What have other groups done

Friends of Hartwood Pauper’s Cemetery is a community group who look after the Old Paupers Graveyard in Hartwood as a place to learn, remember and enjoy. 

The group was set up to help restore the old graveyard that had been neglected for many years. The group has worked together to ‘remember’ the hidden 1255 souls buried within the grounds, giving them their name and dignity back. 

Apart from the composting toilet, the group has installed 15x 1/2 whisky barrels, several flat raised beds, restored 2 seating areas and planted several hundred bulbs and plants. Friends of Hartwood Pauper’s Cemetery have not only restored the graveyard but created a thriving greenspace for the community to enjoy. 

To allow visitors to spend longer at the cemetery, Friends of Hartwood Pauper’s Cemetery were keen to install a toilet. 

Researching which toilet would suit them best, took the most time. You don’t need planning permission to install a composting toilet as it’s a temporary building, so that wasn’t an issue. After receiving grant funding from their local windfarm, it took just a few months to have the toilet installed. Following the instalment, they had to wait a few days for the concrete floor to set. 

For their composting toilet, Friends of Hartwood Pauper’s Cemetery chose Woowoo Waterless Toilets as the make was wheelchair accessible. Other designs had a urinal, and they didn’t want to clean up any drips.  

The toilet cost £16,000, including installation. It was installed by a local company (Xoli Wastewater Solutions).  It’s got paper towel holder, gel sanitiser to clean your hands and an automatic light. 

“The toilet company gave us a list of local contractors. They did a great job!” 

One of the biggest challenges to setting up the composting toilet was deciding which toilet to buy. The group thought about the people who would use it and what they would need to do to look after it. 

“Some local people were sceptical but are now regular users. The toilet is great for everyone, but especially older visitors”. 

Friends of Hartwood Pauper’s Cemetery sees lots of benefits to installing a composting toilet.  

“There’s no smells or flies which we were worried about. It’s easy to look after. Most users keep it clean. We empty the paper towel bin. The urine soaks away. Every six months you must agitate and swap the ‘solids’ crate over. The contents are unrecognisable – you can’t tell what’s in it and it doesn’t smell. The compost we make is safe to put on the flower beds (non-edible plants only)!” 

Most importantly, they now have a functioning toilet for visitors to use. Recently, several graves have been recognised by the War Graves Commission, which will likely increase the number of visitors and also visitors from out of town, who will be grateful for the public facilities.  

The compost toilet ensures everyone can enjoy their visit to the cemetery. 

The East Kilbride Community Trust (EKCT) was established in 2009 with the aim to empower and build a safer, stronger and healthier community by bringing local people together, delivering initiatives that enhance opportunities and promoting a healthy lifestyle for everyone in East Kilbride. One of these initiatives is their K-woodlands – a community space to connect with nature for good mental wellbeing and support local biodiversity to thrive. 

To engage the local community and develop trust around sharing books, EKCT wanted to install two outdoor bookcases in K-woodlands to create an outdoor library, bringing volunteers and members of the local community together to socialise while learning more about environmental issues. They also saw it as an opportunity for more people to get involved with the gardening project on site. 

Ready-made bookcases suitable for outdoor libraries turned out to be a costly item to purchase with long delivery times. Instead EKCT decided to work in partnership with East Kilbride Men’s Shed on the design and construction of two units made from recycled timber that would be suitable for their outdoor library project.  

Volunteers at East Kilbride Men’s Shed regularly construct a range of products using recycled timber in their workshop so they had the skills and knowledge to take on the project. Once a price was agreed upon, the bookcases were designed and constructed during the autumn of 2024 for a more reasonable cost compared to the ready-made bookcases. Not only did this approach support another local project, it also ensured the project had a much smaller environmental footprint. 

EKCT decided to delay installing the libraries until spring 2025 when the site would be safer, more local people would be accessing the woodlands, and the libraries were more likely to be used as intended. Due to severe winter weather conditions, including strong storms, the woodlands experienced extensive damage with many older, mature trees being uprooted and tree surgeons required on site to clear debris.  

Calmer conditions in spring enabled EKCT to install the libraries and invite all involved along for the launch and enabling local people to start borrowing books - including a selection of books focussing on climate change donated by the Hub. 

The hope is that the outdoor library will help develop trust within the local community, encouraging volunteers and visitors to share ideas, information and inspiration around climate change, environmental issues and climate action in their local greenspace. The more people are aware of the woodlands and make regular use of it, the greater the health benefits through increased physical activity, regular contact with nature and social interactions outdoors.  

Looking ahead, EKCT are keen to develop their connection with East Kilbride Men’s Shed and continue improving the community woodlands in 2025 by installing additional features made from recycled materials. Potential plans involve installing more wildlife habitats throughout the site, including bird boxes and bug hotels, improving signage to help identify flora and fauna found around the woods and increasing accessibility through additional benches along the network of paths. 

Pending planning permissions and architectural designs, EKCT is set to build a brand-new hub in the same area as the outdoor libraries. This space will serve as a welcoming spot where people can gather, enjoy a coffee, and connect before heading out on walks and nature trails through the woodlands. With an exciting lineup of events planned for 2025, EKCT aims to make each one even more special by inviting attendees to visit the libraries, pick a book, and take a piece of the experience home with them. 

In early 2020, Stonehouse Men’s Shed were able to move into their current home in the former public toilets in the centre of the village. This followed successful negotiations with South Lanarkshire Council to lease the disused building using the Community Asset Transfer Act.   

The group completely renovated the building, transforming it from its prior use into a safe community space for men. The renovations and project were made possible through small grants and funding available from a nearby wind farm. 

Additional grants were then successfully applied for, allowing the group to redesign and extensively develop the land behind the building and establish a community growing project on site. 

Over recent years, the group has worked hard fencing off their outdoor space and incorporating various climate and wildlife-friendly gardening elements, increasing biodiversity and supporting pollinators including honeybees.   

In Autumn 2022 a garden designer was commissioned to produce designs, moodboards and suggested planting schemes based on ideas generated by the group as to how they wanted to see their outdoor space developed. 

How did they do it? 

Stonehouse Men’s Shed approached the project by commissioning detailed garden designs that would make the space more accessible, welcoming and provide a peaceful sanctuary for members and local community groups as well as wildlife.  

Initial steps involved removing overgrown vegetation and installing paths, benches, sheltered structures and a varied scheme of plants suitable for pollinators to make it a great outdoor space for not only members, but also other local people and community groups if they wished to make use of it.  

Suggested plants to include ranged from herbs and fruit bushes to perennial wildflowers, ferns and flowering shrubs, many of which the group have successfully incorporated into the space. Climbing shrubs have been encouraged to grow around the perimeter to cover fencing and structures, providing privacy as well as acting as a windbreak. 

Arbours and raised beds were constructed, installed and filled to enable the group to grow fresh fruit and vegetables including strawberries, tomatoes and potatoes. Established, mature trees were left alone if healthy and safe to do so, with a selection of fruit trees including apples, pears and cherries planted where space amongst them allowed to create a community orchard.  

Any trees that were damaged, diseased or posed a significant risk to people using the garden were removed, but branches and remaining stumps were converted into bug hotels, habitat piles, path edges and features including one with a beehive complete with a viewing hatch.  

Wildflower seed has been sown, and patches of perennial wildflowers have been encouraged to establish and self-seed around the bee hives and in other areas of the garden, providing forage for other pollinators. Additional spaces have been used for a range of bug hotels, habitat piles and areas of undisturbed leaves to encourage hedgehogs into the garden. 

Installing a pergola created a sheltered space where members can sit and socialise, enjoying a hot drink in the colder, wetter months or providing shade on sunny days in the summer. Along with the sheds and shipping containers, this creates a large surface area to collect rainwater off by connecting guttering that runs into water butts to be used for watering plants around the garden. 

Compost bins and bays for leaf litter to make leafmould have been installed out of site, tucked behind sheds storing beekeeping equipment and propagators for raising seedlings. Grow bags around the sheds increase the amount of space available to grow seasonal, fresh fruit and vegetables for anyone involved to enjoy.  

Once most of the garden work had been completed, the group held a launch event and invited local groups and residents to celebrate all their progress and hard work alongside promoting opportunities for people to get involved with the Stonehouse Men’s Shed’s project activities. 

What were the main barriers/challenges? 

The main barrier has been finding sufficient time and volunteers to implement all of the brilliant ideas that were generated during the initial garden planning sessions and subsequent garden designs and plant scheme suggestions. 

Working as a group of volunteers also means there has not always been consistent availability of people available to work on larger construction, installation and infrastructural features, especially if they require physical work. There is a broad skillset amongst the membership however and the group have developed strong connections with other local community organisations they can call upon to lend a hand whenever required. 

Having beehives on site can present challenges especially during warmer months when pollinators are most actively going about their work in the garden. The group used their woodwork and design skills to install an attractive timber safety screen around the pergola so people could still sit in the garden without fear of getting in the way of the busy bees!  

What have been the main benefits? 

The main benefit to members of Stonehouse Men’s Shed has been experiencing improved physical health and mental wellbeing. This comes from both the huge sense of achievement having successfully carried out the ambitious garden redevelopment project as well as now having access to a peaceful sanctuary and wildlife haven right on their doorstep. 

Local wildlife, especially pollinators and amphibians, has also hugely benefitted from the space being developed so sympathetically by incorporating a variety of wildlife and climate-friendly elements. 

Going forward the Men’s Shed hopes to carry out wildlife surveys in partnership with other local community groups and schools to see what has made the garden its home and generate further project ideas for ways biodiversity can be supported in Stonehouse.  

What was previously a disused public toilet is now a thriving social space with additional external shipping containers functioning as a workshop and storage for bicycles. The neglected land has been transformed into a welcoming outdoor space for members to enjoy and for wildlife to flourish. The garden functions as one of the sites used by the local Avondale Community Beekeepers for their beehives, which members of the Men’s Shed actively help to monitor and maintain throughout the year.