THE former Police Chief Constable for Scotland is the new chair of Fife's Multibank Project which aims to provide £25 million worth of goods for families in need. 

Sir Iain Livingstone, from Dunfermline, will be joined by new chief executive Kirsty Thomson, who is leaving her current role as CEO of Dundee and Glasgow-based social enterprise The Circle.

As the two form this new leadership team for the project, they have set a goal of donating 2.5 million household goods a year to people in need across the country from the leadership team alone. 

Sir Iain, who was knighted in 2022 for his services to the community, was Chief Constable from 2018 to 2023. He was born and raised in Dunfermline and played football for Raith Rovers before joining the police service.

He said: “As a police officer for over 30 years, I saw first-hand the devastating effect of poverty in communities and in particular for children and young people.

"To achieve fairer and safer communities we must tackle poverty. It’s a priority for both social justice and social cohesion.

"That's why I'm honoured to join the mission to help provide people across Scotland a lifeline out of poverty through the work of multibanks."

Set up in 2022 by the Cottage Family Centre's Pauline Buchan and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the project receives donated household goods from companies for distribution to local families in need, including food, soap, bedding, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet rolls, nappies and cleaning materials.

As well as the original scheme running out of Lochgelly, projects to support families have also been established in Wigan and Swansea. This week, the project announced that warehouses will also be opened in Dundee, Edinburgh and Perthshire.

The donated goods come directly from nearly 90 companies across the UK, led by Amazon which alone is planning to donate 1.4 million goods this year.

The Multibank Scotland has been formed out of the Cottage Family Centre headed by Ms Buchan and the Big Hoose project, based in Lochgelly, which is the registered name of the Scottish multibank charity.

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Ms Thomson, who founded The Circle in 2015 in order to offer flexible fair rent offices and workspaces to Dundee charities, social enterprises and community groups, will now oversee operations.

She added: "I am deeply honoured and excited to join The Big Hoose SCIO as its new CEO. The dedication and passion of this organisation is inspiring, and I am committed to furthering our impact and driving meaningful change for those in need.

"Together with Gordon Brown, the highly experienced board of trustees, talented team, dedicated volunteers and generous supporters, I look forward to building on our strong foundation and exploring new opportunities to serve our communities and advance our mission."

The duo will be joined by an expanded board, which includes the former chair of Carnegie UK, Angus Hogg MBE from Dunfermline; the former managing director of Rosyth Dockyard, Murray Easton CBE; Philip Lockwood Holmes; Bob Garmory of Purvis Group; Rob Bridle, the chief logistics officer at Schuh; Scott Inglis of Fishers;  Scottish actress Arabella Weir MBE and Morag Neville.