The Coach House Trust in Kelvinbridge has blossomed over the past decade to transform the lives of hundreds of Glaswegians THE residents who set up a community garden project more than a decade ago had no idea how strong and far its roots would grow. The Coach House Trust has blossomed into an initiative that's transforming lives and gap sites across the west end. More than 130 people with mental health, addiction or learning issues take part in its weekly workshops in gardening, horticulture, recycling, wood-carving, catering, photography and IT. With an annual turnover of around £900,000, it employs 28 members of staff who organise its environmentally and socially-aware projects at sites in Kelvinbridge, Knightswood, Yorkhill and Balmore, East Dunbartonshire. All this has sprouted from two small seeds. Back in 1996 residents set up the Belmont Lane Community Gardens Association to landscape eight gap derelict sites in Kelvinbridge alongside providing a way for people leaving long-term institutional care to reintegrate. Lottery funding of £325,000 was secured in 1999 to renovate a derelict stables block in Belmont Lane into its current head office. Project manager Sheila Richard found it difficult to find community projects for residents with mental health problems to get involved in. She said: "There was a complete dearth. "All these derelict sites where the houses came down in the 1960s were just dumps. We've now converted them into community amenities. "The clients love it here - they get out their house, feel better, they've fewer doctors visits, maybe on less medication, maybe moved into their own house. "It's all about giving folk confidence and self-belief." | 
Barry GustersonPROFESSOR Barry Gusterson has created a legacy in the fight against cancer that benefits people living far beyond his Glasgow University lab. For the 62-year-old pathologist and scientific advisor to the Beatson Pebble Appeal is working on building his second major cancer research centre in the UK. Prof Gusterson, who lives in Bearsden, helped establish the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and became the founding director of The Breakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Research Centre in London - a project he steered from inception, through its £15m fundraising, to opening in 1999 by Prince Charles. And he's now leading the Beatson Pebble Appeal to fundraise £10m to create the Beatson Translational Research Centre, the first facility of its kind in Scotland dedicated to turning scientific discoveries into cancer treatments. The Evening Times is backing the campaign to build the new £19.2m centre, which will speed up the process of finding new cancer drugs and better methods of prevention and diagnosis. "What we're doing is forming a bridge and with the local population so that it is actually their centre as much as a university centre and a charitable centre," says Prof Gusterson. | 
Audrey WardAUDREY WARD was 37 when she lost her sight following a brain operation. Doctors feared the mother-of-two had a tumour, and operated on her in January 1997. The tumour turned out to be benign but in a one-in-a-thousand risk she lost her sight. But Audrey has overcome the devastation of losing her sight and become an inspiration to friends, family and colleagues. She went on to have another child, returned to study, skis regularly, volunteers for the Samaritans and runs 10k races. Having re-educated and re-trained herself, Audrey now uses her experiences to help others through her work with one of Scotland's oldest charities. Audrey is one of 44 employees of St George's Cross-based charity Visibility, which has for 150 years helped improve the lives of those with visual impairments. Her role is two-fold: she's the charity's corporate fundraiser, and also provides outreach visual awareness training to hospitals, health centres and families. Audrey, who lives in Uddingston and received an Evening Times Local Heroes award last year, said: Audrey, whose sons are now aged 15 and 12, had previously worked as a manager of a hairdressing salon and as a sales rep for a record company. She found out about Visibility through her rehabilitation worker while studying for her HND in Social Sciences at Motherwell College. She began working with the charity as a volunteer in December 2006 before building up her responsibilities and hours as a member of staff. Oran Mor recently marked the occasion of its 150th play at A Play, A Pie And A Pint with an audio-described performance for friends and guests of Visibility. "We're getting people to fall in love with Visibility, I suppose in the same way that I have, because it is a lovely organisation and we do such great pioneering work," she says. |
