Healthy and Active in East Kilbride
Healthy and Active in East Kilbride
Since 2003, Healthy and Active in East Kilbride have been dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals and communities in East Kilbride. With a mission to uplift mental and physical health, promote wellbeing, foster independence, and inclusivity the charity offers a diverse range of services to improved access to local support systems, and collaborative partnerships, all to make a positive impact on the local community.
The Our Heritage, Our Future team was introduced to Healthy and Active in East Kilbride through community engagement and training we carried out with another community group in Carluke. The guided tours training we offered fitted into their activities and personal development for their staff and volunteers and they saw this opportunity as a way to build on local knowledge and those hidden stories on their doorstep. They also recognised that the training would enable them to increase the offering to the community members they work alongside.
In April 2025 staff and volunteers took part in the SVQ accredited Guided Tours unit and over two days successfully completed the skills training. The in-person training sessions combined interactive presentations, activities and practical work over two days during which candidates carried out historical research, planned and risk assessed a route, explored the area, created content, delivered a two stop guided tour and reflected on their performance. Our team were on hand to advise throughout the training and during self study when candidates researched and wrote their guided tours to include local historic features of their choice.
As a result of the training, they have connected with other local heritage groups, gained a qualification and, most importantly, learnt more about their people and place.
The team also gained Heritage Hero Awards from Archaeology Scotland for the work they completed with us. We were thrilled to hear that this new learning is being put into practise with the team conducting heritage walks for the public during their Climate Awareness week.
Claire Lees, a member of the Healthy & Active in East Kilbride team, gave us some great feedback about what she enjoyed most about the training and how it will help her combine local heritage with the healthy and active activities she helps run.
Head over to our Creating Guided Tours page to read Claire's case study.
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