Category: News

Assist you with dealing with your stress and anxiety, giving you tools that enable you to be able to face / deal with things ie breathing techniques, music, and games.

https://sam-app.org.uk/

Assists you understand and manage your own anxiety – giving techniques and ways of incorporating things into your day, or when you need it

http://moodmission.com/

An app to assist you when your mood is low

Online and phone support

Breathing space

https://breathingspace.scot/

Online information,

Some capacity for web-chat,

0800 83 85 87 (M-Th 6pm – 2pm, F-M 6pm – 6am)

Saneline

www.sane.org.uk

Online support

Reduced phone service – leave a message on 07984 967 708 with name and phone number and someone will return your call asap

Samaritans

www.samaritans.org

Some information on line or facility to email, 24 hour helpline 116 123

Older People Specific

Age Scotland

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland/

Information available on their website

0800 12 44 222 (M-F 9am – 5pm)

Silverline (an arm of Age Scotland)

Telephone Friendship

Sign up and you will receive a weekly telephone call; enabling relationships to be built up between the Silverline volunteer and the person receiving the weekly call.

0800 4 70 80 90 (24 hour line – to speak to someone straight away)

Independent Age

https://www.independentage.org/

Information and can set up a regular phone befriender too.

0800 319 6789 (8:30am – 6:30pm)

Alzheimers Scotland

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

Lots of information on website for you, your family and friends. An online community.

0333 150 3456 (M-W 9am-8pm, Th,F 9am-5pm, S,S 10am-4pm)

Bereavement and Loss

NHS Grief Support Site for Scotland

https://www.sad.scot.nhs.uk/

Cruse Bereavement Care

https://www.cruse.org.uk/

Information and advice

0808 808 1677 (mon and fri 9:30 – 5, Tue, Wed, Thur 9:30 – 8pm)

Curly Star Dream Foundation

Local support organisation in fife

www.curlystar.org

07716 018785 (24 hours)

Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide

Home

Information and normally local groups, plus some on line support

0300 111 5065 (9am – 9pm 7 days during Covid 19)

The Compassionate Friends

https://www.tcf.org.uk/

Support, information, on line resources

0345 123 2304 (7 days 10am – 4pm, 7pm – 10pm)

Can I help Cath Carter Parish Nurse for the Elderly – you can phone me on my mobile (07792 941783) if I don’t answer leave a message and I will get back to you. I am happy to chat and signpost about anything, with a wide range of nursing and listening experience, or have some great volunteers who love talking too, if you are lonely and need a friend. Anyone that knows me will tell you I can talk to anyone, and just love hearing people’s stories so don’t be alone, and have ideas that may help you if you are struggling at this time. Yes we cannot get together just know but imagine the new friends we can make at this time and imagine what we each look like then have the ‘surprise’ when we put a face to the voice we have got to know!

News Resources

Support finding work

Post author By admin
Post date May 13, 2020

If you or someone you know is looking for help finding a job, or preparing for interviews then BRAG enterprises can help with free courses.

In the current climate they’ve moved all their courses online, and can provide help over email, phone or video calls. Find full details on their website!

News Resources Staying Safe Wellbeing

Help dealing with an abusive relationship

Post author By admin
Post date May 12, 2020

This time is stressful and difficult for everyone, but if you are dealing with domestic abuse a confined situation can make things even worse . You are never alone, and there are always people who can help.

You may also find the Safe Lives guide to how to stay safe during COVID-19 useful, as it guides you through how to develop your own action plan for dealing with an abusive relationship in these difficult circumstances:

Emergencies

If you are in urgent or immediate danger always call 999 and ask for the Police. If you can’t talk then use the ‘Silent Solution’ to communicate. You can find details of that here.

Fife Women’s Aid

0808 802 5555 (24 hour)

www.fifewomensaid.org.uk

Men’s Domestic Abuse Advice Line

0808 801 0327 (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm)

Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriages

0800 027 1234 (24 hours)

Adult Protection

01383 602200

www.fifedirect.org.uk/adultprotection

Action on Elder Abuse (Hourglass)

0808 8088141 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm)

https://wearehourglass.scot/scotland

Child Protection

03451 551503

www.fifechildprotection.org.uk

Child Line

0808 800 5000 (Monday to Friday, 8am – 10pm; Saturday-Sunday 9am – 6pm)

www.nspcc.org.uk

0800 1111 (for children and young people to phone for free without it showing up on a phone bill)

Rape Crisis National Helpline

08088 01 03 02 (6pm-midnight)

www.rapcrisisscotland.org.uk

Fife Rape and Sexual Assault Centre

01592 642336 (Monday to Thursday 9am – 4pm, Friday 9am – midday)

www.frasac.org.uk

Self Harm (age 18+)

01383 747 788

www.penumbra.org.uk

News Resources

Details of Church Services during lockdown

Post author By admin
Post date April 28, 2020

Looking to find out what online and streamed church services are available during the current restrictions?

Here’s our handy guide.

News Resources Shopping

Morrisons St Andrews new doorstep policy

Post author By admin
Post date April 13, 2020

Morrisons have published the details of their ‘Doorstep Delivery’ scheme, which allows vulnerable and isolating people to order common food staples and get delivery to their doorstep in 24 hours, with contactless payment.

Not all foods or supplies are included as it’s designed to provide easy access to core supplies for as many people as possible. The contact number and details are shown on the flyer below.

Children News Resources

Easter activities for wee ones : Citizen Science

Post author By admin
Post date April 10, 2020

Citizen science is a great way to contribute to scientific discovery while also getting outside, and is lockdown- and little one- friendly! Volunteers with simple tools (usually an identification sheet provided on the website for each project, a notebook, and a pen) help scientists understand what species of plants and animals are present when all through the UK. St. Andrews is also a great location, because many citizen science projects take place on beaches or along the coast, and we have miles of beautiful coastline to enjoy and record! Some particularly St. Andrews-friendly projects include:

The Great Nurdle Hunt:

Wait, what? Nurdles are the little plastic pellets used in the manufacture of plastic products, and increasingly, they are escaping factories and ending up on the UK’s beaches. The Great Nurdle Hunt encourages people to go to a beach, choose a location on the beach and an amount of time, and record how many nurdles they find. Their website provides a nurdle Identification guide and an online form to submit how long you searched, where on the beach you searched, how many people were with you, and how many nurdles you found. Have no fear — a finding of zero nurdles is still helpful! So if you go out to East Sands on a particularly clear day and find zero nurdles, The Great Nurdle Hunt still wants to know!

The Great Nurdle Hunt doesn’t encourage the collecting of nurdles, as they can absorb pollutants from the ocean. So this citizen science project is an eyeballs-only operation!

If you want to take part, their website is here.

The Big Seaweed Search

This one is a great project to do with wee ones, because no matter which beach you choose or when you go, there will be seaweed. It does require a tiny bit more prep, though. On The Big Seaweed Search website, under How to Take Part, there is a Big Seaweed Search guide that you’ll want to either print out or have on your phone for identification purposes. From there, go down to a beach, pick a plot to survey (a five-meter wide strip running from the shore to the sea), and take a picture of your plot. Then get counting! Once you’re done, your results can be submitted on the same site.

red bird Robin sitting on tree in Park tree

BirdTrack

For the citizen scientists out there with a little experience identifying birds, or anyone willing to spend some time with an identification sheet, BirdTrack is a collaboration between the British Trust for Ornithology, the RSPB, and several other bird-minded organizations. Head out to a site, record what species you see, and when you come back, make an account and input a little information about yourself, the location you were birdwatching, and what birds you saw. As a bonus, your findings will be saved to your account, so if you decide to go birdwatching again, you’ll be able to compare them with what you see the next time!

Have fun science-ing!

Jane Yarnell is a first-year Sustainable Development student at St. Andrews. She is originally from California, and chose St. Andrews in part because she wanted to keep living near the ocean. Her goal for this lockdown is to get better at drawing watercolor portraits and maybe reach the end of West Sands Beach someday.

News Resources Shopping

The Safe Guide to Shopping for Others

Post author By admin
Post date April 8, 2020

If you’re offering to help others with their shopping then it can be tricky to know how to do it – particularly when physical contact is limited, exchanging money is involved and when you may be dealing with someone who is vulnerable.

We’ve pulled together a handy guide to help keep you volunteer safely, and support your community.

Read our safe guide to shopping for others

News Resources

How to use Apple’s FaceTime to keep in touch with friends and relatives

Post author By admin
Post date April 2, 2020

This short guide shows how to use an iPad to make a FaceTime call to a friend or relative who also has an Apple phone or iPad. It’s a great way to keep in touch when you can’t leave the house!

Download the guide here

Tags Technology

Gardening News Resources

Don’t Have a Garden? You Might Still Be Able to Grow Your Own

Post author By admin
Post date March 31, 2020

If you do not have a garden, or any outside space, you might think that growing your own food is out of the question. But all you need is a sunny windowsill to get growing. Of course, you won’t be able to become self-sufficient. But you can add to your diet, learn and have fun. If you get things right, even without outside space, you can grow a surprising amount of food.

Choose the Right Place to Grow Food Indoors

Successful indoors gardens are those which have been planned carefully. As with outdoors growing, it is important to think about patterns of sunlight, temperature, air flow and human movement when planning what to grow and where.

Most of the things you will want to grow will do best in a light and bright location – but not somewhere they will be in direct sunlight all day long. Try to choose a location for indoors growing that is not too close to a radiator, oven or stove, where temperatures will alter dramatically and more quickly over time. A spot where you can create a little natural ventilation (by opening windows on sunny days to create a through-breeze) is ideal.

Think about placing plants where you can water and tend them easily. Don’t place containers etc. where they will get in the way of other activities inside your home.

Make the Most of Your Space

At its most basic, growing your own indoors can simply be placing a few seeds in toilet roll tubes or other DIY containers on your windowsills. Or populating a simple window box with edible plants.

But if you really want to grow as much food as possible, you can get more inventive and really make the most of your space.

You can:

Employ ‘vertical gardening’ techniques and use shelving, planting towers, trellis or other support etc. to cram in as much growing space as possible. By thinking about vertical space as well as horizontal space, you can get creative and grow far more food in smaller spaces.

Hanging containers can also help you make use of additional space.

Set Up Systems Right Away – Think Long Term

One of the mistakes people make when planning an indoors garden is failing to think long term. An initial rush of enthusiasm can become disillusionment when people have trouble maintaining watering, fertility etc. long term.

Set up the following systems right away and it will be far easier to manage an indoors container garden over time:

A home composting system. This will provide compost for making potting mix, and can also give a liquid compost tea to fertilize plants in pots later in the year.
Rainwater harvesting. If you can, consider adding a rainwater butt or other container to the down pipe from the guttering on your roof. Even in a rented home or a flat, you might be able to simply hang a container outside a window to collect small amounts of rainfall to water indoors plants.

Make the Most of Your Resources

You don’t need to spend much money to get growing. A major part of the challenge is making the most of the resources already at your disposal.

Heading out on a walk in your local area, you might be able to collect natural resources to use in home growing, such as:

Fallen branches and sticks (for plant supports and other structures).
Fallen leaves (for compost/ mulches).
Weeds (to make a liquid plant feed, or even to supplement your home grown diet).

You may also already have access to things you need right there inside your own home. For example:

Food packaging and other old items to use as pots and containers.
Food scraps, cardboard etc. for composting.

Another thing to consider is that you might be able to regrow vegetables from scraps. Or even save some of your own seeds from food you buy for planting.

What to Grow

There are plenty of things that you can grow indoors. In fact, most common vegetables and fruits can be grown in the right containers. Leafy greens and culinary herbs are great things to start with. For a small container garden, it can be particularly helpful to embrace micro-greens & sprouts. (Space saving planting is ideal for small spaces). But once you get started, you will find that you are less limited than you might imagine in what you can grow.

Elizabeth Waddington is a freelance writer, permaculture designer and sustainability consultant. She graduated from St Andrews back in 2003. She has her own garden where she grows fruits and vegetables and keeps rescue chickens, and also helps others with their gardens and farms all over the world. She works with individuals, businesses and charities to create better systems for a better world.

Children News Resources

Facebook Forum Connects North East Fife Young Families

Post author By admin
Post date March 28, 2020

Young families across North East Fife have joined together to support one another through this period of social distancing, home schooling and more thanks to an online forum set up by a local mum-of-two.
Cicely Threlfall founded the group, Bairns & Blether – North East Fife Family Support Network, on Facebook, initially as a space for her immediate network of fellow parents to chat, meet and arrange “virtual coffees” while the usual baby and child activities are on hold due to Covid 19.

The group has seen unprecedented growth since its foundation just last week, and has quickly become the go-to place for parents and carers of children of all ages living in and around North East Fife.
Members are using the group to share ideas for keeping children entertained at home, from chalk drawing on the driveway to cooking and baking indoors, as well as tips and videos to help with home schooling. They can share anxieties and concerns, ask for advice, or simply touch base with others in a similar situation.

As the group continues to grow, the plan is for members to host “virtual coffees”, giving mums, dads and carers an opportunity to have a blether and a hot drink from home via video call. The first such call connected six local mums with young babies, who will miss out on that all-important socialisation during the early weeks and months.
Members are looking forward to many more successful online meet-ups, as well as gatherings in person once the current restrictions are lifted.

Join Bairns & Blether – North East Fife Family Support Network on Facebook – all parents and carers welcome.