Aird Community Trust (ACT)

Tag: Kirkhill community centre

  • Work starts on community centre extension

    Well, it’s taken a while but we’re happy to say the work started on the Kirkhill Community Centre extension and refurbishment on the 20th August.

    The Kirkhill Centre Forward project will provide the community centre with a new meeting room to complement the main hall. The new room will be warm and cosy and will accommodate up to 40 people. It will be ideal for smaller groups and for meetings. It also means that new groups can be accommodated who were previously turned away because the main hall was booked.

    As well as the new meeting room the main hall will be completely renovated. We’ll have a new much more spacious kitchen, new toilets, a bigger entrance hall with space for the post office/box office.  And, thanks to funding from the Climate Challenge Fund, the hall will be insulated throughout to give us a much more comfortable and economical building.

    This project has been a community aspiration for a long time and it’s great that we are finally getting the community facilities that we need in this growing area. This couldn’t have happened without the efforts of the Kirkhill Centre Forward sub-committee which has put in a huge amount of work and continues to put in many volunteer hours. It also needed the support of the community which has raised nearly £100,000 over the years through supporting Kirkhill Gala and other events.

    The £334,000 project is funded from a number of sources including Highland LEADER, Climate Challenge Fund, Robertson Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation and Highland Council. Local company R&R Regeneration has been appointed as contractor.

    The community centre is now closed and but access will be kept for the MUGA, recycling bins and football pitch. We should be ready to re-open in late December or certainly the new year. Get ready for a massive party!

    Kirkhill MUGA

    Kirkhill MUGA is still operational during the community centre refurbishments but floodlights won’t be available until the community centre reopens. Clubs and groups are welcome to book regular sessions for football, basketball, shinty etc. and tennis membership is still available.   Contact Ken MacDonald on 01463 831479, email kdaa@kirkhillandbunchrew.org.uk  or see http://kirkhillandbunchrew.org.uk/community_centre/kirkhill-muga/

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  • Kirkhill Gala 2012

    Kirkhill Gala Week 2012 is fast approaching and promises to be better than ever.  The Gala Committee are really excited about the programme  for this year.

    Tickets for many of the events are already selling well so don’t leave it too late to secure your tickets. We expect to sell out for the Food Demonstration Night, The Pamper Night and Gala Dance. Please do not leave it too late as these will be fantastic nights.

    At last week’s Gala Disco the Gala Queen, Princesses and Princes were chosen. This year’s royals are Gala Queen Louisa Fairgrieve, Princesses Anna Knox and Catriona Johannsen and Princes Lachlan O’Flynn and Cameron McDonald. More than 100 children attended the Discos and had a great time.

    There’s lots of  old favourites again this year such as the ever popular Bingo Night and Pets Parade but also some new features including a Pamper Evening for girls and ladies and food demonstration night. We’ve introduced a new Scarecrow competition too on a Royal Jubilee theme. We can’t wait to see scarecrows popping up all over. If you need some inspiration visit the fantastic Tattie Bogle website from Skye. And of the course the week will be finish off with a fantastic Gala Day with a huge range of activities and stalls including a gun dog and falconry display and the Gala Dance featuring Torridon.

    Food demonstration night

    The food demo night is one for all those budding ‘Jamie Oliver’s’ and ‘Gordon Ramsay’s’ as well as the budding ‘Nigella’s’ and ‘Delia’s’. It will be a really great night with the chance to sample the delicacies made and have a couple of glasses of wine and a chance to catch up with people that you just don’t see enough of. You’ll get loads of hints and tips from Louisa from the Kitchen Range in Dingwall and a chance to purchase some of the many items she stocks in her shop.

    Pamper Evening

    The Pamper Evening is for ladies of all ages, from pampered princesses to queen mothers.  There’s a full night  of pamper opportunities and your ticket includes a glass of wine and homemade shortbread.  There will be a number of short demonstrations from cupcake decorating, cocktail making, and ethnic jewellery and luxury facials. Ladies will have the chance to book mini treatments at a cost of £3 a time (a real bargain) which will include glitter tattoos, reflexology, head massage, tidy and polish nail treatments, hand massages, eyebrow shaping, hair straightening and curling, neck and shoulder massage, gel nail overlays. They’ll also be stalls including Jewellery, Jamie at Home, Temple Spa, Lush, Luxury Candles, Handbags and Scarves, Cake Mamma to name a few.

    Sorry fellas you are not allowed, but there is Junior Shinty on which will attract a good crowd and is very entertaining. Our community centre and grounds will literally be bursting on this night so if you can please don’t take your car if you don’t need to.

    Help needed

    We are looking for donations for Tombola – please contact Wilma Williamson on 831737. If you have any books to donate, please contact Joan MacKay on 831578.

    Full gala programme

    Download the full Gala Programme

    Kirkhill Community Centre

    Finally, don’t forget that Kirkhill Gala Week supports Kirkhill Community Centre and helps us keep fantastic facilities for the whole community to enjoy. This year we are celebrating our 25th anniversary. We have also just heard the news that we have secured the funding needed to renovate and extend the community centre. We’re using all the reserves we have and taking out a loan so your support is needed more than ever. We want to make the community facilities in Kirkhill the best in the area.

    Find out more in Funding secured for Kirkhill Centre Forward project 

     

     

     

     

  • Funding secured for Kirkhill Centre Forward project

    Well we’ve done it! We’ve just heard that Kirkhill District Amenities Association (KDAA) has been awarded the final bit of funding needed to go ahead with the renovation and extension of Kirkhill Community Centre. And it’s fitting that we have achieved it in the Community Centre’s 25th year.

    We’re delighted that the Highland LEADER programme have awarded us £150,000 towards the £304,000 we need for the project. We had already secured funding from the Climate Challenge Fund, Robertson Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation and the Highland Council Ward Fund. The funding also includes £62,000 of the KDAA’s own money and a Highland Opportunity loan of £20,000.

    The plans for the centre include enlarging the kitchen and vestibule, improving the changing rooms, insulating throughout, and creating a larger brighter vestibule with a Post Office counter/box office in the existing hall. The extension will include a new meeting room, store and toilets.  You can find out more on the Kirkhill Centre Forward page.

    The  Kirkhill Centre Forward committee has done a huge amount of work to get the project to this stage and thanks should go to them all, particularly Alasdair Morrison  for leading the team and Sandra Hogg for filling in all the funding applications.  Alasdair said, “We’re delighted that this project can finally go ahead. It’s been a long term aspiration of this community and with a growing population is much needed.”

    There’s still a lot of work to do but we hope that we will be able to start work in early July and reopen in October.

    Finally we’d like to thank the whole community for their support over the years . The fundraising during  Gala Week has enabled us to build up sufficient funds for this project to go ahead. However, as we’re committing all the funds we have available and taking out a loan it makes it more important than ever that this year’s Gala is a success.

    Please come along to support the events and help us make sure the new community centre is fit for the next 25 years.

    Kirkhill Gala Week 2012

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  • Recycling Centre Relocation

    Kirkhill and Bunchrew Community Trust have moved the recycling bins from the Inchmore recycling point up to the car park at Kirkhill Community Centre. Bins are available for clear, brown and green glass, textiles and cans. The paper bank has not been relocated as we each have blue bins for paper and carboard at home.

    Lorry placing bins at Kirkhill Community centre

    The recycling point in Inchmore has been well used for the past four years and the Trust would like to thank the site owner for the use of the land. We are also delighted the Kirkhill District Amenities Association agreed to the relocation to the community centre.

    The community centre car park is used by many people including children so please keep the site clean and tidy and don’t leave any other rubbish by the bins.

    With the bins at the centre of the village it is hoped they wil be even more widely used. Remember if you can’t reduce or reuse, then RECYCLE IN KIRKHILL!

     

     

  • Kirkhill Gala programme out now!

    Kirkhill Gala Programme 2011

    The Kirkhill Gala Week programme is now out. Running from the 28th May to the 4th of June it’s a fun packed week with plenty to do for all ages. Tickets are sure to go quickly for the fashion show at Achnagairn House and Gala Dance so snap yours up now (details in the gala week programme). Gala Day also looks set to be bigger and better than last year (which was amazing) with something for all the family.

    Gala week programme

    Gala Day programme

    All funds raised go towards the running and future development on Kirkhill Community Centre managed by Kirkhill District Amentities Association.