Fairway Fife

President Mark Rossiter welcomed 33 Rotarians and 2 guests to the first meeting of the new year.

After president’s and secretary’s business, Mark introduced the speaker for today, Jacquie Dow, from Fairway Fife. This is a registered charity supporting young adults with learning and physical disabilities in Fife. They recruit, train and support non disabled mentors of similar ages to enable the young adults to have access to social and leisure interests from which they would normally be excluded.

Activities supported include bowling, cinema visits, shopping, pub lunches etc, all with non disabled people, which increases confidence and encourages a more mature outlook on life. Funding was needed to start all of this. At the outset, a voluntary committee was set up, and a draft constitution. It was not long before funds started to come in, notably one of more than £9000 from the Big Lottery. Peer mentors were trained and Fairway joined with Youth First, acquiring lots of advice. Because the benefits were so good, interest increased, schools and colleges expressing a desire to participate.

Each participant has a single shared assessment carried out to determine individual needs in supporting their independence and well being. Even activities such as photography and cooking are encouraged. 

The charity needed to become stand alone eventually. There are now 37 peer mentors supporting 33 young adults. There is a management board of 8 people and a full constitution. They operate from their own premises in Dunfermline. The mentors are also professionally supported and 7 have gone on to full time education in the field. Funding is now being sought to employ a project manager.

The website is fairwayfife.com and gives a full description of all activities.

President Mark gave a vote of thanks on behalf of members, for a most enlightening talk.