Team planning!
We've had a lovely team planning week, we stepped away from laptops & Microsoft Teams and put our heads together to plan the next steps for the North Highlands & Islands Climate Hub.
We met for three days in Thurso where Joan (Project Manager), Steph (Senior Development Officer) & Marion (Membership & Communications Officer) are based while Jonny (Islands Development Officer) and Bethany (Inverness Development Officer) joined from their respective areas.
The North Highlands & Islands Climate Hub Team - July 2022
From left to right:
Back row, Jonny Bennett, Orkney & Shetland Development Officer & Joan Lawrie Project Manager.
Middle row, Steph Remers, Senior Development Officer & Marion Reid Membership & Communications Officer
Front row, Bethany Lawrie Inverness Development Officer.
We’re pictured within Socially Growing Greenhouses in Thurso which is just at the back of our office. Socially Growing is a Social Enterprise from Thurso Community Benefit Society & Thurso Community Development Trust which Joan is Development Manager for.
On Tuesday, we met with Garance at Dunnet Community Forest to hear all about the forest & it’s history, becoming community owned and their future aspirations. We of course discussed areas in which the Hub could offer support and have come away with a few next steps to follow up on.
These visits are super important to us and there are SO many projects we would love to meet. We’re firm believers that you can get so much from an informal chat - so much so that discussions with Garance covered everything from Composting toilets and dog waste bins to the Viking women of Caithness! There’s a wooden ship in the forest dedicated to an extraordinary Viking woman - Aud the Deep Minded. Aud commissioned the secret build of a ship under forest cover right here in Caithness before setting sail to Iceland. It’s an incredible story but that’s for another blog, you can however get the story in full from using this link. Unfortunately, no group picture in the forest as there came an almighty thunder storm but it certainly didn’t dampen our spirits. We look forward to continuing the discussion and supporting Dunnet Community Forest going forward.
After our forest adventure, back at Climate Hub HQ we hit the whiteboard with ideas and opportunities for the Hub and the communities we work with.
Everything we do will be and is, shaped by the communities we support and therefore, your input is invaluable. That's another reason we love to visit as many groups and organisations as we can! We would love to hear from groups all across the Highland and Islands region, we’ll do our very best to visit in person and can absolutely offer an online meeting. Just get in touch to arrange.
Last but by no means least, if you’re a Development Officer within Highland looking for a new challenge and you think you could work with the smiling faces in our team pic, we’re recruiting! The ideal candidate will be based in Sutherland but we encourage experienced professionals from anywhere in the region to apply. Details in full can be found here & informal enquires are welcomed by email: enquiries@nhclimatehub.co.uk.