Neighbourly concerns: We meet some of Scotland's good neighbours

• Audrey Nelson (right) with Stacy Paterson and her daughter Maisie

We already have to deal with their constant shouting and swearing, horrible children, pounding music and noisy sex. We're hardly going to single ourselves out for special attention.

This is the picture of Scottish communities that is constantly in our headlines; a nation living behind our curtains, guarded in how close we get to people living in the same street. But how accurate is it? According to Giles Ruck, chief executive of the Scottish Community Foundation, not very.

"I can understand why people think Scotland's communities are disintegrating, because Asbo-collecting youths and nightmare neighbours are the stories that make the headlines," he says. "But for every negative story there are at least a handful of positive examples of people working hard to keep their communities together."

The Scottish Community Foundation has been working with people and organisations since 1996.

"In the last year we have made over 900 awards to a variety of community groups across Scotland," says Giles. "Some wanted funding for community events, while others were for those hoping to introduce new services to their area. What they all had in common was a desire to make their neighbourhood a better place to live."

For people whose communities have been plagued by anti-social behaviour, recognising the problems is key to addressing them.

"Most of the groups that apply to us were started when one or two people noticed a need in their community," Ruck says. "They set up youth clubs or football teams when they saw local youths hanging about the streets. Or they organised community transport to pick up elderly people too frightened to leave their homes. These groups start with nothing more than determination and use what little resources they have to help as many people as they can."

The Foundation recently received funding from Big Lottery to run Our Community Our Future, an initiative hoping to bring more local heroes to the fore.

"It's wonderful that so many community groups spring up to meet urgent community needs," says Ruck. "But we're keen to see groups take a more strategic approach, and consider their long-term sustainability.

"Our Community Our Future will offer mentoring to eight new groups of community members to explore a local issue. Successful applicants can access up to 20,000 to bring people together to tackle local issues and have their voices heard by Scotland's decision-makers.

"There are many issues eating away at the fabric of Scotland's communities, and it would be nave to suggest they can all be addressed by a few good souls, but I believe local people will be at the heart of turning around the fortunes of many Scottish communities," Ruck says.

Turn over to meet some of those who have taken action to protect the sense of community spirit across Scotland.

Audrey Nelson and Stacy Paterson, Loanhead, Edinburgh

Audrey Nelson was used to helping children cross the road in her job as a lollypop lady at St Margaret's Primary and Paradykes schools in Loanhead.

So when her next-door neighbour went into labour at home she was happy to turn her hand to helping a child into the world.

Her neighbour, Stacy Paterson, 34, had just returned from a visit to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on the evening of 2 March 2006 after experiencing a few minor contractions.

Doctors had told the full-time mum it would be hours before her baby was born, but it wasn't long before she was in full-blown labour.

"I had offered to babysit their son Gavin when the time came," says Audrey, who has a 15-year-old son, David, and now works as a trainee clinical support worker at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.

"I was having my tea when Stacy's husband Greg came running in and said Stacy was in agony.

"He wanted me to help get her in the car but Stacy could feel the head coming and I knew there was no chance she could wait that long. So we phoned 999 and the emergency team started to talk me through the birth."

But when 7lb 6oz Maisie appeared, Audrey realised that something was terribly wrong.

"Her head appeared and it was purple," says Audrey, 44. "The cord was wrapped around her neck so I started telling Stacy that she had to push to get the baby out. I had to be calm because I didn't want to worry her. As soon as the baby was born I managed to release the cord but she wasn't breathing so I patted her a few times and finally she started to cry. It was then that the ambulance crew came through the door."

A proud Stacy and Greg gave their daughter the middle name Audrey in honour of their friend. They admit that they might not have been able to cope without her help.

"Audrey was just amazing," says Stacy. "She seemed so calm all the way through the birth. I just don't know what would have happened if she hadn't been there."

For Audrey (below right, with Stacy and Maisie), helping out her neighbour in her hour of need was a normal part of living in a close-knit community.

"We all get on well around here and we're always in and out of each other's houses and talking over the garden fence. My son goes in to check on an old lady in the area and plays cards with her sometimes and my other neighbour walks our dog sometimes. Looking out for each other is part of living in a community."

Moyra Thomas, Wester hailes, Edinburgh

The words at the top of the headed notepaper read: Planting Seeds to Happiness. The light-hearted sentiment makes Moyra Thomas (pictured) laugh now, but in the days when the pensioner was pushing the notes through her neighbours' doors they meant everything.

For years the high-rise flats at Hailesland Park in Wester Hailes where Moyra, 67, lives were a concrete desert; the only greenery, a few patchy bushes planted years ago by the council in a half-hearted attempt to brighten up the monotony of the 1960s tower blocks.

Then one day in 2000 Moyra saw her neighbour Celia weeding the ground around the bushes.

"It changed everything for me," Moyra says. "Celia had been very unwell, but she was making the effort to improve our community. She told me that she had applied for a grant, and that she had 250 to spend on improving the area."

When Celia moved away, Moyra was determined to carry on her neighbour's good work.

"I remembered the spirit that existed in my granny's day before we were moved out of the old tenements at Tron Square," she says. "Each week my granny would make a big pot of soup and send me out to the old people in the street to make sure they were fed.

"That is what community means to me, and I knew if we were to improve our living situation we would need to muster some of my granny's energy."

Moyra made a start by contacting the residents of Drovers Bank, Midcairn and Kilncroft, on notepaper she'd had specially printed.

"The sentiment at the top of the paper may have been a bit cheesy, but it said what it needed to," she says. "We needed to change the way we were living and look out for each other a bit more."

Most of the residents had little or no gardening experience, but they made a start by pulling up the drab bushes to make way for some flowers, plants and shrubs. Soon they divided the gardens surrounding the three tower blocks into manageable plots.

"I was surprised at first by how many people came out to help. There are lots of people with problems in this area, from alcohol and drugs to issues with mental health and isolation, but we all worked together.

"The council gave us two raised beds for disabled people who wanted to join in the project, and they also paid for two rose beds to start us off," Moyra says. Nine years and thousands of pounds of fundraising later, the Hailesland Park Gardening Group's work has realised her dreams.

When we meet, the area around the high rise has just been planted up for spring and is already a riot of colour, thanks to the daffodils.

"We've done quite a lot of fundraising, through a few jumble sales and coffee mornings," says Moyra. "We've raised about 2,000 in total, which has been really helpful. Everyone's been very generous.

"Most importantly though it's turned into a real community service – if we get curtains and bedding and things like that donated for the sales, we give it to people moving into the flats to give them a bit of a start if they don't have very much."

Their hard work has paid off with several awards over the years including the Best High Flat Village in Scotland and four Scotland in Bloom Awards.

"We're absolutely delighted with the space now," said Moyra. "It's really made a huge difference. Not only has it got everyone talking but it has given us something to feel proud of."

Mandy and Lindsay Smith, Altnahara

On 8 January this year the temperature in Altnahara plunged to –22.3C. It was the coldest place in Britain at the time with the lowest temperature in 15 years.

But Mandy Smith, who runs a bed and breakfast in the town with her husband Lindsay took the bad weather in her stride.

"We just cope when the weather gets bad but we have very good neighbours too which means everything to us."

Altnahara is 82 miles from Inverness and has just ten houses, a church and a hotel.

The nearest shop is 21 miles away in Lairg, but during the bad weather villagers with four-wheel drive vehicles picked up supplies for fellow residents.

"It's very important that everyone sticks together – if you don't have a car here then you are stuck," says Mandy. "We have two disabled elderly neighbours and we cleared their path every morning. If we hadn't then they wouldn't have made it out at all. It's not just the elderly though – everyone needs help sometimes. It would be sad if we didn't look out for each other."

When Mandy and Lindsay's conservatory roof caved in from the weight of the snow it wasn't long before everyone pitched in. "After our neighbours had cleared our roof we went round to their house to clear theirs because we didn't want it happening to them.

"You would do it for anybody – you never know when you may need the favour returned."

The town has recently enjoyed a spate of good weather, basking in temperatures of 20C heat.

"We didn't let the weather spoil things then – and we all get to enjoy it together now."

If you would like to find out ways to make a difference in your community, contact the Scottish Community Foundation, tel: 0141-341 4960, or visit www.scottishcf.org

This article was first published in The Scotsman on Saturday, May 29, 2010