Friday, 11 August 2023

FIVE THINGS FOR A FRIDAY

BRING AND BUY SALE

This weekend there is a bring and buy sale at the Wildside Centre so you can recycle your items and pick up a bargain.  Check it out on Saturday morning from 10am.  It will be inside if weather is poor.  Wildcrafts is also on so go and enjoy that too!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BCC

This week we read in their newsletter that Boleskine Community Care have got funding for their Community Service Co-ordinator from the Royal Countryside Fund.  Congratulations and we wish Olivia Grant, who has accepted the role, the best of luck.  As established groups like BCC become less reliant on community funds distributed through the Trust the more we can support other groups and volunteers to meet the many outcomes you identified in your Community Action Plan. 

HOW YOU CAN GET FUNDING

These tools funded by the Trust over the last few years - The Community Action Plan, Place Plan, evidence of need (such as a survey of your members), individual Development Plans/Business Plans (if your group is big enough to require one), your groups financial records over a period of time and your great idea – are all great anchor stones for attracting funding for any group across Stratherrick and Foyers. 

Some funders may ask for more info, some less, but it all provides evidence of need, tells your story to the funding assessors and when all the stars align can lead to a successful conclusion.   

If you are new to the area or feel you are an old hand then Steven Watson, our Community Liaison Officer, and our Fundraisers Sarah Byrne and Sharon Ferguson, can use your invaluable knowledge and skills and help your group apply for funding from the Trust or external funders if you wish us to.  We welcome you all to make our community an even better place to live and work.  I am heartened by how many groups we have helped over the last year and how we have employed local businesses to achieve some of that work.

We are now offering this staff expertise to our own Trust Board so they can evidence need for projects they are involved in too (they always did, we are just improving the mechanisms now we have the CAP to work with).  It can be a bit overwhelming and scary, but we will help the best we can.  We used these tools to get external funding for our new Marketing and PR Team (Jillian Barclay and Calum Martin) and our CAP Officer (Robbie Burns). I understand the Stregthening Communities funder will come and speak direct to our Board and speak to the new staff members in the near future.  A good relationship with your funder is important and we welcome this. 

TSI Highland shared this advice this week – “Apart from whether you spent their money in full or have to return unspent funds, funders are generally seeking three key pieces of information:  

• Outputs – e.g. how many people did you help?
• Outcomes – e.g. how did you change lives?
• Impact – how did the community benefit and what did you learn?

For more top tips on measuring success, go to Funding Information | HTSI main (highlandtsi.org.uk). “

OTHER WAYS WE CAN HELP

Prior to making your application our new CAP Officer can help gather the information you may need (three quotes from suppliers etc.) if your group doesn’t have the time or capacity to do so.  We don’t want to take away from the volunteering ethic so we prefer if you did but if time isn’t on your side then we are there to help. 

This information means our Fundraisers can make applications on your behalf with all the information they need too (they have been doing both over the last year, which isn’t ideal, so this extra support is useful for them too). 

In the end you have to sign the funding document and be confident you can make your idea happen.  The CAP Officer, Project Officer (Caroline Tucker) and Facilities Officer (Matthew Rhodes) can help support that too.  As an example one volunteer is very busy during the summer so doesn’t have the time to arrange work that needs to be done, which may take four months or so.  However our staff can step in and make it happen within a shorter time frame.

Our Marketing, Communications and PR Team can then tell your story to the community and wider public via our website, social media, newsletters, magazines and media outlets.  This will help other communities learn from what we do.

WHAT GELS IT TOGETHER?

A great Admin Team.  We are losing Laura and looking for a new Admin Officer.  This is a key role because Laura also evaluates all our student grants, keeps us right with grants for other groups, make sures our AGM and IT systems are tightly run and supports the Board Meetings.  She has also been leading on updating all our policies and ways we communicate with each group directly.  We are creating employment locally so please do apply here Jobs | Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust (stratherrickcommunity.org.uk)

A great Finance Team.  We’ve just split the role of Finance to a Bookkeeper (Susan Low) and Finance Officer (Fiona Mustarde)  because the volume of transactions we deal with has increased and the responsibilities we have to our funders / budget monitoring which needs dedicated support from a Finance Officer.  Believe me without Sharon working for the Community Council and our then Finance Officer Marie being in place work on projects such as the Foyers toilets and Errogie Church (alongside all the other CAP Projects) would have been very difficult for the community volunteers on the Community Council and the Trust Board to manage.

Of course most groups will not have this support but Admin and Finance is key.  As your Trust has grown over the years, we seek external funding to meet the communities aspirations and projects become even more complex we have found this a challenge for volunteers to do.  So as you grow we say keep your eye on it and ensure there is consistency and continuity there. 

Along the way we may all make mistakes.  You may not achieve everything you want to do (Covid and Cost of Living Crisis don't help).  We are all learning and on the whole we are achieving some great things and fighting above our weight for a community of 800+ people.  At the very least ask us for advice if stuck and if we don't have the answer we may know someone who does.

Later this year we will do a presentation on this support for all groups.  All together and with a positive attitude we can harness and improve great community spirit and make things (continue) to happen.  

I HOPE….

…you find that useful.  This is Tony Foster (Trust Manager) signing out!

PS Peter Leyden looks after the toilets at Foyers (thanks Peter) and we are looking for another cleaner, primarily for Wildside.  If you are interested please send me a CV and covering letter to tony-ceo@sfctrust.org.uk

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...