Friday, 15 December 2023

12 Christmas Wishes for a Friday

What a week.  Elves running around at various locations, cute Highland Dancers, large teddy bears driving cars and people going slightly mad.  It must be the festive season! 

Right, deep breath, this is long one…

Before I begin apologies if any projects are left out below.  I’m not ignoring you and your project is important to everyone.  We just have a lot to get through!

Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone who came to Winter Wonderland and all your kind words about the event. It makes all the effort put in by volunteers, the Trust Board, local contractors and staff over the last year worthwhile.  I’d also like to thank those former members of the Trust who purchased the Wildside Centre on behalf of the community.  Without you we wouldn’t have a venue to host this wonderful annual event.  Don’t miss the Highland Gathering and Fireworks in 2024.

Also a big thanks to Kirsty Balfour, who stepped down from the Trust this year, and Gareth Jones who retired as Chair.  Kirsty and Gareth established and took forward the vision from the previous Board, backing it up with extensive community consultation through the Community Action Plan and Place Plan.  Catriona Fraser, along with the current Trust Board, will take the community to the next stage.  You can read more about Catriona here New Chair ready to lead Stratherrick and Foyers Community Trust. | 12 December 2023 | Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust (stratherrickcommunity.org.uk)

I was thinking the other day if the Trust had not had individuals who put the time and effort in a positive and proactive way how would we have survived Covid (and now cost of living) without their help?  Initiatives such as Soup To Go and the tenacity to support Cromarty Firth Wireless Network to install broadband across the area are amazing achievements.  Without the technology being in place our community projects wouldn’t be as far ahead as they are now. Neither would local businesses and people who needed to engage and communicate with their customers and families far and wide during a difficult time.

In 2023 we have seen more people come forward to help, engage and work together for the benefit of our community as we creep ever slowly back to pre-pandemic levels of activity.  I hope you get back what you put in and I applaud you for that.

With that in mind, for my final message this year, I am going to crack on with 12 Christmas Wishes for a Friday and our hopes for 2024.

1. 12 drummers drumming!  First off we have distributed £18,300 to 61 households in the area for food and fuel. Thanks to the volunteers of the Knockie Trust for their time on this.  Their work ensured families got the funds before the Christmas season. Some of you will now be using the free firewood distributed last year to warm your homes. We will be distributing more firewood in late January/Early February.  Look out for updates in the new year.  This is the final year these two initiatives will run. Thanks to our funders SSE who recognised the impact the cost of living would have on everyone.  
2. 11 pipers piping. If we get all our ducks in a line before the Christmas holidays (and just after) the Trust will be in ownership of land and will build two homes for affordable rent at Inverfarigiag by the end of 2024.  This will join the other two homes owned by Community Housing Trust for affordable rent there. 
3. 10 lords a leaping.  We also bought land at Whitebridge for expansion of the Wildside and the area is also designated for housing.  We have no immediate plans to do either but we have done an independent risk assessment and sent that to local residents and written to them to clear any high risk items they own from the site.  This will help improve the local environment.  In March we also hope to start work on the children’s playpark inside the grounds of the Wildside Centre.  We have match funding in place thanks to the Trust fundraisers.  You helped chose the final design and I hope it will provide pleasure for young ones for many years to come.
4. 9 ladies dancing. Talking of funding we have had another successful funding application for community transport.  Don’t get too excited yet as it can take up to a year to get the vehicle (although we are working on that!).  Further details can be found online here and we hope to work in tandem with BCC’s Transport Programme and work with them on other initiatives in 2024 Community Transport Grant Success!! | 14 December 2023 | Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust (stratherrickcommunity.org.uk)
5. 8 maids a milking.  In other news our fundraisers have been successful in getting a Nature Restoration Grant of nearly £20,000 to support biodiversity projects at Whitebridge, Errogie and primarily Inverfarigaig, where we worked with local residents on the purchase of land there.  Check out their polycrub – and the polycrub at Whitebridge is also ready for you to use in 2024.
6. 7 swans a swimming. The second phase of the clear up at Foyers Bay has taken place and you can read about it here Further site works completed at Foyers Bay | 14 December 2023 | Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust (stratherrickcommunity.org.uk)  This is in preparation for building the slipway into the Loch which should take place in May/June/July 2024.   A massive thank you to Bob Main for volunteering his time with his excavator and dump trailer clearing the road down to the Foyers footbridge. Bob has managed to clear 5 trailer loads of soil and leaf mould which he says has now made access from the medical centre side easy.
7. 6 geese a laying. Our fundraisers will start the process of raising major funds for Errogie Church Phase 2 and the Riverside Sports and Recreation project.  For Errogie a Business Case has been put together using all consultation documents which led to the final design and successful planning application. We have been working with an external consultant for advice on similar projects across Scotland and information unique to the Highlands to strengthen that business case. 
8. 5 gold rings. At Riverside the Liaison Group has been working towards meeting all preconditions and they should be submitted early into 2024.  You will be able to see the landscaping design discussed between local residents and the architect/landscaper any day now online for your input.
9. 4 calling birds.  My fingers are crossed that we can make after school provision at Stratherrick Primary School a reality with CALA for the next academic session.  This will support young families in the area, add another provision to make a stronger school.
10. 3 french hens. In terms of skills and education we also hope the community asset transfer of the Forest School near Inverfarigaig will be successful for purchase in the next financial year.  This will give young people and people of all ages the venue and area to help understand further our natural surroundings.
11. 2 turtle doves. You will hopefully be receiving the newsletter we gave out at the recent AGM to your door.  Thank you for your questions to the annual public meeting and to all those who took the time to attend.  Thanks also to the local councillor and SSE, who also attended.  We aim to repeat the Community Catch Up during 2024, the Success Evening again where you can tell us and everyone else what you are up to and more open forums at which we will discuss ongoing projects such as the great work the Pathways Group are doing.  As explained at the AGM our accounts are likely to more detailed in future as the Trust expands from a ‘micro entity’.  After Community Enterprise gave our governance a great bill of health we did push them to make us much better. They recommended a few more policies and updating of our current policies which had to be more specific to our organisation (rather than sharing ‘off the shelf’ policies).  That work has been done over the last year. The Board also recognised although minutes were circulated to members for review they were, at times, vague and we have invested to improve that as the Board move to six times a year.  This morning I received an additional governance paper for our Board from a consultant we have been working with over the last year in preparation for that change.   Also our website will be having a few (more) tweaks as the amount of information is making it creak at the edges and some important pages simply disappeared into cyber space!  The new features include online booking for our venues (and possibly others if they wish it).  That update will be done in January/February 2024.  I am not aware of any of the 300+ Trusts in Scotland with such an active website.  It is hard to manage and maintain its current quality and in part that is thanks to the three year funding for staff from the Scottish Government Strengthening Communities Programme, meaning our own cash resources can go into other projects.
12. And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!  As also mentioned at the AGM we intend to become a Company Limited by guarantee and a registered Scottish Charity in 2024.  Most Community Trusts are charities.  Nothing will change other than we must provide more information to the public domain and we can apply for more funding for the area.  We have run this past an external consultant and our accountants and the Board have been debating this change for a while.  The members will decide, of course.

I had hoped to give some guidance on potential investment in future wind turbines but SSE have pushed back our meeting to February.  It happens. Things take time.  I’m sure all the projects above will experience some unknown curve balls. 

That’s enough wishes to be going on with don’t you think?   All this is leading to 2030 when we want the work we do and the assets we have be self-sufficient, as explained at the AGM and presented in the exhibition that ran in the Wildside on the night.

For now, many of our staff they are finishing early to take time off in lieu and to make sure they also take their holidays.  They have been working tirelessly on your behalf and deserve time with their families and friends.  The staff also appreciate the support they have from the Board and willing volunteers.  I wish them and all of you a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years. 

We will see you in 2024 for more fun and games!

Tony Foster

Trust Manager

2026

February (2 stories)

3 February 📚 Mobile Library Visiting Tomorrow! 🚐✨

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January (12 stories)

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27 January 🌳 Development of Inverfarigaig Forest School 🌳

A community member has been in touch about the possibility of setting up a Forest School within our community. With the support of the Community Trust, a short survey has...

26 January 📚 Mobile Library Visiting Tomorrow! 🚐✨

The Mobile Library will be in the area tomorrow, Wednesday 27th January, so pop along and say hello to Mark!   📍 Stopping points & times: • Errogi...

22 January 🔥 Free Firewood Available – Whitebridge Area 🔥

A member of our local community, has been in touch with Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust (SFCT) to let us know that he has a significant amount of larch firewood...

21 January Large grant application from BCC for Foyers Stores Acquisition - Update

A Board meeting is taking place this evening in order for Directors of SFCT to consider the application and agree their recommendation. As the Chair of SFCT explained at ...

20 January Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who came along to the public meeting at the Wildside last night. We had a fantastic turnout, with 110 people attending in person and 26 joining u...

19 January Agenda for Public Meeting - Regarding the Foyers Stores Acquisition

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14 January Apply for our Project Coordinator role

👋 Friendly reminder!   There’s still time to apply for our Project Coordinator role at Stratherrick and Foyers Community Trust ...

8 January Notice to the Community: Change of Date for Public Meeting on Foyers Stores

Stratherrick and Foyers Community Trust (SFCT) would like to update the community regarding the previously announced public meeting relating to the proposed purchase of F...

7 January 🌟 New Year, New Opportunities! 🌟

Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust is here to support your projects with our grants! 💡✨ 📅 Next application deadline: 21st March 2026 Learn more about ...

6 January 🎉 Calling all community organisers! 🎉

Do you run a class, group or one-off activity in one of the local buildings? We’d love to help spread the word! 💛 Our SFCT Community Calendar is looking a ...

6 January Mobile Library Visit Cancelled – Wednesday 7th January 2026

👋 Hello and welcome to 2026 from SFCT! 🎉 We bring news from the Mobile Library as our first update of the year. 📚 Mobile Library Visit Cancelled – Wednesday ...