The group met for the last Plan P session on 18 January, however this is just the beginning for the ‘St Monans Abercrombie Community Group’!

We discussed the group’s activities since our last meeting in October, we then reflected on the experience of being involved with this project over the past year. Charlie from the Scottish Fishing Museum called in to share his work and we spent some time thinking about plans for the future. We recognised that this year is just a start for the group to move on to greater things!

Café Connect
Café Connect is now being held once each month on a Tuesday afternoon. The group will book the time in the lounge diary, to make sure it is always available. The new time is proving popular as the  hotel (next door)  is shut on a Tuesday, so people looking for some company or a coffee in the afternoon can visit Café Connect instead. Cafés have been well attended with new visitors from the village coming along.
Roddy suggested circulating flyers for the café and Vivien suggested putting a notice in the ‘Loaves and fishes’. The group hopes to encourage people to come along for advice about using technology e.g. ipads or laptops, as well having people (Eileen, Roddy or Peter) around who can help those who would like to access the internet.

Crafts/baking
Sandra and Margaret continue to create new craft items for sale, they are currently exploring the art of ‘felting’. Successful stalls were set up at Christmas fairs in St Monans and Pittenweem. Peter, Roddy and Sandra have produced a business card to help publicise their activities and crafts.

 

Inkwell celebration
In November we held a celebration lunch for all those involved in Inkwell. Rita and Helen from Bield, organised for the four ladies from Elie to join us at the Mayview Puffin Lounge and we enjoyed a glass of bubbly (or an orange juice!) and a sandwich lunch. The portraits were on display and Alan read out his story. Everyone who had been involved was given their own framed portrait to keep. We all thanked Andy for his hard working in making the portraits, everyone who helped to set up the project and all those who agreed to tell their stories and have their portrait created.

Website
Roddy has purchased the website Abercrombiecourt.com. Eileen showed us the front page she has designed and explained how different links and pages could be added. St Monans.org is an existing website with pages for local news and community council minutes, although that website is still being developed we wanted to be sure that the Abercrombie website didn’t duplicate content, rather we could add a link to the St Monans website.

Community Involvement
The group planned to attend the Community Council on the evening of the meeting. In particular there was interest in the vacant property at Station Road being a possible venue for activities, including: the café; other community group meetings; running classes; selling photographs, art and craft work, cards etc.
The Community Council were also interested in the property as a new venue for the heritage centre, however this would require negotiation with  Fife Council. Through support from Fife Voluntary Action (FVA) Community Development team, the group learned about the Community Empowerment Act and the associated rights of community members to be supported to buy and maintain local land or property for the benefit of the community. Roddy was able to pass on this information to the Community Council, who then contacted FVA for further support. This has helped the group to be recognised as an asset to the community and a powerful ally.

The FVA Community Development team is also going to support the group to become a constituted group – the ‘St Monans Abercrombie Community Group’.

Scottish Fishing Museum
Charlie Trzeciak from the Scottish Fishing Museum at Anstruther called in to the meeting in the afternoon. Charlie showed some of the photographs from the collection, and some unusual objects, asking the group to work out the purpose of each item. We enjoyed looking at the resources and some of the group were able to comment on the venues photographed and remembered relatives who and worked in local industries. Charlie told the group about activities that will be happening at the museum and described opportunities to become involved as a volunteer with the museums work.

Reflections
We used a set of cards with questions to reflect on experiences of being involved in this project. Each person picked a card in turn and answered the question. Sometimes others added their thoughts. Below are the questions and the answers:

What have you learned?
“That I’ve still got a role to play even though I’m retired – All these skills that I spent years honing, I thought they were gone, but I’ve found that I can still be functional’

What hindered progress?
“Some people didn’t want to come out, it was difficult to make contact with local older people”
“Waiting such a long time to get wifi installed”
“Some resistance to change, seen as ‘bringing outsiders in’
“Lounge is too small”

What advice would you give others?
“Everyone has something to bring to the table – even if they don’t know what”
“Respect everyone’s diverse knowledge – agree on the shared aims”
“Stick with it”
“Remember that learning goes on all through your life”

What did you not enjoy?
“Sitting listening”
“When it ended!”
At the first meeting people were confused by the many pieces of flip chart paper on the wall. Afterwards they said ‘what was that all about?’
“Perhaps needed more time to build trust at the start”

“At the second meeting things got better and it was clearer why we were there”

What has changed?
“We’ve all changed”
“We’re more confident”
“We’re not so frightened to step on toes”
“We have the confidence to start engaging with others”

What helped?
“Listening to other people’s experiences”
“Learning from our mistakes”
“Humour- helps people to feel relaxed and open up”
“Money – helped, but people were keen to be involved anyway”

The money was not taken by individuals but has been saved in a separate account, this might be used as a deposit to secure new premises or to seek additional funding – good to have a starting pot

What surprised you?

“All the different people coming in”
“I thought I might be bored but I’ve enjoyed it”

What have we achieved?
“We know what we’re talking about now”
“The group has formed and gelled”
“We can work well together – although people come from different backgrounds”
“We have grown our ideas”
“We are recognised in the wider community”
“We have changed perceptions – now seen as a resource”

What did you enjoy?
“Seeing the group change and emerge”
“Building confidence”
“Inkwell – reminding everyone about how older people have interesting stories to tell”

Next steps
At the end of the meeting we discussed the  Action Plan 2016 for the group including: ‘what we bring’; ‘who we work with’; ‘what we do’; and ‘what we want to happen’. The sections completed in Jan 2016 were included and  the ‘what we want to happen’ section read:

Regular social activities
Sustainable (lasting) change
Create space(s) where people can get together
We will work through a finding out stage ands then plan the next stage

So we were delighted to agree that we had been successful in meeting these outcomes!
The new plan has space for the group to add new ideas and activities to help plan for the future.

Congratulations to you all for your hard work over the year. It has been inspiring to see the group emerging and the energy and new ideas that each of you bring. It’s especially exciting to end this project at the very start of new ventures for the St Monans Abercrombie Community Group.

I wish you all good things for the future – keep up the good work!

Very best wishes

Vivien

The group met in October and decided to rename the monthly coffee morning (now in the afternoon) Café Connect @ Abercrombie Court.  This  reflects two aims: (1) that people will make connections with each other and (2) that we can support people who would like help to access the internet and use technology. Thanks to Roddy, we now own the domain name abercrombiecourt.com. and Eileen will look at developing content for the website.

The first Café Connect was held on 26 October.  On the same day Gerry Goldie from Fife Social Work had arranged two drop-in community mapping sessions in St Monans. Members of the group attended the session and were able to make sure that the group activities were ‘on the map’. The Inkwell portraits were also displayed at the mapping session.

Having run a successful stall at the Arts festival in September, the group were offered (rather than having to ask for)  a stall at the local Christmas Fair at the end of November. A group member reflected:

‘It’s like we used to be just ‘the pensioners at Abercrombie Court’ but now we’re really part of the community’.

We held an informal celebration for those involved in Inkwell on Thursday 19^th November at the Mayview Hotel St Monans. Around 25 people attended, we had a sandwich lunch and displayed the portraits. Rita and Helen from Bield helped to organise transport for the ladies from Elie to come along. The lunch gave people the opportunity to share and reflect on all of their stories.

 

Although the group will carry on developing all their ideas, the last meeting related to Plan P, was due to take place on 4 December. Unfortunately due to travel restrictions caused by the Forth Road Bridge closure, the final meeting has been delayed until 18 January 2016. This will be a chance for everyone to discuss their experiences of being part of this project and to plan future activities.

As part of the St Monans Community Arts Festival on 12th and 13th September 2015, a portrait exhibition celebrated older people from the local community.

The Inkwell exhibition included portraits, each with a short story. The project aimed, in artist Andy Archer’s words, ‘to remind all generations that older people are treasure troves of adventure and knowledge’.

The portraits were created by Andy, with the help of the Abercrombie Court, Plan P group, who asked local people if they would be willing to take part. There are portraits of some Bield Housing tenants from nearby Elie, as well as some well-known characters from St Monans. For each person, a group member and Andy visited or met with them, to take some pictures and have a chat about their life.

Fascinating stories emerged, about past local traditions, world travel and interesting experiences, only a brief snippet of each person’s story is shown in their portrait. People enjoyed being involved, in some cases it sparked conversations with family and friends about memories that had been almost forgotten.

Many local people saw the portraits at the Arts Festival. We left a comments book for visitors to let us know what they thought. Here are some of the comments:

‘fantastic, original idea for capturing precious stories’

‘brilliant original idea – excellent!’

‘lovely summaries of great, ordinary folk’

‘really interesting to read people’s journeys through life’

This work was done as part of Plan P, exploring ways to promote connections and prevent isolation for older people. We know that the most effective approaches are those that involve older people themselves in planning and delivering activities. A fundamental principle is: ‘do with’ rather than ‘do for’. This recognises older people as assets. They bring many resources: experience, time, care, sense of humour, local knowledge and social and family networks. In addition, when older people become involved in supporting their community, they are also building their own networks and resilience.

The Inkwell portraits show some of the assets that local older people contribute. Their memories can enrich the whole community. Building a stronger sense of connection helps build resilience and having a strong network of supportive connections can protect against loneliness and isolation at any age.

So what next for Inkwell? The Abercrombie Group, would like a book of portraits! We plan to hold a celebration event for everyone involved and we hope that other community groups might be interested in using the portraits. We also want to inspire others to think about ways of bringing people together to share memories or experiences and show how much community members are valued.

You can see the portraits at this link  IRISS Inkwell

If you have any comments about Plan P or Inkwell, or want to know more, we’d love to hear from you, please get in touch.

The St Monans Art Festival is happening this weekend (12th and 13th September)

The Plan P group are showing and selling their handicrafts and framed photographs in the Church Hall.

The Inkwell exhibition will be in the Town Hall.  The group helped artist Andy Archer to find local people who would be willing to have their portrait painted.

Andy says, ‘The project intends to remind all generations that older people are treasure troves of adventure, history and knowledge.’

Here’s the portrait of Alan, one of the group members

Alan’s portrait will be on show along with nine others, each with an interesting story to tell.

All events are free, we hope lots of people will come along!

 

 

 

The Plan P group met on 24th July and the 4th of September.

At our July meeting we discussed ways that we could reach out to the the local community.  We wanted to encourage people to come to our coffee mornings and we discussed other activities that might be of interest.

Peter had borrowed 2  Loan boxes from Fife museums. One box was themed ’50s/60s’ and the other ‘Night out’. The contents sparked off some interesting chats about music, clothes and activities. We wondered if the boxes could be a focus to bring people together for a discussion and decided to try it out at the next coffee morning.

We then discussed the DVDs featuring local history, Alan used the projector to show us a few minutes of one of the DVDs. This may be something that local people would enjoy seeing and chatting about. This is an idea we might explore in the future.

Inkwell

Andy and Rita visited some of the people in Elie who were having their portraits created for the Inkwell exhibition at the St Monans Art Festival.

Andy also showed us the portrait he has made of Alan.

And here’s the real Alan

 

The group agreed to find some more local people to have their portraits created. Andy agreed to visit again before the next meeting.

Sam from Bield Housing joined us in the afternoon we discussed some other ideas for projects that would allow the group to gain more skills, as well as those that would reach out out to others in the community.

By the time we met again, the group had organised for Andy to meet four more men. Andy brought the ten completed portraits on the 4th September and spent time showing each person their portrait and making sure that everyone was happy to share their story.

We plan to hold a celebration event later in the year, for all those involved in the Inkwell exhibition. We would make sure that everyone was able to attend and bring along a friend or family member.

Internet Café and classes

At the September meeting the group agreed that  although some new contacts had been made through Fife Elderly Forum, not as many as hoped had come along to the coffee mornings. Therefore they decided to change the time from morning to the afternoon, to see this time might suit people better.

After discussing the possibility of having wifi installed in the Lounge, the group thought that a positive direction for the new coffee afternoons, would be to offer free wifi and support for people use the internet. Of course, others may still want to come along just for a cup of tea and a chat. The village is currently having superfast broadband connected, so we thought this might be a good time to encourage people to start using it.

The group also decided that they would like to run some basic classes for residents and also other community members. This idea was popular with people who attended the coffee morning. Eileen would be able to provide the classes. As well as basic classes, people might want to explore using photographs or researching family history.

Eileen, Peter and Roddy are making up a more detailed plan of what the group might need to make the ideas for an ‘internet café’ and computer classes happen. They will discuss these idea with Sam.

Our next meeting will be on 16th October

Our group met again on 12th June, at Abercrombie Court. Andy Archer from IRISS joined us and took photos of some of the group and the garden.

Today we discussed what has happened since our last meeting  and what we want to do next.

We also looked back and updated a profile for each of us, with 2 sections:  ‘Why I am here’ and ‘What I bring’. The profiles showed a whole range of talents, skills and enthusiasm. We will be able to use this later in the project to look back at what we expected and what we have achieved. Below is a summary

Since our last meeting

Coffee Morning

Another successful coffee morning was held in Abercrombie Court Lounge on 25th May. Other tenants came along as well as some neighbours from the village. The group were able to speak to some visitors, who were keen that the coffee mornings continue. There was also some discussion about the Inkwell  portrait exhibition planned for the Arts Festival in September.

We have advertised our next coffee morning on 22 June in the local newsletter ‘The loaves and fishes’. Again posters will be displayed around the village.  Margaret, Sandra and Eileen are encouraging other tenants to become involved.

Through Wayne’s contacts at Fife Elderly Forum, we have been in touch with other local initiatives supporting older people. These links  may help us reach some people who have fewer social connections within the community.

St Andrew’s library loan boxes
Peter has arranged to borrow 2 ‘loan boxes’ for the group to look at our next meeting. One box is titled ‘50’s/60’s’ and the other is ‘Night out’ each with memory items to be discussed.

We decided that it would be difficult to set up the discussion at the monthly coffee morning, so we will try an afternoon session using the boxes. Dates to be decided and flyer/invitation designed at next meeting.

Generations Working Together (GWT)
Wayne had forwarded an email about GWT, Fife group. Their next meeting is in September, we will aim to liaise with this group.
Arts Festival
For the St Monans Arts Festival in September, we have agreed that Roddy’s photos will be displayed in the Town hall. Handicrafts will be displayed in the Church Hall and the Inkwell exhibition will be in the Town Hall.

Andy and the group discussed the Inkwell idea. The exhibition in September, would be a starting point,  aiming to celebrate local older people and help make new connections. After the exhibition, we could build on the portrait idea, for example involving young people or a group having a go at making portraits of each other.

Rita will speak to some Bield tenants about being part of the exhibition. Rita would be able to go along with Andy to meet people and begin work on the portraits. Other group members will speak to people at the coffee morning or in the village to identify people who might like to be involved.

Alan ‘volunteered’ to have his portrait done, Andy took some photos and will make up a portrait. We all look forward to seeing Alan’s portrait!

 

Community Café
Roddy had noticed that the premises previously operating as a community café were again advertised as ‘to let’. We discussed the possibility of a community café, emerging from the work of this group. Roddy will make enquiries about the lease.

Transport
We again discussed the issue of transport as we recognised that this might be a barrier for people taking part in activities. Possible options are RVS, who are available on request but can be expensive. ‘Continuing Care’ at Kingsbarns can also provide transport, but charge by the mile, including miles from Kingsbarns. For those with visual impairment the ‘Lady Skiffington Trust’ provides free transport. ‘Go-flexi’ and ‘Dial-a-ride’ are other providers that can be used for shopping.

Other Ideas
Rita described some work that was previously planned with Abercrombie Court residents and the Byre Youth Theatre, this involved an event where Bield tenants shared their stories. The work was not completed but could link with the Inkwell portraits or with other intergenerational strands of work. Rita will discuss informally with the Byre Theatre and feedback on possible links for our group.

On Saturday 13 June, was the annual St Monans Sea Queen Festival. The group ran a stall, displaying their art work and crafts. It stayed dry for most of the day and this was also an opportunity to make connections in the community. The Sea Queen was reported in the  Fife Courier,  including a photo of our own Peter, Margaret and Roddy!  Here’s a link to the story.  http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/picture-gallery-st-monans-sees-new-sea-queen-crowned-1.884162

We agreed a list of actions before our next meeting, which will be on Friday 24 July.

On Friday 1st May,  the Abercrombie Court group met for the third time.
We started by setting out what we hoped to achieve during this session. We planned to feedback on activities since our last meeting. We also wanted to agree our next steps including the group’s contribution to the St Monans Art Festival in September.

New to the group

It was great to welcome two new faces to the group. Wayne Mathieson is a Local Area Co-ordinator with Fife Elderly Forum (FEF). Along with his colleague, Shirley Heeps, he is keen to support the group. They have great local contacts and a good understanding of ‘how things work’.

Wayne pointed out that there is a lot of interest in the kind of work this group is doing, in particular, where community groups come together and develop their own ideas. There should be many opportunities for us to share what we have learned to help other people do similar kinds of projects.

FEF are developing a directory of local resources so this will link well with our mapping activities. Much of their work involves supporting older people to access services and support and to build up friendships and social connections. Importantly, they work with individuals on their own terms. Wayne and Shirley may also be able to help us contact harder to reach older people in St Monans.

Also attending for the first time was Eileen Montador. Eileen is a retired Educational Librarian and 4th generation St Monans resident. She has written a book on local history and is currently researching another. Eileen heard about the group through Peter’s inquiries at the local Library, and would like to be involved.

Eileen described the work that was done previously to produce DVDs featuring local people’s stories. We considered how we could use a similar approach to bring people together, to watch the DVDs and/or tell their own stories. The group discussed the possibility of showing the film using Alan’s projector and inviting people to attend.

Since the last meeting

We fed back on what has happened in relation to the three ideas we identified at the last meeting.

1. Coffee Morning
The coffee morning on 20 April was well attended. Sandra and Margaret put posters all over the village and people also heard through word of mouth and at the church service. Most of the Abercrombie Court tenants came along and around six others. Sandra and Margaret baked, and made and served the teas and coffees, meaning they had less time to speak to people. At the next café, on 25th May, Sandra and Margaret will need more help so that there can be more of a focus on speaking to those who come along.

2. Historical Society
Peter had made some inquiries at the Library and found out about the previous work on reminiscence and historical discussions, this led to the contact with Eileen. Peter also found out that St Andrews Museum has ‘memory boxes’ that they can lend out to discussion groups.

Peter suggested that this could be a focus for one or more, of the coffee mornings. We could serve teas and coffees and then have a discussion around the contents of the box. It was felt that this might make it easier for people who don’t feel part of a group, to come along and join in. It may also be more appealing to men, who might not be keen on coffee mornings.

The group agreed that this was a great idea. Peter will contact St Andrews Museum to find out more, with the possibility of getting a box delivered for us to see at the next meeting and to include a discussion at the June coffee morning event.

3. Film Club

It was felt that the resources of the group should focus on developing one regular event, the coffee morning, for the moment. The group discussed the possibility of using the projection equipment to show the local history DVD. We may return to this idea.

Arts Festival
We have an opportunity to contribute to the St Monans Art Festival in September. Vivien suggested the possibility of working with Andy Archer from IRISS to create a series of portraits of local older people. Each portrait would include a short story from the person’s life. Andy’s project is called ‘Inkwell’. Vivien brought some examples of what the portraits might look like.

The group liked the idea and decided to use the next coffee morning to begin to look for people who might like to have their portrait included in the exhibition. Vivien will invite Andy to the next meeting on 12th June, to meet the group and possibly begin to collect materials for the portraits.

Vivien will confirm with the Arts Festival Co-ordinator, where the exhibition will be displayed. Wayne suggested that the local press might be interested in the Inkwell exhibition.

Roddy has photographs on display in the Lounge and Sandra and Margaret have handicrafts that could also be exhibited at the Festival.

Intergenerational Quiz

This is being organised across Scotland, by Generations Working Together (GWT). Local quiz teams made up of older people and young people (P7 pupils) take part in several rounds, until a national final decides the winner. It aims to be educational and to break down barriers between the generations. Wayne was also aware of this work and suggested that there is a local group in Fife, that we could make contact with. The group liked this idea but it may involve quite a bit of organisation. Vivien will contact the local Fife group and feed back at the next meeting.

Other Ideas

After discussing how to involve different generations and build community connections, the group decided to follow up with a local meeting of young mothers at the primary school. This group meets every week, so Margaret and Sandra agreed to call in and see if there are ways our two groups can support each other.

The group also considered other activities that could be part of the coffee morning or separate events. These included: flower arranging, crafts, book club, IT skills, photography and meditation.

We discussed the issue of mobility and how we can include people who find walking difficult or who have no transport. We know that community transport may be difficult to access and we would be reluctant to offer transport for people in case we were not able to meet the demand. Informal arrangements can work where people bring a neighbour, relative or friend. This may need to be where we start but we can revisit this issue.

Actions before the next meeting

We set ourselves a list of tasks to complete before our next meeting on 12 June. As well as the coffee morning on 25th May. We will put an advert for our coffee morning in the local newsletter, explore several new contacts and make inquiries amongst friends, neighbours and those attending the coffee morning,  to find people to be involved with the Inkwell project.

Reflections

Finally, we discussed how we felt the project was progressing. The group felt that things were taking shape. That they felt we would be able to make things happen and that they were enjoying being involved. We recognised that we need to think about how the group can reach out to more isolated people in the community.

 

On 20th March Vivien joined seven Abercrombie Court tenants for our second planning session. We recapped on our last meeting and people reported back on what they had found out.

Vivien, Peter and Margaret had attended the Community Council meeting and shared information about Plan P and our project. The Council was supportive and made some suggestions including, linking with a local group supporting young mothers and considering contacting the local High School, Waid Academy, to encourage inter-generational links.

Sandra and Vivien had attended the Autumn club and spoken to the organiser and some of the club members. Feedback from this group included that older people particularly valued somewhere to meet up ‘just for a cup of tea and a chat’ and felt that the village didn’t have much opportunity for this at the moment.

Roddy had searched online and provided details about local support organisations, in particular he had been in contact with Wayne Mathieson, the Local Area Co-ordinator from  Fife Elderly Forum. Gayle had also been in touch with Wayne through enquiries at Fife Council. Wayne was keen to support the group and plans to attend our next meeting in May.

We used a local map of St Monans to think about what activities and resources are already available. We will explore the use of ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) and have set up an account. However, we need internet access in our meeting room before we can use this. Sam, from Bield Housing called in and agreed to explore this for the group.

Here is our map so far

After some discussion we decided to create an ‘ideas bank’ to capture our ideas for activities and to think about what we would need to make them happen.

The group were so keen on the coffee morning idea, that they decided to try it out on 20th April, in the Abercrombie Court Lounge. As well as providing an opportunity for people to meet and chat, the group felt that this would be another chance to find out from local people about what activities would be most welcomed.

Marion came up with the slogan ‘Fancy a cup? Come in for a sup?’. The group decided to use this for a flyer to advertise the coffee morning.

Here is the flyer that Gayle designed.

Before our next meeting on 1st May, Vivien will make enquiries at Waid Academy about possible links with the group’s plan for a local history group. Peter will find out about local historians and resources. The whole group will work together to run the coffee morning on 20 April.

On Friday 30th January, Gayle and Vivien joined seven Bield tenants at Abercrombie Court  for our first planning meeting.

We discussed why people wanted to be involved and what we each could bring. We talked about what we would like to achieve, and what we needed to find out before we start.

The group agreed that they would like to create opportunities for social activities for older people in the village. Important questions were, to find out what local people would want to be involved with and how to reach those who might be feeling lonely or isolated. We decided that we would ask local people at the ‘Old Folks Tea’ a well-attended annual event, happening in February. We also decided to visit the ‘Autumn Club’ a local group that meets weekly between  October and March in the village hall. As well as this we decided to attend the Community Council meeting and to contact Fife Council about other activities and support that might be available. We shared out visits to local groups, people and places that might help us to develop our ideas.  Here is a summary of our plan

We agreed to feedback on our findings at our next meeting on 20th March.

 

On Friday 28th November, Gayle and Vivien met with a group of tenants from Abercrombie Court, a Bield Housing Development in the beautiful Fife coastal village of St Monans.

The group are interested in working with us to explore ways of building stronger social connections for older people within their local community.  Attending were  4 Bield tenants, 1 volunteer, Sam and Pam from Bield Housing with Mac (Sam’s 6 month old ‘cockapoo’).

The group decided that it would be important to get a sense of what people in the community feel would be useful and to explore ways to identify people who might like to build stronger connections.

As well as supporting less well-connected Bield tenants, the group identified several possible routes to reaching the wider community, including: the local Gospel hall, the Guild, the Community Council, the school and nursery. We agreed to explore some of these connections before our next meeting in January 2015.

We look forward to working with they group who bring many creative talents including: designing greetings cards and floral arrangements, knitting  scarves, bags, iPad holders and within a previous arts project they created mosaics which are displayed on the walls outside Abercrombie Court. They are also connected with others in the community through various groups and bring their own life experiences of working in different fields including housing.