BeeKind
As part of our Community Engagement activities, we are currently running a BeeKind campaign.
On Wednesday 17th September, we celebrated Scottish Housing Day by launching our BeeKind campaign. The theme for Scottish Housing Day was ‘everybody needs good neighbours’, so we felt this was the perfect opportunity to launch a celebration of kindness, connection and community spirit.
Community Engagement Officer, Jane commented:
“The BeeKind yearlong project aims to inspire and recognise kind acts for others, the community, nature and yourself! It is about fostering positive social connections, promoting kindness, and supporting local initiatives that benefit the environment and individuals. The world feels that bit tougher at the moment, and a little kindness can make all the difference."
The launch event took place in The Big Living Room. Key speaker, Dr David Hamilton, spoke about the scientific research behind kindness, explaining how it is good for your health and releases tension in the arteries, inflammation and positively impacts the rate of biological aging! The speech is available to watch in the video below.
In addition to this inspiring speech, guests were entertained by performers from OpporCHANCEity Knocks Variety Theatre, Pupils from Riverside and Letham Primary Schools and Community Partners from across West Lothian. The event concluded with closing remarks from The Lord Lieutenant, Ms Moira Niven MBE.
BeeKind Events
As this is a yearlong project, we have created a BeeKind calendar of themes to inspire kindess in our communities. The theme for November was Giving Thanks and we held a Gratitude Story Hour with Primary School Kindness Ambassadors.
Local storyteller, Colin Williamson, told the children a story about kindness and explained the importance of sharing stories and how this can spread kindness. The children were encouraged to close their eyes and use their imagination to picture the story coming to life.
The children then got involved by using a variety of props to have fun telling their own stories. The children talked about what made them kind, how receiving kindness made them feel and the importance of spreading kindness to their friends and family. Some of the children told stories about how they are kind to younger pupils in the school, making sure they feel welcome and included in the playground. Others shared stories about their participation in the choir and singing at local community groups, which made people feel happy.
After the event, the children presented their kindness quilt, which showed creativity and enthusiasm for the importance of spreading kindness. Each child had created their own square with a design, drawing or message that explained what kindness meant to them. The children demonstrated how storytelling can take many different forms and sharing stories can help to spread kindness every day.
Santa's Secret Garden
The theme for December is Warm Wishes.
On Thursday 4th December, we worked with community partners to hold a Christmas Event in Craigshill Community Garden and Almond's Big Living Room.
This was open to everyone in the community and included an elf trail, food and drink, biscuit decorating, bulb planting and the opportunity to meet Santa in his Grotto! Our contractor, Response, provided some donations for the event as part of their community benefits.
We we also be holding two Christmas parties in partnership with Daisy Drop In. The children will be able to meet Santa and our contractors, Sidey, are providing gifts for the children.
Save the date!
We’re excited to share that we have organised a Winter Warmer Event on Thursday 15th January from 2pm to 4pm in The Big Living Room. This will be an opportunity to drop in, try some free winter warmer food and drink and speak to our community partners about how to save money on food, energy, clothes and furniture.
We will also be holding a Home Safety event in partnership with our contractor, Bell. This will take place in The Big Living Room on Thursday 12th February from 10am to 12pm.
Watch this space for more information on the upcoming events!