Ferguslie Community Market celebrates six years of community-led action, and an estimated £390,000 saved by local families
Ferguslie Park, Paisley – 10 September 2026
A community initiative established during the COVID-19 pandemic is celebrating its sixth birthday this week after growing into one of Ferguslie Park's longest-running community-led responses to food insecurity and the rising cost of living.
Ferguslie Community Market, operated by local voluntary organisation Darkwood Crew, will mark six years of operation on Thursday 10 September, with birthday celebrations taking place during both its daytime and evening Market sessions at the Tannahill Centre.
Two birthday cakes will be shared with visitors throughout the day as volunteers, community members and supporters celebrate a project which began in 2020 and has since provided an estimated 10,710 affordable shops to local households.
Over its first six years, Darkwood Crew estimates that Ferguslie Community Market has:
provided approximately 10,710 affordable shops;
delivered 327 Community Market sessions;
redistributed approximately 81 tonnes of good food;
generated more than 15,300 hours of volunteering, contributed by more than 50 volunteers; and
saved local families an estimated £390,000 on the cost of their shopping.
The Market currently operates every Thursday from the Tannahill Centre, with customers able to access approximately £25 worth of shopping for £3.50.
Importantly, the service is open to anyone who feels they would benefit, without the need for referral or evidence of financial hardship, an approach deliberately designed to promote dignity and reduce the stigma that can sometimes accompany accessing food support.
Six years of more than food
While the scale of the Market's food redistribution and financial savings is significant, Darkwood Crew says the story of the last six years cannot be understood through statistics alone.
The initiative has developed around a wider community development approach which sees local people not simply as recipients of support, but as volunteers, contributors and active participants in shaping what happens.
Across six years, more than 50 volunteers have contributed to collecting, sorting, packing, stocking and distributing food, supporting deliveries and helping operate hundreds of Market sessions.
For Terry McTernan, Project Lead at Darkwood Crew, the anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on what has been learned along the way.
He said:
"When we started six years ago, I don't think any of us imagined we would still be here in 2026 talking about more than 10,000 affordable shops, 81 tonnes of food redistributed and potentially £390,000 kept in the pockets of local families.
"Those numbers are incredible, but for me they only tell part of the story. Behind every one of them are people, volunteers giving their time, relationships being built, skills being shared and local people looking out for one another.
"Ferguslie Community Market has never simply been about handing out food. We wanted to create something based on dignity, choice and participation, where people aren't defined by what they might need but recognised for what they can contribute."
"We asked. You told us. We listened."
The Market has also continued to evolve.
Traditionally operating on Thursday mornings, Darkwood Crew recently consulted local residents about the accessibility of the service.
Feedback highlighted that an 11am–1pm opening could present barriers for people who were working, studying, caring for others or managing other daytime commitments.
In response, the organisation introduced a second Thursday evening session from 6pm–8pm, alongside the established daytime Market.
Terry added:
"One of the most important lessons for me as a community development practitioner is that being community-led isn't about professionals or organisations becoming better at deciding what people need.
"It's about asking, listening and being prepared to change.
"People told us that our daytime opening wasn't accessible to everybody. We could have pointed to how successful the existing Market was and carried on regardless. Instead, we listened and introduced the evening session.
"Six years on, we're still learning, we're still adapting and, most importantly, we're still listening."
Dignity, affordability and reducing waste
Food redistribution has remained central to the Market throughout its development.
An estimated 81 tonnes of good food has been redistributed through the initiative rather than unnecessarily going to waste, connecting the Market's response to household food insecurity with Darkwood Crew's wider environmental ethos.
The organisation's #ReduceReuseRecycleFerguslie initiative seeks to connect responses to poverty and inequality with environmental action, reuse, redistribution and community participation.
Darkwood Crew is also clear, however, that community food initiatives cannot and should not be expected to solve the structural causes of poverty.
Terry said:
"A Community Market can't solve poverty, and grassroots organisations shouldn't be expected to compensate for structural inequality.
"What we can do is help household budgets go further, reduce unnecessary food waste, create opportunities for volunteering and informal learning, bring people together and make sure that when somebody needs a bit of support, they can access it with dignity.
"For me, that's the difference between simply delivering a service and doing community development."
Powered by people
The anniversary celebrations have placed particular emphasis on the volunteers who have sustained the Market.
More than 50 people are estimated to have volunteered with the initiative during its six-year history, contributing approximately 15,300 hours between them.
The current volunteer team will be recognised as part of the anniversary, acknowledging the often unseen work involved in keeping the Market operating week after week.
Terry continued:
"There have been early mornings, collections, deliveries, tonnes of food shifted, countless bags packed and probably more cups of tea and laughs than we could ever count.
"Some volunteers have been part of the journey for years, others for a much shorter period, but every person has contributed something to the story.
"Ordinary people giving their time to help other people is what has kept this going for six years. This birthday belongs to them as much as anybody."
Celebrating six years – and looking forward
Ferguslie Community Market will celebrate its sixth birthday on Thursday 10 September 2026, with cake available to visitors during both Market sessions at the Tannahill Centre:
Daytime Market: 11am–1pm
Evening Market: 6pm–8pm
The Market remains open to anyone who needs it.
For Darkwood Crew, the anniversary is not only an opportunity to celebrate what has been achieved, but to consider how a small community response developed during an extraordinary period has become a sustainable part of community life in Ferguslie Park.
Terry concluded:
"I'm immensely proud of what local people have built, but I'm equally conscious that there's still plenty for us to learn.
"Communities aren't collections of deficits waiting for somebody to come along and fix them. They contain knowledge, skills, relationships, leadership and ideas of their own.
"Six years of Ferguslie Community Market has reinforced my belief that when communities are trusted, properly resourced and given meaningful opportunities to lead, some pretty remarkable things can happen.
"Six years down. Plenty still to learn. Plenty still to do."
Media enquiries/interviews:
Terry McTernan
Project Lead, Darkwood Crew
terry@darkwoodcrew.co.uk
07780437578
Photographs: David Cameron