Celebrating 10 Years of Reuse in Crieff

As Remake enters its second decade, founder Fiona Gilbert has decided to step away for 12 months to spend time with family.

I have been with Remake since the beginning, largely due to the commitment & support from my family – husband, children and parents – who have all been volunteers over the years! I feel so fortunate to have seen this little upcycling project turn into an invaluable community hub, where we are not only helping to save the planet but bringing our community together.

Remake started as a voluntary project dedicated to promoting secondhand, sharing upcycling ideas and encouraging creative thinking based on using existing resources and household materials. Originally based at Cultybraggan camp in Comrie, we were quickly inundated with so many great donations of furniture, craft materials, fabric, wool and all kinds of great reusable items, that we opened the scrapstore at our current location at the Crieff Visitor Centre on 1 April 2013.

It has been an amazing decade for Remake since 2011. What was a nugget of an idea promoting reuse with small groups locally has blossomed into:

• The best secondhand store ever
• A regional partner in promoting reuse & repair
• The home of Crieff Community Tool Library
• A hub for intergenerational volunteering
• A local provider of volunteering, training & employability opportunities for young adults

The weight of the COVID pandemic & lockdown has taken the air out of our 10 year anniversary. Plans to celebrate in style have been scuppered. No parties this year and we do love a celebration, some of my favourites being our volunteer thank you parties and Open Days. Our 5 year Star Wars themed birthday seems like ‘a long time ago, in a galaxy far away…’!

There are so many great memories and achievements to celebrate such as being featured in the ‘Sustainable Tour of Scotland’ for Zero Waste Scotland’s podcast Towards Zero which is due out April 2021.

Being asked to be part of the CRNS Lockdown Conversations as a community anchor organisation was a real highlight as was the opening of the Reuse Container at the Crieff Recycling Centre in 2019.

Being a winner of the 2019 Brand with Growth design competition with Bold Studio and Community Enterprise was a brilliant experience and we look forward to launching our new logo this year.

But my all time favourite memory in recent years has to be receiving the Rising Star Award at the Scottish Resources Awards in 2017.  It was a pleasure to represent community reuse in Crieff in such prestigious company.

Like every great organisation, I couldn’t have done it without some very special people and I am stepping away with the knowledge that Remake is in the safe hands of an amazing team of talented, enthusiastic, passionate staff and volunteers. Special thanks go to:

• Eve Kilgannon, our Operations Manager for her incredible dedication and leadership
• Seona Anderson, for her positivity as she takes on the majority of my duties
• Current Remake Chair, Ian Ferguson & Vice Chair, Ellen Fenton who have supported the Board of Trustees through choppy waters

Looking back over the last 10 years, there is so much to celebrate:

• £810,751 fundraised to date to support our volunteers, young adults and community projects
• 132,913kg of reusable materials diverted from landfill and made available locally (at least – data before 2015 was not so organised!)
• 6,954 participants involved in our 3 year Remake Challenge Champions project
• 4831 hours of support given to young adult employees and volunteers during COVID year in 2020/2021
• £3200 Pass It On Fund donated out to local Crieff organisations
• 1216 Friends of Remake
• 100s of amazing Helpers, Supporters & Volunteers who have given their time, passion and dedication over the last decade
• 250 sets of NHS scrubs and wash bags created by Remake sewing group over 1200 hours
• 85 young adults supported in our 3 year Remake Futures project
• 80 Board meetings led by our local trustees
• 75 members of the Tool Library
• 19 employment positions created
• 6 young people in paid employment positions in the last 3 years
• 4 contracted artists
• 2 premises
• 1 reuse container

On a final note, channelling Goethe through my much loved science teacher, Mr Suttie, I share one of my favourite quotes:

“What You Can Do, or Dream You Can, Begin It; Boldness Has Genius, Power, and Magic in It”

And to counteract that quote, my primary teacher Miss Armstrong always said my mantra would be:

“I’m not finished yet!”

Thanks go to all the Remake staff, volunteers, supporters and customers over the past 10 years. Here’s to the next decade of Remake!

Fiona Gilbert

#NewStuffCostsTheEarth