Friday, 26 July 2024

My final Five Things For A Friday

SOUP TO GO

I’d like to start Five Things this week by a thank you to Soup To Go for their tireless dedication to producing soup during Covid and the period of time when people where getting over lockdown and then the cost of living crisis.  It has been a pleasure to host you at the Wildside.  They have brought a smile to the faces of everyone who has attended their regular Monday meals – and they also brought Elvis too, which was a bonus!  Although we are sad to see them go we wish them all the very best.

SUPPORT BCC

You may have noticed this week that the charity Boleskine Community Care are now part of the HTSI Highland Community Lottery! For as little as £1 a week, you will be entered into draw for up to £25,000.

For every ticket sold, 60p comes straight to BCC as unrestricted funding! They would like to use this funding to provide a weekly free lunch club to the community over the winter months.

Please follow the link and click 'Buy Tickets' to support BCC! Every ticket will make a huge difference to them.  Support Boleskine Community Care when you play Highland Community Lottery - Highland Community Lottery

STRATHERRICK WAR MEMORIAL

It was good to hear Stratherrick War Memorial was judged the best in its category in the Highlands and Islands Area and has now been entered into the National competition. The National Judging will begin in the week commencing the 05th of August 2024. Keep checking social media for details of how to get involved.

THE HIGHLAND GATHERING

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Highland Gathering – over 700+ people came to the event.  Thank you to the Corriegarth Estate for hosting, all the volunteers and stall holders who helped make it happen and the Trust staff and Board Members for working above and beyond the call of duty!  We’d love to know what you thought about the event here by 2nd August THE HIGHLAND GATHERING 2024 EVENT SURVEY (surveymonkey.com)

MY FINAL FIVE THINGS FOR A FRIDAY

My Highland Adventure is coming to an end. After three and a half years at the Trust I am off to pastures new.  I was made to feel very welcome when I started and it has been a pleasure to work in the area.  

We now have planning in place for all the legacy projects for future generations.  We have identified what the community wants through the Community Action Plan and Place Plan - the first Place Plan to be submitted in the Highlands, and second in the whole of Scotland.  This will and is already unlocking additional funding beyond the windfarm/hydro projects for organisations across the Strath to ensure a healthy and happy future for the area.  There is a wonderful team behind all this who make things happen.

It's been great to see groups become active and stronger.  The support we were able to give through Covid and Cost of Living support (thanks to the Knockie Trust for their help too!).  Events from the Highland Gathering to Winter Wonderland and Fireworks.  Growing Projects at Wildside and Inverfarigaig with the Polycrubs.  The new playpark at Wildside. The growth of groups to encourage walking, running, cycling, horseriding and improving the bio diversity in the area.  The slipway and Riverside Sports and Recreation developments moving forward.  The first stage of the Errogie Church development being completed (and a wedding!).  Being able to find additional funding.  Strengthening our Finance Team.  The work that has gone into after school care, transport, Forest School and new affordable housing at Inverfarigaig.  How well you have been informed by weekly updates on this website, two magazines a year, newsletters now being delivered to your door and over 900 stories on the website celebrating everything you have achieved during that time.  The support the staff team has been able to give volunteers in getting things done has been fantastic.  I have been so impressed by how much time and energy many volunteers have put into the projects you identified and none of this would have been possible without your support.  It is amazing!

All being well, with a fair wind and working together I expect to see more great things built, operational and sustainable in Stratherrick and Foyers by 2030 and I am sure you will find someone far more talented than I to guide you through that exciting stage.

I’m off on holiday for a couple of weeks, one final Board Meeting and putting together my handover document for whoever is next so this is my final FIVE THINGS FOR A FRIDAY.

All the very best for the future.

TONY FOSTER

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...