A PAIR of Lochgelly based comedians, who use comedy to tackle serious messages, met with Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Jayne Baxter to raise awareness of their ground-breaking approach to community education.

Beth Hamilton-Cardus and Andrew Coull set up “Suit and Pace” as a social enterprise that uses comedy to educate, entertain and engage audiences in serious topics.

Since starting in 2012 the pair, based at their Main Street, Lochgelly studio, have performed to hundreds of people across Fife and beyond, receiving positive feedback for their shows addressing issues including discrimination and financial harm in vulnerable people.

During her visit, Jayne Baxter MSP discussed their existing work and plans for the future, and met some of the volunteers they work with.

Suit and Pace received business support and funding from Scotland’s social enterprise development agency, Firstport, which helped with start up costs for the business.

Suit and Pace aim to perform to over 2000 people this year, making it their most successful year to date – a feat they hope to build on in the future.

Beth Hamilton-Cardus, co-founder of Suit and Pace, said: “We really appreciated Jayne’s visit, and it’s a great example of the huge amount of support we’ve had in Fife. Advice and support from someone in Jayne’s position is really invaluable for Andrew and I as we take our work forward.”

Jayne Baxter MSP, said: “I was really pleased but also intrigued to learn that there was a “community comedy” company in my area.

"Suit and Pace are doing a great job to engage people of all ages in being able to talk about things which they might find uncomfortable – and as a bonus they are also very entertaining!”

Suit and Pace do a lot of work with schools and use comedy to address very serious subjects.