Friday, 10 February 2023

Did you know that Stratherrick and Foyers scores in the lowest decile ranking, 45th out of 6,976 areas, for geographical access to services on the Scottish index of multiple deprivation.

When I work on budgets for the next financial year I always start from going back to the Mission and Vision of the organisation, set up by the community for the community.  I think it is useful to share these, not buried in some strategic document somewhere, but to re-emphasise our goals to help improve the statistic above.

The role of the Trust in details is

(1)To prevent or relieve poverty particularly among the residents of the Stratherrick and Foyers Community Council area.

(2) The advancement of education, training or retraining, particularly among unemployed people, and providing unemployed people with work experience.

(3) To advance heritage and/or preserve, for the benefit of the general public, the historical, architectural and constructional heritage that may exist in and around the Stratherrick and Foyers Community Council area in buildings (including any structure or erection, and any part of a building as so defined) of particular beauty or historical, architectural or constructional interest.

(4) To advance environmental protection and improvement in the Stratherrick and Foyers Community Council area through the provision, maintenance and/or improvement of public open space and other public amenities and other environmental and regeneration projects (but subject to appropriate safeguards to ensure that the public benefits so arising clearly outweigh any private benefit thereby conferred on private landowners).

(5) To advance citizenship and/or community development (including the promotion of civic responsibility and the promotion of the voluntary sector and/or the effectiveness or efficiency of charities).

(6) the provision or assistance in the provision of recreational facilities for the public at large and/or those who, by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, poverty or social and economic circumstances, have need of such facilities; But such that the company shall do so following principles of sustainable development.

The statistic above suggests we don't have the same facilities people elsewhere take for granted.  So we do plan to invest a lot of money in facilities (some of our own, some from external sources).  But these facilities offer so much more than that, as defined by our shared vision.  Here's how.

Errogie

Errogie will be a uniquely designed, supportive and inspirational multi media venue for crafts, music, heritage and biodiversity and a meeting space in Stratherrick and Foyers that promotes learning and creative confidence for all.  

Sports Field and Slipway

Aims to be to be a world class sporting facility near the banks of Loch Ness. It will bring individuals, schools, local sports clubs and healthcare professionals together to work collectively to further enhance sporting opportunities in the area and to support and improve the health and wellbeing of the Stratherrick and Foyers community.

Housing

Aim is to provide new or upgraded affordable, sustainable, passiv style housing to the community of Stratherrick and Foyers for rent or purchase.

Pathways

Aim to upgrade or develop current or new pathways in the Stratherrick and Foyers area to support well being and access. To support and encourage visitors to the area, providing guidance on where to walk/run/cycle/horse riding and create local employment by supporting tourism in the area.

Land and Forest School

Aim to provide a facility and area to encourage life long learning and teach people of all ages new skills, an appreciation of their natural highland environment and environmental responsibilities.

The Wildside Centre - Completed

The Wildside Centre is a multi purpose community venue where members of the Stratherrick and Foyers can meet and support each other.  The Wildside Centre provides an area for study, work and social activities inside and outside the building.  It aims to be a destination venue and will be suitable for family friendly, training or conference activities with local accommodation providing a welcome place to stay.

Back to the budgets....

2025

February (12 stories)

22 February 📣 ** TODAY ** 📣 - Forest School Meeting

Interested in the future of the Forest School building? From 2pm   Come and speak to us about your thoughts for the Forest School and wider opportunities fo...

21 February Congratulations to Whitebridge Hotel

Whitebridge Hotel are finalists in the National Hotels of the Year - Scotland awards!   The ceremony takes place in Glasgow on the 26th February at The Cr...

19 February 📣 Youth Club returns this Thursday 📣

Youth club is for anyone in P7 to S6 ✅ After a bit of a break, we are delighted to say that Youth Club is back!! ⭐ Important info ⭐ Date - Thursday 20th Februa...

19 February Communications 2025!

We are making a some improvements in the way we share important information with the community in 2025. The SFCT Board and communications team have made the dec...

13 February Mailing List Update

We hope you received your copy of the February newsletter and enjoyed reading through it. The team are busy updating our mailing list and we understand that there may ...

12 February Next Sat 22nd February

Next Sat 22nd February   Inverfarigaig Forest School, Farigaig Forestry Carpark IV2 6XR - From 2pm   Come and speak to us about your thoughts fo...

11 February ⚠️ Update regarding the upcoming works taking place at The Wildside Centre ⚠️

We can now confirm that the scheduled works on upgrading the toilet facilities in the Wildside Centre is starting this Thursday – 13th February.   The Wi...

11 February 🙌 JOIN OUR TEAM 🙌

We are currently recruiting a part-time (30 hours per week) Community Action Plan Project Officer to join our small team, based in the Wildside Centre in Whitebridge, on ...

8 February 📢 THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE 📢

Later today the Pathways Group are hosting their Community Engagement event at the Wildside Centre from 13.30pm.   For the past year, the Pathways Group has be...

6 February Errogie Church Statement

As you will be aware, an announcement was made by the Trust in mid December 2024 that we were unfortunately unable to host three events that were due to take place at Err...

6 February Wildside Wednesday Success!

🙌THANK YOU 🙌 We want to say a big thank you to those of you who popped along to our first Wildside Wednesday event yesterday! It was great to see you all 😃  ...

5 February !! WILDSIDE WEDNESDAY - TODAY !!

Join us TODAY at the Wildside Centre, between 9.30am – 12.30pm where the first Wildside Wednesday of 2025 will take place.  You can shop local, with local p...

January (22 stories)

31 January !! Next Saturday !!

On the 8th Feb The Pathways Group host their Community Engagement Day at the Wildside Centre from 13.30pm.   The group have setup a dedicated Facebook event pa...

30 January Refurbishments to toilets in The Wildside Centre

Following many months of work behind the scenes we are pleased to be able to share with you that work on upgrading the ladies toilets and creating a larger disabled toile...

30 January Fancy a sing song with Monadhliath?

The Monadhliath Choir invites all singers to a charity singing event on the 27.04.2025 at Stratherrick Public Hall. If you would be interested in join...

29 January February Newsletter

We are pleased to share that our Feb newsletter should be making its way through your door next week! 🙌   Please look out for the white envelope addressed to ...

25 January Do you use Instagram?

Did you know that Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust are on Instagram? If you too have an account, why not give our page a follow. We’re keen to build up ...

24 January Foyers Community Fire Station

🚒 Foyers Community Fire Station 🚒   Foyers Community Fire station has a competent crew of 7 personnel, but we are in real need of new recruits, to keep the s...

23 January Wildside Wednesday is returning!

Join us on the 5th February at the Wildside Centre, between 9.30am – 12.30pm.   Here is your chance to shop local, with local produce from Lyne Mhor Crof...

22 January Loch Ness Luvvies - Traditional Burns Supper

This Friday, 24th Jan the Loch Ness Luvvies are hosting their very own Traditional Burns Supper at Stratherrick Hall, Gorthleck at 7.30pm. Tickets are £20 per he...

22 January Timings have been announced!

As you may have recently seen, The Pathways Group are running a Community Engagement event on the 8th February from 1pm at The Wildside Centre. In our previous post, t...

21 January ** Mobile Library Update **

Mark, our local librarian has kindly sent over a full list of dates when he will be stopping in the area. You can find the full list here: https://www.stratherrickcommuni...

20 January Invitation to tender - Health & Safety Consultant required

We are looking for an experienced Health & Safety professional to carry out a comprehensive survey on Errogie Church to ensure that the building is fully compliant fo...

19 January Send in your dates for the Community Calendar!

Did you know we have an online Community Calendar? If not, you can find it here: https://www.stratherrickcommunity.org.uk/calendar/   We would love to inclu...

18 January What's the next step?

For the past year, the Pathways Group has been working hard to promote the local path network, paths that lead through rich landscapes, historical sites, and biodiversity...

15 January Community Engagement Day - 8th Feb

Over the last month you may have noticed that the Pathways Group are holding a Community Engagement Day on the 8th February. You can find out all about the event by follo...

14 January Mobile Library Update

Below you will find a list of updated Dates/Times where you can visit the Mobile Library at The Wildside Centre.   We will add these dates to the Online Commu...

14 January Indoor Carpet Bowls makes it return as of today!

** TODAY ** Indoor Carpet Bowls makes it return as of today! The group return to their weekly session after the Xmas break. Please note: The group will now ...

10 January Community Engagement Event - 8th Feb

The Pathways Group invites you to a community event that explores the potential development of a pathways based app. This is your opportunity to help shape an app which w...

9 January Deadline for Jan/Feb Newsletter Content!

The deadline to send in any content for the Jan/Feb Newsletter is Friday the 17th of January 2025. Please email marketingofficer@sfctrust.org.uk with your articles inclu...

9 January Send us in your photos from the Winter Festival

A HUGE thank you to those of you who have already uploaded photos to our shared community photo gallery during the festival.   If you have any wintery snaps th...

8 January Reverse Advent Calendar Success!

Santa's little helpers would like to thank everyone who contributed in any way to the overwhelming success of this project. The generosity shown by our community was ...

8 January ** MOBILE LIBRARY VISIT TODAY CANCELLED **

Sadly, due to the current road conditions, Mark who drives the local ‘Mobile Library’ will NOT be stopping at Wildside today. All books will be renewed, and h...

7 January Welcome Back

Hello, we hope you had a relaxing time during the festivities. As it’s now time to get back to work, we thought it would be a good idea to update our online communi...