APR / MAY 2020
CHARITY: CHARITY:
FRIENDS OF SCOTTISH SETTLERS: “Because you would do this for me ”
ON THE BOARDWALK
“There are no rules to grieving”
P18 TO OUR APR/MAY EDITION
I
’ve got one main message for this issue of Konect. It’s the same as it ever has been since we started publishing locally, but now even more important than ever – please support local businesses! With sudden and dramatic loss of customers, many can’t carry on as normal. Check what local businesses are doing - many are offering delivery, or finding imaginative and different ways to offer their services to adapt. Please lend your support in whatever way you can. Reciprocally, many businesses are reaching out to help with special services and offers to the most vulnerable in our communities. Much of our editorial was written before the social distancing measures were brought in, so please bear this in mind. That said, life will return to normal, perhaps a new normal, and I hope you enjoy our features this month, which include the small groups with big hearts who welcome new Scots into the Falkirk community; and a walk away from it all on a boardwalk near Blackridge – perfect at any time but especially for a change of scenery while social distancing. Thanks for reading Konect, stay safe.
THIS ISSUE Local Charity: Friends of Scottish Settlers “Because you would do this for me”.......... 8 Interiors: Ready for Spring.........................14 Puzzles..........................................................16 Local Charity: “There are no rules for grieving”........................................................18 Local Walk: On the Boardwalk..................20 What’s On......................................................22 Clubs & Classes..........................................22
Konect is delivered to 7,500 households in central Falkirk, Lionthorn and Larbert. Copies are also left at libraries, community centres and other locations throughout Falkirk.
HELEN-JANE SHEARER Editor
E: editor@konect.scot
CHARLENE GAFFNEY Account Manager
M: 07772 941899 E: charlene@konect.scot @KonectMagazines
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FRIENDS OF SCOTTISH SETTLERS: “BECAUSE YOU WOULD DO THIS FOR ME ” “You would do this for me,’ is the response we all give to the question, ‘Why are you doing this?’” says Muna Ausat, one of a group of Falkirk residents who helps to welcome new Scots into the community here, predominantly from Syria. “If the tables were turned and I arrived in a country to start a new life, with nothing, would any of these people refuse to offer me help?” It’s a rhetorical question of course; Muna has made fast friends with a number of the families who have arrived here since she became involved around four years ago, initially to offer English lessons via Scotland Welcomes Refugees (“although we don’t use the term ‘refugees’”) and by offering her home for temporary accommodation. Leaving a corporate life in London five years ago for a better lifestyle here in Falkirk, Muna is a community and social activist who is passionate about supporting displaced people. The diverse group of other local people similarly motivated are now in the process of formalising their support into a registered charity, “Friends of Scottish Settlers” (FOSS).
Whilst Falkirk Council has the responsibility for co-ordinating housing, children’s services, employment and social work, the supports offered by members of the community are the kinds of things you would do for your friends and neighbours. “I’ve met families when they come to the mosque, invited them home, organised lunch, presents for the children, and so on,” explains Muna. “I was volunteering at the Falkirk Foodbank when the first families arrived, and I was tasked with making up food donations that would make them feel more welcome, for example substituting tinned spaghetti hoops with couscous and grains. I had to learn about Syrian food; it’s been a wonderful learning curve in many ways in fact, and a fantastic community to 8 | FALKIRK
be part of.” Speaking of Syrian food, one of the issues they come across is that our “standard issue” set of saucepans are never big enough for cooking the typical Syrian dinner!
The community includes, amongst others, the head of the Falkirk Muslim Forum; Al Masaar in Falkirk (a charity that focuses on women with young children, and organises weekend football); Falkirk Trinity Church, and the Polmont Quakers. FOSS plans to pull together the various strands of work that these organisations are doing, as well as augmenting the wonderful work done locally by the Rainbow Ladies, with the aim of all the individuals and groups pooling resources to provide a more coherent and comprehensive welcome and support network for the new Scots. Everyone’s story is different, but most of the families who arrive have been out of Syria for at least four years; fours years of displacement, being away from family, children’s education disrupted, not able to settle and put down roots. So being helped to integrate into a friendly network means a huge amount. Muna mentions some recent examples, such as parents with young children being helped to find out what their children need for school; understanding correspondence from the school; how the bus timetables work; making doctors appointments; those with teens getting help to arrange work experience from the networks of longer term members of the community, and so on. Cultural and social trips are also on the agenda. They recently organised a trip @KonectMagazines
to Stirling Castle for a number of Syrian families, hosted by The Conservation Volunteers and Historic Environment Scotland. Learning about the natural and historic culture of Scotland is a vital – and fun – part of the integration journey. Muna had invited the local diversity officer from the police service to join them on the trip too to help promote the role of the police service here, which is very likely to be different from where they have come from! A neighbouring organisation, Forth Valley Welcome, provides a regular “Snack and Chat” meet ups for new Scots, and they have a befriending scheme in place. FOSS would love to get to the stage where they can offer befrienders in Falkirk, so that every new Scot here has a buddy for those everyday questions and one to one conversations. “It’s also important that the direction for the activities and guidance we provide comes from the new Scots themselves, not us organising things based on what we think they need!” says Muna.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INVOLVED? If you are interested in getting involved in this wonderful community in any way please get in touch with FOSS. They are particularly looking for people who can help with befriending, but there are plenty of group and activities to help out with – once life-afterCovid19 returns to normal.
to be announced as soon as possible) and other councillors and MSPs have been very positive about the activities FOSS provides.
Ultimately the aim is for new Scots to be fully integrated with their own networks, and to get involved in supporting the next families to arrive; and that is already happening.
Please follow the FOSS facebook page “FOSS - Friends of Scottish Settlers” for more information and to get in touch and keep up to date. The FOSS launch event will be publicised as soon as possible, and will include speakers and delicious Syrian pastries!
All the elected members have been hugely supportive. Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn was due to speak at the FOSS launch event this month (it has been postponed– new date
This article was contributed by Helen-Jane Shearer after speaking with Muna Ausat. Helen-Jane is the editor of Konect magazines.
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INTERIORS
Get your home ready
for
Warmer days, new blooming buds, and vocal birds. Nature is dropping plenty of clues that spring is well on the way.
While you’re getting started on your springcleaning duties and the wardrobe overhaul, now’s also the perfect time to pay your interior some attention and freshen it up ready for the warmer months. Here’s 6 ways to bid farewell to winter and liven up your living room in time for spring. Remove the layers - Now’s the ideal time to remove those thick, woollen throws you’ve had on hand for the chilly winter nights. Wash or dry-clean these extra layer and pack them away for when winter rolls around again. If you enjoy snuggling under a blanket of an evening, consider a lighter linen throw with a touch of colour or pattern that ties into your spring look. Refresh your furnishings - In winter, our interiors tend to be shut up more with the heating on and limited amount of fresh air as we bunker down. Now that we can open up the house more regularly to allow the spring breeze to enter, it’s the perfect opportunity to refresh your furnishings too. Both leather and fabric upholstery can benefit from a regular clean. You’ll notice the material appears more vibrant, it will smell fresher, and you can get rid of any unsightly stains. Swap out heavy rugs - The feeling of a thick woollen rug underfoot in winter is sublime, but with warmer days on the way you could consider livening up your living room with a lighter rug or nothing at all. This gives you an opportunity to have your rugs professionally cleaned as well as shop for a new look! 14 | FALKIRK
Add a touch of green The indoor plant trend looks like it’s here to stay and with good reason. Indoor plants are a great way to add a touch of nature to your living room and freshen up the space. Dress your living room with a few pots or accessorise with large leafy branches in a generous vase. Accessorise with seasonal items - Accessories are the most cost-effective way to style your interiors seasonally. Change up your colour scheme with some spring cushions. Invest in a collection of beautiful vases for your spring blooms. Change up your artwork or replace lamp shades from dark and moody to bright and fresh. Before you mix in your new season’s accessories, remember to declutter and store away or donate those you haven’t used. Freshen up your playlist - To get you in the styling mood, freshen up your playlist with some spring tunes on Alexa. Music is a great way to reinforce the feeling you’re trying to create in your interiors. It also has a profound effect on your own attitude, giving you a little extra spring in your step this Springtime. This feature was contributed by Derek Lamb. Derek runs Harvey Bruce Interiors, showroom in Uphall at G4 Williamson’s Garden Centre Mains Holdings, Uphall EH52 6PA. Free Parking, wheelchair/buggy friendly. Also online shop at www.harveybruce.co.uk @KonectMagazines
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PUZZLES
CROSSWORD
Solution in the June / July edition of Konect ACROSS: 1. Not private (6), 4. One belonging to a club (6), 9. Endure (7), 10. Book of maps (5), 11. Surplus (5), 12. Design (7), 13. Discontinued (11), 18. Withdraw (7), 20. Living (5), 22. Concerning (5), 23. Outside light (7), 24. Removing (6), 25. Two wheeled vehicles (6). DOWN: 1. Mailed (6), 2. Destroyed by fire (5), 3. Copy (7), 5. Precise (5), 6. Accept as true (7), 7. Climbing up (6), 8. Frantically (11), 14. Interconnected system (7), 15. Clearly (7), 16. Chicken meat (6), 17. Racket game (6), 19. Consumed (5), 21. Perfect (5).
Solution in the June / July edition of Konect
SUDOKU
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Nicola Welsh with all three of her boys
Nicola Welsh:
“There are no rules for grieving”
“I want to break the taboo around discussing stillbirth and neonatal death, and make it normal to talk about it,” says Nicola Welsh. I’m chatting to Nicola in her kitchen at home in Threemiletown surrounded by all the usual family trappings photos of her boys, birthday balloons, toys and the family dog. But Nicola carries the invisible scars of neonatal bereavement, and she is dedicated to helping other families who have suffered in the same way. She is CEO of Held in our Hearts, a charity providing support and services for bereaved families, and who are rolling out a partnership with Forth Valley NHS to provide baby loss bereavement counselling in the Falkirk area. Nicola and her husband Gary discovered during her second pregnancy that their baby had a serious condition called exomphalos. Theo was born and battled through three weeks and four operations. For three weeks they believed he would pull through. But when he passed away, they were left not only obviously bereft but with no support to help them deal with it. “The hospital was phenomenal in what they did to help Theo,” recalls Nicola, “but once you’ve lost your baby, there is no counselling or obvious supports available via the NHS*. We were left totally alone.” While her peers were going to new mums and babies groups, Nicola was alone with her toddler and what she describes as feelings of “intense, scary and overwhelming grief” and was desperate for professional help. The community midwife had visited for post natal care, and she was lucky to have some good friends, but Nicola was desperate to meet someone who had had the same experience. “Meeting other bereaved parents helps to validate your feelings,” she says. “It’s particularly difficult for parents of stillborn babies as there are no photographs or memories to draw on.” It was nine months until 18 | FALKIRK
Nicola met someone else who had lost a baby, and she finally started to find some validation of her feelings. “You never heal completely,” she says. “That particular train has gone, and it leaves you standing on the platform waiting for the next train which is one of deep sadness. But you can shape where you want it to go by talking about it.” After the birth of her third boy, Oscar, Nicola set about in earnest to create a support group for her local area. It’s been a long journey and a lot of hard work, but today Held in Our Hearts is a charity employing nine people including three counsellors, and a team of volunteers. They are based in Edinburgh and the Lothians, and the new partnership with Forth Valley NHS to work in the Falkirk area is the beginning of what Nicola hopes will be a project providing specialised baby loss counselling all over Scotland to supplement the services of other neonatal bereavement organisations. “Our core strength is in our specialised @KonectMagazines
counselling service,” she says. “Last year we provided 890 one-to-one counselling sessions, besides 575 befriending visits. We work very much on the ground with families, they are at the heart of everything that we do. Everyone’s grief is different, and our support services are individualised to what each person needs.” Held in our Hearts’ services are free and are provided for as long as they are needed. Their specialised expertise means that often other organisations will signpost families to them if their issues are complicated or they need special individualised support. Held in Our Hearts now have a dedicated counselling room in the heart of Falkirk. What advice does Nicola offer for society? “If you know someone who has had a stillborn baby or lost a newborn, don’t be afraid to talk about their baby. Always acknowledge the baby, name them and remember them. When you talk to a bereaved parent they may get upset ...but that’s because you were brave enough to let them know that you remember. I’ve been fortunate in having good friends who still drop me a wee card or a text on Theo’s birthday every year.” Theo would have been 11 this year. Nicola is always happy to talk about him and passionate about helping others on this journey. I was affected by the very deep impact that his brief life still has on the family.
Held in our Hearts work constantly to raise the profile of the charity so that midwives and doctors know to refer people to them. “There are definitely families out there who would benefit from counselling but who don’t know it’s available,” says Nicola. If this article reaches just one bereaved person in Falkirk who needs help, whether their baby left a week ago or decades ago, it will have been well worth it. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO GET IN TOUCH, PLEASE CONTACT: info@heldinourhearts.org.uk or call 0131 622 6263. Website: www.heldinourhearts.org.uk For more of Theo’s story see www.babywelshupdate.blogspot.co.uk Further help and services are also available from Forth Valley SANDS, including group support and befriending. For information please see www.forthvalleysands.org.uk *There is an NHS counselling service but there is a very long waiting list. This article was written by Helen-Jane Shearer after speaking with Nicola Welsh. Helen-Jane is the editor of Konect magazines.
MAIN IMAGE: The Held in our Hearts counselling room in Falkirk
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WALK
: n r o h Blaw
For the serious walker, a boardwalk might be considered a cop out. However, the main point of a boardwalk is to preserve the land beneath while allowing you to walk in the environment and enjoy it.
The other reason boardwalks are so great is that they are an added incentive to persuade children to go for a walk. Mine change their shrill cries of ‘Oh no, not a walk’ to ‘Great, let’s go’ when we mention it might be a boardwalk.
and moss that have been vegetating for 8000 years!
The 110 hectare site is owned by Scottish Natural Heritage and they are keen for people to visit this internationally recognised reserve. It is one of the largest and best examples of lowland raised peat bogs in the Lothians and is a Blawhorn Moss, near National Nature Reserve Blackridge, is one such (NNR). Bog habitat is still boardwalk. The wooden under threat nationally pathways now winding almost 94% of the UK’s around this ancient habitat not only preserve the habitat, lowland raised bog habitat has been lost since the end they keep the visitor safe of the 19th century. Large too – if you stray off them areas of these deep peat you might just find yourself deposits were dug out for waist-deep in layers of soil 20 | FALKIRK
fuel, drained for farming or planted for forestry.
The bog, which has over eight thousand years of moss growth, is a survivor of a huge area of peat which once covered the entire area of central Scotland. Flora is many and varied with a carpet of sphagnum moss, heather, cotton grass, crowberry, hair moss and even the insect-eating round leaved sundew – which has been known to eat even dragonflies. That little nugget of information could certainly intrigue a child and keep their interest in the outdoors! @KonectMagazines
CREDIT: Photo by GeoJuice on Flick
r
On the Boardwalk
global warming. Blawhorn is one of the best examples in central Scotland.
For the budding ornithologist, many different birds visit the moss at different times of year including the red grouse, snipe, curlew, redshank, teal, skylark, hen harrier and short eared owl. Butterflies and dragonflies are also regularly seen at the reserve as are frogs and toads. With all the talk of bog, you might wonder why it is such a great place for a walk. In the past bogs were simply considered only suitable for cutting the peat or for draining, but that has all changed. A walk across the bog affords a real close encounter with nature as well as some fabulous views. Bogs also act as a carbon sink, trapping carbon dioxide and helping combat
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Perhaps the best time to visit the bog in terms of wildlife is from April to July but you will always find something of interest at any time of year.
THE NAME Blawhorn is said to come from the days when the local village of Blackridge was a midway coaching station between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Blawhorn was used as a viewing point for watching coaches approaching, when a horn would be blown to signal to the coaching inn down the hill at Blackridge, hence the name ‘Blow Horn’.
This is a short walk – the round trip from car park is about two kilometres with the board walk itself about 700m and a gentle to moderate slope from car park to Reserve entrance. The path and the boardwalk is accessible to all. If you fancy a longer walk, you can start with Blawhorn and the reserve then links into the local path network.
BLAWHORN MOSS has changed little over the last 8000 years. Thick, black peat slowly formed from the squashed remains of dead plants, especially sphagnum mosses which retain rainwater like a sponge. In places the peat is now deep enough to bury two double decker buses. As dead plants sink and new shoots grow, the peat is still growing, though only at the rate of a millimetre a year
Blawhorn can be found northwest of the village of Blackridge, four miles west of Armadale. It is around 25 minutes drive from Linlithgow, the car park is clearly signposted and is open 8am to 9pm (summer) and 8am to 6pm (winter). There are very limited facilities in Blackridge itself, but plenty of cafés in Armadale.
This article was written by Karen Murray, with supplementary information taken from a leaflet on Blawhorn published by Scottish Natural Heritage. Strathallan House, Castle Business Park, Stirling FK9 4TZ. Tel: 01786 450362.
www.nature.scot/visit-blawhorn -moss-national-nature-reserve
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