about six or seven stops by the cops when I’m doing the installations. For the most part they’ve been really positive – that is once they know what I’m doing. For the most part they love it and as the campaign has got more press, they know who I am and will say ‘hey, you’re the pothole guy’.”

“The thing is with the cops though,” he jokes, “you never know, a week from now I might have the feds here…”

Jim’s got no plans to stop his pothole filling anytime soon and he’s about to start his 2017 campaign. Every year, he picks a different theme, from Pretty Trashed, which focuses on everyday rubbish you’d find on streets, to Treats in the Street – an ice-cream-themed campaign.

When picking a theme, his first thought is, ‘What will bring a smile to people’s faces?’

“A lot of times I’ve done what I call ‘universal truth’. Nobody loves potholes and what I do is juxtapose that with things that are universally loved, like flowers or ice cream, so you’re walking down the street and you see another pothole but then you see something that brings an unexpected grin to your face – like an ice cream you might have had in your childhood. I do a lot of that kind of stuff.”

So what’s up next? Well that’s a secret which he’ll be announcing over the next few weeks. But before we finish up our interview with him we ask the all important question: “Will you come over to the UK and fix our potholes?”

“I’d love to” he replies. “It’s just a case of raising enough money to do so.”

Author: Wkitribune

Listen to Jimmy Wales explain what Wikitribune is here

Wikitribune is a news platform that brings journalists and a community of volunteers together.

Author: Carolyn Leckie, The National

ACHILTIBUIE is one of the places that most of us have heard of but many would struggle to pinpoint on a map. Strictly speaking, it’s a village on the beautiful Coigach peninsula north of Ullapool – though most local people use the name Achiltibuie when referring to the wider community with its smattering of tiny villages clinging to the wild Atlantic coast.

This is remote, rugged territory. From the central belt of Scotland, it’s a longer drive to Achiltibuie than it is to Birmingham. Even the capital of the Highland Council, Inverness, is a two-hour drive away.

In the 21st century, distance should be less of a barrier than ever before. In Europe, we have trains capable of travelling at 170 miles an hour, the equivalent of a three-hour journey from Edinburgh to London. One airline company is about to launch a supersonic jet with a top speed of 1450 mph. We can watch live TV from the other side of the world, and send photographs in seconds to relatives abroad.

But the communications revolution has so far bypassed large areas of Scotland, including Achiltibuie. The UK Government has pledged to provide superfast broadband to 95 per cent of premises by the end of the year. The problem is that the excluded five per cent are in the places that need it most. And they need it not just to break down social isolation, but to make a living.

If it were left to the big telecoms companies, much of Scotland would remain forever in the technological twilight zone. Fortunately, local people are taking things into their own hands. In the areas around Ullapool, they’ve established a community-owned broadband company that will put in place the necessary infrastructure to provide broadband in Achiltibuie within the next few weeks.

According to Julia Campbell of the Coigach Community Development Company, local people are increasingly forced to rely on their own resources to get things done. The development company has just built a community-owned wind turbine, which is feeding into the National Grid and is forecast to bring over £2 million into the community over the next 20 years – £100,000 a year to improve local services, improve infrastructure, fund training and support new businesses.

Coigach Community Development Company – which works with local nature conservation organisations such as the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the umbrella Coigach-Assynt Living Landscape Partnership – also recently purchased and refurbished a derelict schoolhouse and converted it into two affordable homes.

That might not seem much – but it’s a big step forward in an area where the total population is just 300. In contrast, 13 local councils failed to build a single house last year – and for the last three years of the Labour-Lib Dem coalition at Holyrood, a grand total of 12 local authority houses were built in the whole of Scotland.

Like high speed broadband, affordable housing is vital if areas such as Achiltibuie are to survive and thrive as vibrant communities. Right now, the population is ageing. Over three quarters of the residents are over 40, with a disproportionate number of over-60s.

Campbell, who grew up locally, points out that the last spike in population, and growth in the number of local school pupils, took place around the early 1970s. She reckons that it’s no coincidence that it began to decline after 1975, the year the last council house was built on the peninsula.

Statistics tell us that the population of the Highlands is growing. Some areas, especially around Inverness and the most popular tourist hotspots such as Skye and the Cairngorms, are clearly forging ahead. But other areas are being left behind.

The example of Coigach raises wider questions. Not least – is our current local government set-up fit for purpose?

The Highland Council area covers almost 26,000 square kilometres. That’s one fifth larger than the land area of Slovenia, a small EU country which has 211 municipalities, elected by proportional representation and with extensive powers over schools, local roads, libraries, planning, economic development and a range of public services.

Each of the Slovenian municipalities raise their own revenues, which are then subject to a system of equalisation to iron out geographical economic inequalities. These genuinely local authorities also guarantee a high degree of gender equality, with a legal requirement that the balance between men and women cannot exceed 60-40 either way. The former war-torn Balkan state, incidentally, is no backwater but the most economically successful of the Slavic countries – with growth rates higher than the UK. It is also recognised as the European-wide leader on protection of the natural environment.

INTERESTINGLY, while Scotland’s local government units have become ever larger and more unwieldy over the decades, Slovenia, together with other European countries, has moved in the opposite direction, towards decentralisation and an increasing number of smaller, more localised municipalities.

Our local government structures are rooted in a different century. They were brought in back in 1995 by the John Major Tory Government to replace a 20-year-old two-tier system which had been devised by another Tory Government, under Edward Heath.

So, for the past 43 years, including 17 years of devolution, we’ve been forced to live with Tory local government structures dictated by London. No wonder turnouts for council elections are dismal even in these highly politicised times.

Right now, we’re in a time of turbulence. But after the next independence referendum is out the way, we really need to think about initiating a democratic revolution, from the bottom upwards. Our community councils have no power, no budgets, and negligible participation. And our local government structures need to be brought closer to the people.

The dynamism of Achiltibuie, along with Eigg, North Harris, Knoydart and other areas where local communities have successfully combined economic regeneration with protection of nature and landscape, show us glimpses of a better future, beyond the huge apparatuses of centralised authorities which are local in name only.

Author: BBC News

For some men, retirement is a long-awaited chance to travel the world, hit the golf course, or take up a new hobby. For others, after decades in work, it can be a time of loneliness and isolation.

But across Scotland, a new movement is helping growing numbers of men improve their health and their mood.

Men’s Sheds have been set up across the country to enable men to come together to pursue practical interests like wood-turning and metalwork.

Age Scotland said it was in contact with 101 sheds, ranging from established projects to new initiatives and some linked to other organisations.

A new report by the charity outlines the impact the initiative has had on the lives of those who use the sheds.

In The Shed Effect, men describe why they first turned to their local shed and how it has changed their lives.

Why do people choose to go to the Men’s Sheds?

Men are often referred to the shed by their wives, said Roy Garland of Carse of Gowrie & District Men’s Shed.

“They say ‘My husband just sits at home all day. I was wondering if I could bring him along to the shed to let him see what you do?’

“Needless to say, we always invite them along and it’s surprising the amount of men that have been introduced to the shed by their wives.”

Jack Ferguson retired after undergoing major heart surgery about nine years ago.

When he couldn’t go back to work, he said he was “down for about a year”. He admits he was probably depressed but he was helped by Hamilton Men’s Shed.

He said: “I don’t know what the attraction was but, when I read about the men’s shed I thought, ‘I think it’d be good…just might be good’, you know.

“But fae day one I was, ‘Yes! This is it. This is what I want’.”

Tam Dagg took early retirement from his job in Jedburgh after 38 years with the same company.

“Then I was sitting around the house, semi-comatose…It was boring, you could say lonely if you can be lonely when you’re married,” he said.

He learned about Hawick Men’s Shed from his daughter and finally walked through the door last December.

“I was living in Hawick but I had no friends in Hawick. I had been working in Jedburgh for 38 years. Now I’m in the shed nearly every day.”

What do they do in the Men’s Sheds?

Trevor Gallon, of The Jed Shed, in Jedburgh, said they share their skills and experience.

He said: “Men in the workshop will stand side by side and they’ll be taught by somebody next to them who’ll go, ‘How about trying it this way? I’ll do that little bit for you. You do this bit’.

“Quite often to be side by side with somebody, learning what it’s all about or to be shown by somebody who’s made one before and they’re passing on a skill to you.

“Then, to me, that makes you feel a lot better. It gives you confidence. It gives you abilities that you maybe never had before. You’re pushing past your own barriers a little bit.”

Mike Fairweather, of Carse of Gowrie & District Men’s Shed, said: “I think o’ things and I lie in bed at night and think o’ things. ‘What’ll I do tomorrow?’

“So, I think o’ things, and I come down and dae them…started a project maybe at the beginning of the year. I havenae finished it yet.

“I cut oot this tree trunk, eight inches wide and I sawed it through by hand, and then I drilled five holes in it, by hand, and it’s gonna be a wine rack once it’s finished. I’ve got to keep on the move.

“And I think that’s the main thing for people my age, you know, or round about my age. If they’ve nothing to do, get yourself down here and keep movin’.”

And John Ross, of Gala Men’s Shed, helps other men with joinery work.

“I’m 73 now – so I’ve been working a long time, and it’s always been with wood,” he said.

“My father had a joiner’s business, and my grandfather had the business before that, so it just goes on and on. My brother was a joiner, and my two nephews, they’re joiners.

“I get a lot from helping the guys, just seeing them develop, you know, like when they’re making something, all of a sudden there’s a kinda look on their face and you can see they’re enjoying this, and getting a lot from it.”

Why is it such a success?

David Waterton said the informality of the project helps make The Jed Shed work.

“You can come when you want to come, you know,” he said. “There’s no pressure on anybody to come all the time if you’ve got a day when you don’t feel like it, or you’ve got something else on.

“Making it more formal would take a lot away from it. I think the informal thing, a lot of the time, is what the guys like.

“That older member is in most days. He just pops in for a cup of tea and a chat with some of the guys he knows and then just goes away again, or sometimes he’ll pop upstairs and just hang about for an hour.”

And according to Geoff Allison, of Dalbeattie Men’s Shed, the men all have one thing in common.

“We’re guys plootering about in a shed, but we’re just doing it somewhere larger scale,” he said.

“That’s what it’s about. We’re doing ‘men things’. We all have CTAS – Compulsive Tool Acquisition Syndrome!”

For some, it could even be a life-saver.

Joe Scott was in the “doldrums” when he had to take early retirement after suffering a stroke.

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Author: BBC

A piece of the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry has been stolen from an exhibition in Edinburgh.

It was taken from St Giles’ Cathedral at about 15:30 on Sunday by a man who removed it before making off, via the shop, on to the High Street.

The tapestry – which is made of 305 individually embroidered panels – went on display last week.

Nearly two years ago a panel from the Great Tapestry of Scotland was stolen, and has never been found.

The suspect in the latest incident was described as white, 6ft tall with a slim build, a receding hairline with short cropped hair at the sides and a fair complexion. He was wearing a long-sleeved white top, light trousers and carrying a jacket.

The stolen panel is a 50cm x 50cm white linen square displaying hand stitched religious images.

 Image captionThe Scottish Diaspora Tapestry went on display in Edinburgh last week

Det Con Chris Harding said: “The Scottish Diaspora Tapestry is a priceless piece of artwork with great historical significance and this brazen act of destruction and theft has left the owners of the tapestry and the staff at St Giles Cathedral shocked.

“As part of our inquiries we are keen to hear from anyone recognises the description of the suspect, or who is approached by anyone looking to sell or pass on the stolen panel.

“In addition, anyone with any further information that can assist with our ongoing investigation should come forward.”

Sarah O’Connor Phemister, visitor centre manager at St Giles’ Cathedral, said: “We’re disappointed and very sad that a panel of the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry was stolen while on display in St Giles.

“We are doing everything we can to assist the police in their investigation and are hopeful that the panel will be recovered.

“This beautiful artwork has been lovingly sewn, by people across the globe as a celebration of the contributions of Scottish people and their descendants. As such, its value is beyond price.

“We appeal to whoever took the panel to return it as soon as possible.”

In September 2015, a panel from the Great Tapestry of Scotland was stolen while while it was on display in Kirkcaldy.

A team of stitchers last week unveiled a panel they had painstakingly recreated to replace the missing piece.