New Hub Staff
At the start of July, we welcomed four new recruits to the Hub from all over the Highlands & Islands. Aisling Phillips is our new Development Officer covering the Inverness and Easter Ross area. Fiona MacDonald based in Golspie is our new Development Officer in Caithness and Sutherland. Natalie Moore is taking on a new role at the Hub as a Training Officer so that we will be able to offer brand new and exciting training to all of you. Lastly, Etta May Olley is our Digital Communications & Membership Officer. We’re excited to have them on board!

Reflections from Lewis: Learning from our North Atlantic neighbours
Earlier this month, Andrea, our Shetland Development Officer, attended the North Atlantic & Arctic Neighbours: Building Sustainable Futures for Island Communities event in Stornoway, hosted by Nordic Atlantic Cooperation (NORA) and the Islands Book Trust. You can read more about her trip here.

Fran’s Visit to Papay and Sanday
Fran recently visited the Orkney islands of Papay and Sanday to meet their Development Trusts and explore inspiring community initiatives. In Papay, highlights included puffin sightings, Scottish primroses, and a turn at rolling fleece with the local shearers. In Sanday, she connected with local growers, crafters, and business leaders, and learned about dune restoration efforts. The trip ended on a high with lunch at the UK’s most northerly woodfired pizzeria - a brilliant showcase of rural enterprise. You can read about her travels here.

Life’s a Beach in Skye
Earlier this week, Katy attend the ‘Life’s a Beach’ event in Sleat. The drop-in afternoon was hosted by Sleat Nature Group and Loughborough University’s 50-Years-of-Litter-on-Skye project. The aim was to spread the word about marine litter and the ways we can reduce and remove it to help our beaches look beautiful again. The message was spread through informal chats, interactive displays, workshops and kid’s games. A great time was had!

Highlands & Islands Climate Festival Updates
As we announced in last months newsletter, the Climate Festival will run from 13 September to 8 October 2025, celebrating community-led climate action across Highland, Orkney and Shetland. Funding is now closed for the festival after receiving 48 applications, however it is not too late to take part. Find out more about the HICF 2025 on its website, here.

Tickets on sale for the Highland Climate Conference 2025
We are pleased to announce that tickets are now on sale for the Highland Climate Conference. The conference will be the culmination of the month long Highland Climate Festival and provide an opportunity for changemakers from our community, public and private sector to come together in innovative and collaborative discussions and networking. Our Conference aims to provide answers to the question we hear nearly every day, "how do we work better together?" through the themes of People, Place, Power and Partnerships. 

Tickets are £20 for Community Group Members of the Hub and all other tickets are a standard £40.

Tickets can be purchased here or by emailing enquiries@hiclimatehub.co.uk.

We would love to see you there. 

Nairn Books and Arts Festival 2025
We are looking forward to this year’s festival, and delighted to be supporting as a partner. This year’s celebration takes place from the 30th August to 7th September and is inspired by the coastal and maritime themes. The Festival programme is live here, or you can grab yourself a physical copy from Nairn Community & Arts Centre and Nairn Bookshop. The programme features a 'tide' of workshops, exhibitions, live music, special events & more taking place.

Funding Finder
Read the latest Funding Finder for our members, which totals funds over £3.7 million. Find the May edition here.

Members Events Map
Along with being able to see what's coming up at the Hub, you can now see what's coming up from our members. Our members are invited to share their events on our new dedicated events map on the Hub’s website - an exclusive membership perk. See & add to the map here.

Highlands & Islands Climate Festival Events Map
Community Groups can now add their own Climate Festival events to our interactive map here. Last year, we were thrilled to have over 115 events take place across the Highlands & Islands to celebrate the festival and we hope for the same this year.

Sustainable Spaces
Transform your community building into a sustainable space with an environmental policy & action plan, supported by the Hub’s Team of Development Officers. Support & training available now.

Food Hygiene Hero
The Hub offers training hose wishing to undertake our fully funded Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene for Catering course. Suitable for staff or volunteers involved in the delivery of a food waste project based in the Highlands or Northern Isles. Apply here.

Ullapool Sea Savers at London Climate Action Week
Noel and Jannis of Ullapool Sea Savers headed down South at the end of last month to talk about the MPA and all the great work the kids have been doing to protect and promote it at the London Climate Action week.

Branching Out in Nairn
Nature 4 Health (N4H)’s programme ‘Branching Out’ - a 12 week programme for adults who use mental health services in Scotland began on the 28th of July, however they are still welcoming applications into the start of August.

Highland Energy Community Partnership
Applications are still open to become Gairloch and Loch Ewe Action Forum (GALE)’s Community Energy Officer for the Highland Energy Community Partnership. This position is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in the partnership, and is the final staff post to fill within the partnership project. Find out more and apply on the GALE website here. Applications close on the 4th of August.

Cairngorms Core Paths Plan Review
The National Park Authority is undertaking a review of the Cairngorms Core Paths Plan. The Core Path Plans is a mapped network of paths that ensures people can exercise their access rights across an area. As part of the review, the National Park are inviting anyone to feed into an informal consultation, which is live until 31 August 2025. They are eager to hear feedback on the proposed changes and new suggestions to the network. You can review and contribute on their website here.

Active & Sustainable Travel in Rural Communities Residential
Social Enterprise Academy (SEA) and the Highlands & Islands Climate Hub have partnered up for this fully-funded ‘Active & Sustainable Travel in Rural Communities’ residential programme that is due to take place between Wednesday 05 – Thursday 06 November at Dundreggan Rewilding Centre in Glenmoriston. You can read more about the Residential here.

Highland Climate Risk & Opportunity Assessment – Invitation to Quote

Highland Adapts is seeking consultancy support to help gather and analyse evidence for the region’s first Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment. This important work will identify the key climate-related risks and opportunities facing the Highland region through to 2080.

Interested in helping shape a climate-resilient future for the Highlands?
View the full invitation to quote and submission details here.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on 11 August.