Touch Community Garden
Building on a 'bump zone' in the heart of the community
Tucked amongst a mix of housing lies Touch Community Garden, a mixed-use community garden with veg beds, flower gardens, an orchard, native tree plantings, mixed seating areas and a brand-new shipping container hub. Situated in a natural ‘bump zone’, I must have met a dozen or so passers-by in the short hour I was there on a cold and frosty December morning. From dog-walkers to high-schoolers on their lunch break, Touch Community Garden is centrally located which allows for an organic connection between community members and their greenspace. They have utilised this natural ‘bump zone’, and through investing in the physical resources, have helped to reestablish a sense of pride in the wider Touch community.
Touch Community Garden has has been successful in running programming from its site and is looking forward to growth in this area with the completion of its new indoor space. It was lovely to see a local resident on site donating his time to upgrade the interior of the new building (installing lovely new bench/storage boxes), and the community was certainly on board, with many locals stopping in over the course of my visit to check on progress. Lisa and the rest of the board members are keen to utilise the space for community use, including school visits, book bug, teas and coffee, etc.
There is a wealth of potential in this space, and it is certainly doing a brilliant job at bringing well-deserved positive energy to Touch.
All activity is currently administered by three board members, with the overwhelming support of their local community. They work closely with Touch Trust and St Margarets Parish Church to deliver programming in their area. They have developed some amazing infrastructure and we look forward to their continued success. They are working with the Dunfermline Greenspace Forum, and are part of delivering action from this plan. Key to the entire project is the regeneration of Touch, of which more info can be found here.
