The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) have developed a “Celebrating Charities” theme for their annual The Gathering event, aiming to highlight the amazing voluntary work done in small Scottish towns. Bo’ness has been selected as 2016’s Charity Town.

Bo’ness is a former mining town in West Lothian, with a strong industrial heritage stretching from trading, ship building and whaling in the 18th century, to coal mining and ironworks in the 20th century.

The current population is 15,000, made up of 7,000 households. According to Scotland’s Towns Partnership, the number of residents per charity is 391. There is a wide range of community and voluntary activity in the town, including bands, youth groups, theatres and fairs

SCVO will be visiting Bo’ness throughout the remainder of the year, discovering the various ways its people are linked to different charities in the area. There will also be a photography competition for residents to share their pictures of charity subjects. SCVO will present their findings at The Gathering in February 2016.

For further information, please visit the SCVO website.