A TILLICOULTRY gran will head overseas this week to represent Chapelle Crescent in Brussels.

May Barker travels with Volunteer Scotland and will share her experience of living in the Hillfoots street for more than five decades.

She hopes to discuss the impact that volunteering can have on bringing people and communities together.

The Get Connected – Volunteering and Shared Values project involved partner organisations from across four European countries alongside Ireland, Croatia and Belgium.

Volunteer Scotland have been working closely with Chapelle Crescent residents like May over the past year.

The 76-year-old was one of the first people to move into the flat complex in 1965 and has lived there for 54 years as a council tenant.

She said: "People were desperate to get these houses back then. They were brand new and innovative.

"They had underfloor heating, which was quite a new thing. I've lived here since I was 22 and raised two kids here.

"It's a shame that not many children live here now. It's great that this project has started, Chapelle really needs a boost.

"We're trying hard to make a difference and hopefully once residents see things are changing for the better even more people will want to join in.

"I'm really proud to be going out to Brussels to represent my community."

Over the past five decades, May has witnessed the deterioration of the housing scheme and with it a loss of community spirit.

She continued: "When we first moved in, we had a residents association.

"We got together to get the drying greens mono-blocked, linoleum put down in the stairwells, new car parking and a kid's playpark.

"But that's just down to one piece of play equipment these days and lots of the flats are lying empty now.

"People look down on Chapelle Crescent, but it didn't used to be like that.

"This project has given people a bit of hope that maybe things can change for the better, that something good may come of it and people will become more neighbourly.

"We'd also love to see the outside of the flats and the closes spruced up a bit. Then more people might be interested in living here.

"It's still early days, but we have lots of ideas and are planning a fun day this summer to get people together."

The Get Connected project focuses on the impact volunteering can have on people and their feeling of connectedness with their local communities, their attitudes and their general wellbeing.