For Emma: Slow Routes to Resilience

Aim

In memory of Emma Semple, we're cycling 1500+ miles from Land's End to Lerwick to fund her memorial at The Pipe Factory and support SAMH.

Our friend and colleague Emma Semple  believed that buildings become meaningful because of the people who use them. Throughout her career, she worked to make museums, heritage sites and cultural spaces more welcoming, ensuring that local stories and lived experiences sat at the heart of everything she did.

At The Pipe Factory, she gathered oral histories from people who lived and worked in the Calton, and uncovered hundreds of clay smoking pipes from under the ground along the way - slowly, carefully, piecing together the human stories behind the bricks.

Sadly, Emma took her own life in 2025, due to mental health struggles. A year on, in her memory, we’d like to continue the work Emma began, and capture some of it in a lasting memorial to her at The Pipe Factory.

Our vision is to bring together colleagues and volunteers who worked closely with her to help shape the memorial for Emma making sure it is accessible to everyone when it reopens in 2027.

We are launching this fundraiser to help cover the cost of the memorial, as well as to raise funds to support the Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH), so that more people going through what Emma experienced have somewhere to turn. Our target is £5,000, with 10% going to SAMH and the rest to the direct costs of the memorial project. All support of whatever kind will be gratefully received.

This summer, our Bobbie and Verity are leading a research project into community ownership, visiting more than 30 community-owned venues and grassroots spaces across the UK. The idea is to learn from the people putting community agency into practice, learning from people, like Emma, who are able to bring communities together and hold on for the long term.

To help raise funds for the memorial project, Bobbie and Verity have chosen to cycle over 1500+ miles between the venues, making their way from Land's End all the way to Lerwick. Cycling slowly, together, felt like the best way of taking Emma with them. Embracing a slow, more mindful and caring pace. Having your support while they pedal through the miles will really help to keep them going.

When the doors of The Pipe Factory re-open in early 2027, we'll be marking it with a party - and everyone will be welcome. If you were part of Emma’s work or her care, warmth and curiosity resonates with you, please join us in helping build and celebrate her legacy. 

You can find out more here: https://www.thepipefactory.co.uk/

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 7th November 2026 at 6:28pm