Celebrating Scottish Climate Week with Climate concious communities
We’re back in our offices today after a brilliant week visiting communities from Inverness to Shetland to celebrate Scottish Climate Week.
Our team is based in Thurso, Kirkwall & Inverness and we’re looking forward to welcoming a new Development Officer into the fold very soon as our latest round of recruitment closed on Friday 30th September. In total, we visited 16 specific community groups and engaged with several more. Read on to find out how we got on!
Marion and Steph made the journey to Brora and Golspie on Monday 26th September to kickstart Climate Week. They met with Kath at the Brora Village Hub and Community Larder and heard about the services they offer Brora residents and their ambitious plans for the future. Their services are varied and are enjoyed by countless community members, they take specific climate action via their Food Share Shed which is home to an incredibly cool collection of repurposed retro music and film items - they’ve made planters and shelves from old VHS cassettes and have made a seed library from the original VHS containers plus lots more, it’s well worth a visit to see that alone! In addition, they have a group of keen growers who are busy producing food which they use within the Hub and the Food Share Shed, this project offers a social space for the volunteer growers and food for the community.
In the afternoon, we attended a Go Golspie community walk excursion which allowed us to experience parts of Golspie we didn’t know existed! The views were almost as incredible as the conversations we had. Go Golspie are the proud owners of an electric community mini bus which provides transport for Golspie residents to attend medical appointments, the local lunch club and the walk we attended as well as much more. It was interesting to hear from Peter, Go Golspie’s Administrator how the electric vehicle works for the organisation in practice. We’ve got lots to learn from Peter as does any other community with hopes to run a community electric transport system! We were thrilled to chat with attendees of the walk who told us that without the community asset, they simply wouldn’t be able to join in with Go Golspie’s activities. They were so grateful of the service. It was really special to see climate action have a direct impact on people’s wellbeing.
On Wednesday, Jonny headed north to Shetland from Kirkwall. He was welcomed by Bressay Development Ltd, North Yell Development Council, Voluntary Action Shetland and Transition Turriefield.
Development Officers Aimee and Heather from Bressay Development Ltd kindly gave Jonny a tour of their building and explored the island. They told him about their main projects which are currently the renewable energy generation through CARES at Local Energy Scotland for their building/the Speldiburn Cafe, their ‘good as new’ shop and the community woodland. It was fascinating to hear the journey so far and the ideas for progression.
On Day two of Jonny’s Shetland adventure, he met with Alice from North Yell Development Council who shared the details on the community being selected as a carbon neutral island and the opportunities and challenged that’s brought.
As part of Shetland’s Climate Week celebrations, Lerwick Town Hall were hosting a community climate action workshop which Jonny attended. Jonny was thrilled to be able to engage with community groups from across Shetland at the session and get an understanding of their successes and community needs going forward. We’re looking forward to continuing this discussion with those who were in attendance and growing the network in Shetland. This event was attended by community groups, Shetland Island Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Voluntary Action Shetland.
Before returning home to Kirkwall, Jonny enjoyed lunch with Ayesha from Voluntary Action Shetland. He was pleased to be able to meet Ayesha in person to get a good catch up and to discuss community groups and the support they need.
After lunch it was time to head to Transition Turriefield where Penny and Alan gave Jonny a tour of their growing areas and polytunnels. Jonny told me with enthusiasm about what he saw and their plans, not to mention what they’ve accomplished to date. Notably, they’ve grown cherries! By this point, the weather had turned which was a shame after a lovely few days but spirits were still high as they explored the growing areas. They ended Jonny’s visit with a chat about climate change, climate action, networking and support.
Over on the mainland, Joan, Steph, Bethany and Marion had made it to Ardgay to officially welcome the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust to the membership group. Now that both the Highland and Orkney Climate Festivals are complete for 2022 and we’ve established strong working relationships with some of the communities taking climate action across the Highlands and Islands, we’re keen to solidify working relationships by offering a free membership. Membership offers a range of benefits, you can read more about it here. Or of course, reach out to me, (Marion) to discuss specific details.
It was lovely to share a cuppa with David Watson and Beth Simco of Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust and to see first hand the climate action projects which are supporting residents in the area. We were so excited to borrow Kyle of Sutherland’s electric vehicle for the next leg of our journey as we headed to Ullapool to meet with Ullapool Unpacked CiC and Ullapool Sea Savers. The electric vehicle was a dream to drive and allowed us an environmentally kinder method of transport than my petrol car!
Evie at Ullapool Unpacked shared her huge vision for her social enterprise which we listened to in awe! Her Zero Waste refill trailer is just the start for this young entrepreneur and we’re excited to support her where we can along the journey to eco business success!
Next up was Ullapool Seasavers which left us incredibly inspired. This youth led group builds it’s activities around what interests attendees and from that, they discuss and take action. What can start as a conversation around litter, will result in a group beach clean and village wide campaign against littering. These young people are knowledgeable and passionate about marine life and their home which was really exciting to see. When we met them, they were about to embark on a workshop with Highlife Highland to be part of the process to create a new youth award focused on the environment and we couldn’t think of any better people to be involved. We’re excited to see the end result and to support the rollout of this award throughout Highland.
On Thursday, we woke in sunny Dornoch and headed to the Dornoch Hub. An incredible community use of an old police station which is now home to offices and community services. We met with The Hut, community food larder and a group of friendly, hard working ladies who meet every week to cook a three course meal with food from the larder.
Later that day, we made the journey to Larig Learning Centre to meet with recently appointed centre manager Aileen and her dedicated team. We were shown around the impressive centre and workshop space and saw an incredible map of where in the world learners had joined them from during the pandemic. The centre is one of the partners of the Highland Community Waste Partnership and we discussed the huge potential for knowledge sharing with the groups we’ve been working with.
Next on our whistle stop tour was Saltburn, just outside of Invergordon where we met with Murray Sinclair and his army of volunteers who have converted private gardens into community growing spaces. They sell their produce within the village to locals and it’s incredibly popular. They showed us round their polytunnel and shared their ideas for the future as well as the things that would support them to continue.
As we know, Invergordon and Alness have been selected as Climate Action Town’s and Bethany has been working hard with communities around this, it was really nice to be able to meet in person for a good catch up and for the wider team to meet those who we hear from much about from Bethany.
Onto Alness and The Place Youth Club where from the minute we arrived, we could see how well used the service was. Children lining up to come in and people working really hard to offer services to the young people. We visited the Youth Club on the High street before Janette took us to The Field which is an incredible community space for the youth of Alness. Here too, volunteers were in cutting the grass ahead of the scouts coming to use the outdoor space for the evening. The Unexpected Garden has now left the Field but has left behind a fantastic growing space for the young people, the outdoor space is complimented by a full kitchen, stretch tent, fire pit and community woodland. It really is a special place that the team have worked endlessly to secure for the community.
Last but by no means least, we visited three groups in Inverness. The Raigmore Community Residents Association who formed in March of 2022 and have big plans for a community growing space which will compliment the community garden they’ve already established. They’ve also set up a dry food store which serves the residents. The association was one of the first recipients of the North Highlands and Islands Community Climate Action Fund so it was brilliant to be able to see where the funds will be spent. Denise and her team have worked really hard to date and their passion for the community and their project really shone through.
Then, the heavens opened but this didn’t deter us or Caroline at Culduthel Community Woods. We were welcomed with a warm smile and the shelter of the trees. We explored the woodland in amazement that it’s so close to a residential area and discussed the exciting possibilities for future projects and how these could incorporate community climate action. One of the suggestions is to improve the woodland for mountain bike users which gave us a great topic for discussion at our next and final meeting of the week - Velocity in Inverness Crown area.
Velocity Cafe and Bicycle Workshop works on a range of climate action projects and as a whopping 28 members of staff! Their cafe doubles up as a bicycle workshop where bikes can not only be mended and serviced, people can attend workshop and learn more about bike maintenance. Velocity have community climate action embedded in their day to day operations so we discussed the opportunities the Hub can offer them and the areas where we could collaborate.
As most groups will understand, lots of our discussions centred around encouraging volunteers and securing core funding. While we don’t have the immediate answers to these ongoing issues, we were able to share experiences and offer reassurance that they’re not alone in the challenges they face and in fact, one of the benefits of Hub membership is having that shared knowledge base and offer of networking meetings where we can discuss projects informally and get that all important information from other communities who have done or would like to do something similar.
One point which was clear from all discussion is that we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet which was really heartwarming. Everyone we spoke to is working incredibly hard to make a difference within their community and take climate action along the way. We’re so looking forward to supporting each of them and many, many more going forward - watch this space!