The May Group is Tiphereth’s indoor day service group with a focus on art and craft activities.

Members develop their creative skills through crafts like weaving, felting, paper-making and painting. The group showcases and sells their work at Tiphereth’s annual Summer and Christmas Fairs.

Alongside artistic activities, there are regular musical groups. Where members can take part in singing and playing instruments. Through this they learning rhythm, breathing techniques and group dynamics.

The Garden Group's focus is the care of Tiphereth's large community garden. The group maintain the vegetable garden, flower beds, wildlife areas and polytunnels. This provides a rich opportunity for learning a range of gardening skills.

Members of the group learn to sow, cultivate and harvest the plants they care for. Members are able to complete Borders College Skills Accreditation qualifications at all levels. Demonstrating their increased knowledge and skills.

The Garden Group carry out the weekly green waste collection in the Colinton area. The group has been doing this on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council since 1996. Members make collections from over 550 houses every week. This is a great opportunity for social interaction with the local community. Our Quarry Group then recycle the green waste into compost.

The Pentland Group concentrates on woodworking. They make furniture, signs and smaller objects in their purpose-built workshop. The group also has a quieter woodwork shelter called Dragonfly. Here members work with green, unseasoned, wood and do basketry work.

Members of the group also help with litter picking at two sites in the Pentland Hills. This is a partnership with Pentland Hills Regional Park. They also deliver firewood and compost around Edinburgh for our social enterprise projects.

Each day, members assist in preparing tea break and lunch break. This work includes basic food preparation and learning more complex cooking skills.

The Print Studio creates high-quality screen printed items on fabric and paper. Members and co-workers work together in our beautifully light workshop with great views over Edinburgh. They use various methods and mediums as part of the design process. Like painting, drawing, mark-making, relief printing and digital methods. We always use high quality, ethical materials and equipment to promote joy and pride in the work.

Screen printing is a repetitive, rhythmic craft with great therapeutic and sensory value. It enables pictures, patterns and marks to be reproduced, elevated and celebrated. The nature of screenprinting requires real connection and cooperation between co-workers and members. A process through which positive relationships and confidence grow. Everybody’s skills and gifts in the workshop are celebrated and we choose the themes for projects together. We sell our products at our annual Christmas and Summer fairs and will soon be launching on Etsy.

You can see what we do here on Instagram.

The Peregrine Group and Estates Team do conservation and land-based work. with various other charities and community projects in Edinburgh.

The Peregrine Group offers outdoor-based opportunities for members to engage in practical tasks. These include path building, tree planting, limestone walling, and other conservation work.

The group works in partnership with other community organisations. These include churches, Pentland Hills Regional Park, conservation trusts, and other voluntary groups. Members make a difference in the local community by contributing their time, skills and effort.

The Estates Team assists in maintaining common areas within the Tiphereth property.

The Tiphereth Quarry Group works in our former quarry at the foot of the Pentland Hills. They produce compost and firewood for our social enterprise Tiphereth Compost and Firewood. The group takes locally sourced timber and processes it into logs for fireplaces. The timber comes from tree surgeons and other non-forestry sources. The logs are, cut seasoned in our drying barn and bagged into nets for sale in the Edinburgh community.

Our nutrient-rich compost is made from green waste collected by Tiphereth's Garden Group. The Quarry Group screens the compost using a trommel we built ourselves and put it into bags. The gardeners we sell it to love it. We also use it in our own community gardens and vegetable patches.

The Quarry Group has a strong focus on "meaningful work". They feel empowered by participating in a good day's work. All the profits from our sales go back into helping support Tiphereth. The work provides Edinburgh with ethical and environmentally sustainable products.