It was with a sense of sadness that I spent my last day on my summer programme.

At the same time it has made me feel very privileged indeed to have been able to tour the length and breadth of Scotland to get a snapshot of what individuals and organisations think of what the Parliament is doing for them.

My last day was spent entirely in Falkirk visiting three very different but equally interesting projects.

The day started with a two-hour visit to Falkirk High School to hear about various friendships and links which have developed between people in the town and communities across Malawi.

Discussing Malawi at Falkirk High School

Despite it being the school holidays I was delighted so many youngsters took the trouble to come in to tell us about their experiences.

And I was incredibly impressed with what they said.

It was heart-warming to listen to a university student who visited Malawi when he was still at Falkirk High School.

He made it quite clear his visit has literally changed his life and undoubtedly affected how he viewed his future by urging him to play his part in helping people less fortunate than himself.

It was a genuinely inspirational moment for me.

I heard about various twinning projects between schoolchildren and students in Falkirk and Malawi. I also learned how churches in the town are continuing to work closely with contacts in the African country to improve  the quality of life of so many people.

The event was led by a faculty head at the school, Mariot Dallas, the grand daughter of Mamie Martin, whose family and friends established a charity in her honour to help educate Malawian girls at secondary school.

Malawi is a subject close to the Parliament’s heart as we have been working with the Malawian National Assembly for the last five years. And it is very much a case of the two of us learning from each other.

It was really wonderful to hear how so many people in Falkirk were doing so much to help strengthen links with Malawi, a country which clearly has fondness for Scotland.

It was then off to a totally different, but equally innovative, project.

I got a tour of part of the site of the town’s new Helix project, which will see an area of the town transformed into a wonderful new eco area with 34kms of paths and cycle tracks.

The project is very much driven by the community. I spoke to a number of people involved and got a real feel for their sense of ownership and belonging which, I am sure, will make the project a success. Any project which aims to create vast areas of woodland, thousands of new jobs and generate a huge amount of income for an area is surely to be welcomed.

Viewing the replica Kelpie statues at the Helix Project

I was taken to see the replica kelpies, which are equine sculptures and not a type of mermaid as I had previously believed they were. They were a sight to be seen. At just a fraction of the size they will eventually be built to (30-metres each) they were beautiful.

I heard how the horse heads, which will move and light up, will be built near a new canal link connecting Grangemouth and the Firth of Forth into Scotland’s extensive canal network.

I then visited a community centre where five artists, short-listed to landscape the huge bulk of earth that will be taken from the site during the project build, were meeting with community representatives.

My design for the earth mound

I had to get my hands dirty as I was asked to mould what I would build with the earth in a wooden box full of sand. Art and design not being a strength of mine I ended up shaping the sand into a Salisbury Crags-like formation. Needless to say none of the five finalists seemed even remotely impressed.

From here, my final ever visit on my programme, took me to meet volunteers from Radio Royal, based  – for now – at Falkirk and District Infirmary, after a brief halt to change a punctured wheel on the car!!

For a hospital radio station they had two incredibly advanced studios and a huge collection of music- a tribute to the 30 or so

Being interviewed at Radio Royal

volunteers who give up their time for the station , and they are all understandably excited at the prospect of moving into brand new, purpose built, studios in the new Forth Valley  Royal Hospital in Larbert.

I did a live interview about my summer programme  and was also asked about my taste in music. I let slip why I was such a fan of Dougie MacLean’s  ‘Caledonia’ by admitting that when I played guitar in a pretty average folk band some years ago it was about the only song which ever got us anything like an enthusiastic, as opposed to dutiful, round of applause!