The Anster Community Development Project was established in 2021 with the help of a three-year grant from The National Lottery Community Fund. In May 2024 we were delighted to receive confirmation of a further three-year grant from the Fund to continue the project.
The project has enabled our member-led SCIO to build on our strong history of working to improve the Anstruther, Kilrenny and Cellardyke communities over the last 70 years. It provides opportunities for local people to take action, strengthen connections and joint working, build on our community assets and develop new skills and friendships through volunteering.
This community development initiative was a step change for our member-led charity. Anster Community Development Project is managed by our trustees with the support of our first member of staff, Julia Priestley. As a locally-based Community Development Worker, Julia is driving forward the AIA’s strategy to meet the needs of Anstruther’s community, working in partnership with the many other dynamic local groups. Julia is a local resident with a young family and has a background in community development initiatives in arts and wellbeing, inclusion, mental health, community engagement and working with young people.
AIA Community Development Worker
Anster Community Development Project also supports social, cultural and educational events and activities in the recently refurbished Dreel Halls building.
The ACDP sets out four key outcomes:
- People feel more connected to each other and to a sustainable, resilient community
- People feel supported to take action and make things happen
- People have more opportunities for volunteering and feel supported to do so
- People improve their quality of life, therefore experience greater wellbeing.
This project has been an exciting development for the AIA, allowing us to expand rapidly our proprietary programming and support new community-led initiatives, helping members of our community to re-connect with each other after the challenges of the past few years. In 2023 we carried out a community engagement survey to find out what the community thought of our project and how we can better shape it to our community’s needs. The results can be found here.
If you have an idea you would like to share, would like support to make things happen or just want to get involved in our project, we would love to hear from you!
Please email Julia: julia@anstrutherimprovements.org or DM our Facebook
“Building a thriving and resilient community, improving Anstruther for all”.
