The Early Years
Some ten years ago 3 members of the Community Council who had been setting planters around the village and filling them with seasonal flowers decided to form a new group with the purpose of enhancing the floral appearance of the village and to this incorporate the cultural and historical background of the area.
They advertised for like minded people to help enhanse the village. A fourth member joined who had experience in organisation, event planning, grant applications and health and safety issues, an action plan was formulated and so Crossgates Greenfingers was born.
Mr Nelson of Cuttlehill farm provided us with the farm implements displayed at the entrance to the village from Cowdenbeath as seen in the picture on the right. The plough had been submerged in earth and is believed to be over one hundred years old.
The large urn shaped feature is in fact the cast iron insert from an old washhouse boiler from Cuttlehill House, once owned by the Wemyss family, of which only the ruins remain at Cuttlehill Farm.
These items and others were restored and are now displayed on the land provided to us by another farmer, Mr David Orr.
In 2008 we were awarded second place in the "Largest Village" contest organised by Fife Council and we have been more than amply rewarded by the interest and pleasure taken in the features by our village residents.
We approached the St John 540 Masonic Lodge about a piece of derelic land adjacent to the Lodge with a view to utilising the area as a Community Garden. We were granted a twenty five year lease from the 540 Masonic Lodge. We commissioned a mosaic mural from artist Mr Kenny Munro, depicting the history and heritage of what is a very old village on the gable wall of the Masonic Lodge. We involved the children and teachers from Crossgates Primary School and local residents gave talks at the school on the history of the village. We received generous feedback from the children as to what would be included in the mural.
To continue with the history of the village, we have attained some mining artefacts from the Newtongrange Museum. These pieces were restored for us by the Muirdean Group and the Mines Rescue Team and were installed around the village.
As everyone can see, we are a very enthusiastic group who hope to do much in the year to come and provide what we think is a much needed facility to incorporate all ages and aspects of our community.
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