River Eden Day was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the river that runs through the centre of Cupar and explore what the River Eden means to local people. Over 300 people came to the event. Everyone had a chance to experience different volunteer activities at the many stalls present on the day – Sustainable Cupar, Deer Centre, Eden Angling Association, Buglife Scotland, Lucky Ewe, National Farmers Union Scotland, Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, Woodland Trust, Bell Baxter, Elmwood College and RESP were all represented.

In the morning a group of local people played music in the main hall alongside the stalls and the childrenss activities. At lunchtime a delicious buffet was shared. In the afternoon Professor Chris Spray, Dundee University, gave a stimulating talk about the Eddleston Water project Learning by doing project . It was very good to hear such strong evidence for natural flood mitigation on a catchment wide project. Alana Dewar, Deer Centre, talked about a nationwide otter recovery project that she is involved in. Michael Farrell, Chair RESP, talked about the RESP development project and the goals of the River Eden project.

We had a great deal of support in organising the day from the Community in Cupar (CiC) group. The CiC organised creative tables for children, where they enjoyed making fish, trees and other inhabitants of the river, then placing them on the catchment map. The map looked truly stunning once finished.

Over 40 people signed up to volunteer for RESP and we ended the day by singing a song that local people had written called Freedom For the Eden.

We are looking forward to the next River Eden Day at Strathmiglo summer 2024!

Funders