Meet the Scheme Maws trying to make a difference in Glasgow

The Scheme Maws were formed in 2023 by 11 mums who live in Carnwadric in the city's Southside after meeting at the gates outside of their children’s school.

Members discussed how they felt like there weren’t a lot of local activities for children and decided that they would start paying £10 each at the start of every month to fund their own events.

So far they have hosted a Hallowe’en party, a Christmas get-together, an Eid celebration, and an end-of-term rave.

The Scheme Maws at Christmas (Image: Schemes Maws/Facebook)

'Let it Glow' rave (Image: Schemes Maws/Facebook)

Rebecca Carrigan, a member of the group, revealed how the name came about.

She said: “The name is basically because we are who we are. We come from all different walks of life.

"Some of us are business owners, have professional jobs, are stay-at-home mums, or work whenever we can but none of us think we’re better than anyone else.

“The group started last year when the girls were helping organise my son’s birthday party. We thought we’d invite everyone – as we were all in separate groups at the time - and from there on we decided we’d all pay a tenner a month on the first of the month to fund the events.

“There’s nothing really for the kids to do and a tenner a month when you have kids is nothing. You can put a party on for a tenner each between 11 of us whereas if you went to the shop on your own with a tenner you’d probably get a bottle of juice, crisps, and a wee toy.

“There’s 29 kids between the members and we take on another 50 when we do parties. Our next goal is to do a mum and toddlers group on a weekday when our kids are at school as we don’t have anything like that in the area.”

(Image: Colin Mearns)

Most of the Scheme Maw meetings are held at either the school gates or at a local shop.

Zoey McCrory, who is also a member of the group, explained that this is where ‘their best ideas’ are formed.

The maws say they do not want to become a charity but rather a ‘community enterprise’ and hope to eventually branch out across Glasgow.

Zoey said: “We just want to do stuff for the kids in the community, there’s not a lot here for them.

"Places have closed down and we’ve got community halls closing down as they aren’t getting the funding to get them back up and running.

“When we host our parties we’re supporting local venues as we’re paying into them. We want more people to know about us because we’ve got the same wee group all the time and if more people come then we can go further and get bigger venues.

“We all know the old saying that ‘it takes a village to raise kids’ but it takes a bunch of scheme maws to raise a community.

“We’re inclusive, not exclusive and we bounce off of each other to get stuff done. It’s been so rewarding to see all the children and parents having fun and to know there’s stuff in the area they can go to.”

Back row [left to right]: Aisha Zafar-Khan, Rebecca Carrigan, Michelle Mcleod. Sitting [left to right]: Zoey McCrory, Caroline Myler, Lisa McKend, Gill Hislop. (Image: Colin Mearns)

The group has also been in contact with Glasgow City Council to expand the services it can offer.

Zoey added: “We’re not limited in what we do and we don’t want to become a charity we want to become a community enterprise.

“The council are willing to do training with us and we’re all PVG checked. Two members are child development officers, one works in a kitchen and has food safety training, another is a nurse so can do first aid, and I can do breastfeeding peer support.

“We have a mix of everything and we just make it work.”

To find out more about the Scheme Maws visit their Facebook page HERE.