The Shape of Fife

Back in April we invited organisations to submit photographs of their volunteers to help us celebrate Volunteers’ Week in June.

By May we had received over 130 photographs depicting all kinds of volunteering and volunteers. There were photographs representing environmental work, heritage and museums, caring for others, fundraising, committee work, volunteering with young people and children and many more. Furthermore the photographs also represented a cross-section of the population of Fife. They depicted young people involved in fundraising or acting as advocates for their peer groups, to the more mature age group such as the Contact the Elderly volunteers.

Mooth O the Yooth, Lochgelly

Many stories accompanied the photos. For example, Jill Aitken, the winner of the prize draw, had sent in a picture of herself after she had completed her latest fundraising venture for the RNLI. This venture being, at the age of 70, a sponsored abseil off the Forth Rail Bridge.

A relieved Jill Aitken, after completing her abseil

The photographs were scanned, printed on transfer paper and then ironed on to a sheet into the shape of Fife. What seemed a good idea at the time became quite a backbreaking jigsaw. However, the results were worth it. We had received so many photographs that the shape of Fife had to be adapted slightly, and they did threaten to overtake Tayside and Perthshire. The final map shows the diversity and the sheer extent of volunteering across Fife, and also, judging from the images, the amount of fun and enjoyment that volunteering brings and gives. Many thanks to organisations and volunteers who contributed to the Shape of Fife.