Friday, 26 January 2024

FIVE THINGS FOR A FRIDAY

Normal service is resumed this week as my Thursday update disappeared into world wide web heaven!  We are working on the website and the little gremlins that occur from time to time.

WARM WEDNESDAY IS BACK

Warm Wednesday is back from 9am to 2pm in the Wildside Centre at Whitebridge.  There will be a ‘quiet’ room to work in and a ‘noisy’ room to chat!  If it proves popular we may continue beyond the winter months.  Get out of the house, get a change of scenery, save on heating bills, use free internet, have a cuppa, chat with friends, whatever your reason the building is there to be used.  More here

EAGLE TALK

Great to see a talk on the Golden Eagles Past Present and Future in the Wildside Centre.  I hope in future we can have a place that can promote this heritage in the local area, to introduce people of all ages to what we can explore on our own doorstep, to understand how we can protect, enhance and enjoy our land and wildlife to the full and introduce the joy it can bring to future generations.  I am sure it will happen.

RAISING OUR GAME

We spent some time out working on consistent project planning across all Trust projects this week to make them not only accessible to the community but our own Board and Staff too.  A bit of work to do but it introduced some positive results with challenging questions.  The organisation is the same but it’s clear the individual members on the Trust Board is not the same Board it was three years ago.  Since the CAP and Place Plan has been published we have also seen the Community Council, Boleskine Community Care Board and the Stratherrick Hall have new members on their committees too.  Some have new staff, which brings another level of complexity but also helps get things done, alongside changes with stakeholder groups that may be involved.  Information and skill sets do get lost.  For us it’s how our local community organisations can continue and flourish through such changes, ensuring we meet community expectations on ideas that were developed before our time.

FUNDING

The Project Planning also helps us with funding applications and it’s great to see additional funding coming into the area beyond our windfarm and hydro money from work done at BCC and the Trust.  Recently we’ve had funds (cash and kind) come in for care, buildings, staff, business plans, advice, pathways, nature restoration, transport, childcare, recreation facilities and housing.  We aim to not only deliver on projects but make the funds we get in work harder for us to unlock other funds.  It's exciting to see and being able to deliver is key.

TRANSFORMATIONAL

It’s probably true to say we are seeing a big transformational shift in our local area by the work we are all involved with - even if it was just your idea given during the Community Action Plan or Place Plan process.  This work is highly regarded elsewhere and I've had the pleasure of sharing our success and challenges to other groups across Scotland.  At times we are going to be hit by opinion and proposals which can impact on that, for good and bad.  But we also have to not forget about the basics too.  After a winter of high winds, fallen trees, snow, flooding and no power we have to ensure our resilience at a local level can be met effectively and that ideas put into place by others in the past are consistent, fit for purpose and meet future demands.  We can learn from our own heritage and history.  This cannot be lost and strengthens projects we work on in the future.  In the here and now it comes down to people.  So a big thank you to those who have helped others this winter.  As I look out the window and see four seasons in one day I’m sure we are not finished yet!

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...