Blog

Polbeth Community HUB and RiverLife have worked together to create and install two community map and notice boards at central locations in Polbeth, West Lothian. The boards, designed with community artists Nick and Minty, have been installed at the Scotmid car park...

The RiverLife small grants scheme has been used for all kinds of projects across the communities we are a part of. Recently we've been working with the West Lothian Litter Pickers to help them get some new equipment, and advise them on how to safely use it.  The West...

We're super excited to launch our new community art project called Welcoming Back our Fish.   We had hoped to run our RiverRubbish citizen science and community volunteering project in the Bathgate area but have struggled to plan things due to the strange and...

This month I’ve been able to leave the wee home office behind here and there, as the staff have been resuming a few of our outdoor activities. So I thought I’d share some pictures of what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks. I’ve been out several times assisting...

I’ve been spending a lot of time working in the home office recently, as many of our normal outdoor activities are on hold. So, I was very glad to be able to go out this week and meet with my colleague Scot on the Almond in Cramond to check an eel trap at Fair-a-Far...

Have you heard of Green Gym? I’m sure you have, maybe you don’t know what it refers to, but you’ve likely heard of it -this is because it is well documented – and even prescribed - as a way to improve our lives. It gets people outdoors doing exercises and...

It might sound a bit dramatic, after all fishing has only been put on hold during “lockdown”, it hasn't gone!!!! Lockdown has made a lot of people think about what is important in life and re-evaluate things.For me it has just emphasised the benefits you get from a...

We’ve been taking submissions for our Resilient Rivers Photography Exhibition throughout May, and seeing as it’s Mental Health Awareness Week I thought I’d take a look at some of the benefits photography (and nature photography in particular) can bring to people’s...

Lockdown has been a period filled with highs and lows.  For many of us it has brought uncertainty, change and interruption to our comfortable and comforting routines.  Interestingly for our project, lockdown has also corresponded with the end of the RiverLife...

Diana Toncheva   The RiverLife team, like almost everyone else, have recently gone through some changes to the way that we are working. Social distancing has meant that the usual myriad of public events, school programmes and volunteer activities that we would...

I guess like everyone else this lockdown, working from home, self-isolating pandemic that we currently find ourselves operating under has left a bit more time for reflection and reminiscing. For the first 5 years of my life I lived within 30 foot (old measure) of the...

Where I live on the river Esk system (where I’m confined to during the 2020 Covid-19 lock-down) then I have been taking my daily exercise along the local rivers. Sometimes walking along the river, as the water is so low now, much to the surprise of some of the cows in...

Like many others, we (Minty Donald and Nick Millar) are trying to find ways continue our work during these strange and uncertain times and to stay in contact with the communities we’ve been working with. We are very keen to keep the ‘Our’ Falls project alive during...

On March 11th West Lothian College held its first Sustainability Summit to raise awareness and discuss some of the issues associated with combating climate change.  The summit focused on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals released by the United Nations in 2015 and...

It's difficult to summarise three years at the Forth Rivers Trust in a single blog post, especially when it's the Friday afternoon of your last week and the lure of a cold, frothy pint of ale at the neighbouring pub is unusually persistent. So, I have compiled a wee...

I was privileged to be involved at the beginning of a new community drive to tidy up their local area. The main motivator on the scene in Armadale was a very inspiring local lad by the name of Finlay. He was compelled to start the group from his experiences litter...

The project has been mooching about some of the Almond's wee burns of late.  Burn's day (25th Jan) fell on a Saturday this year and so we thought it was the ideal opportunity to pay homage to some lesser loved burns. Two of our young community leader, Aimee-leigh and...

The concrete bridge apron under the A71 on the Harwood water, Polbeth, was highlighted as a barrier to fish migration after looking into mitigating the larger barrier about 500m upstream – Limefield falls.   A low-cost baffle (LCB) fish pass was deemed the best option...

‘I am prickly and hidden in the tree I fell from’. ‘I wake you up and give you a kick. I am hidden under a piece of wood’. Can you guess what these descriptions are referring to? They are just two of the inventive and cryptic clues that members of Polbeth Harwood...

This striking wintery image of the frozen Limefield Falls was one of three photos kindly sent to us (artists Minty Donald and Nick Millar) by Alex Kinsman, one of the people taking part in a reminiscence workshop at Polbeth Harwood Parish Church. Fuelled by some tasty...

Where do you find mushrooms in Polbeth? ‘The Scotmid shop!’ was the prompt reply from one of the young people taking part in a ‘Mapping and Discovering’ workshop guided by us (artists Minty Donald and Nick Millar), as part of the ‘Our’ Falls public art project. Young...

Artist’s Annie and Morvern held the last in the series of creative workshops on Saturday, exploring drawing & collage in creating photo prints using Cyanotype paper. This workshop took its inspiration from the industrial heritage of the Almond, and the mills which...

I have been fortunate enough to join up with the West Lothian Ageing Well Walking Group – Craigshill branch. I was warmly welcomed by the group on a previous walk at Howden where I talked about the rock ramp we created there. I decided I could crash another of their...