Aird Community Trust (ACT)

Category: Gallery

  • Pilot Garden Waste Collection

    Highland Council is operating a pilot garden waste collection service for householders.

    More information can be found here.

  • Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre Community Garden

    Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre, located just outside Abriachan, has been selected to become a Beechgrove Community Garden in 2013. This means that, once the work is finished, the Centre will have fully accessible grounds with features like a Gaelic tree alphabet, extensive herb garden and a roundtable crafted from Caithness slate. It also means that the grounds – and our eco tutorial studio, set to open this autumn – will be available for community use when there are no courses running. The new building will be an ideal space for workshops and small performances, and the outdoor space suitable for picnics.

    As this project has come about completely through fundraising efforts, volunteers are essential to make this community garden a reality. Any members of the community are invited to come along on weekends in June and July to lend a hand and participate in the many workshops offered free of charge. These workshops include Planting for Wildlife, dry stone building, local archaeology and tree identity.

    Dates for the development weekends are 8-9, 15-16, 22-23 June and 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 July. Saturdays will run from 11-4 PM. Sundays will run between 10-1 PM. Please don’t worry if you can’t make the times above, we’d love to see you even if it was for the odd hour or so here and there. Or if you prefer to be involved in other ways, any skills in fundraising or access to garden tools and equipment would be of great use as well. Volunteer, filming and workshop dates can be found here.

    The Moniack Mhor staff look forward to getting to know members of the community through this exciting project. For more information or to receive email updates about the garden, contact moniackmhor@arvon.org

    A plan of the new garden layout can be found here

    Wildlife Garden Talk with Don Davidson of Abriachan Gardens, 28th July at 4pm.

     

  • Recycling Figures

    The community recycling facility now operates at the community centre with containers for collecting glass and fabrics. Through our blue bin collections, we all have the opportunity to recycle paper and cans at our own doorstep.

    Latest figures from Highland Council show that between April and December last year local residents deposited over 21 tonnes of glass for recycling. There must have been some party in April as over 5 tonnes of glass were uplifted for recycling in May.  August also seems to have been a good party month with 3 tonnes collected in October. Just under a tonne of fabrics were collected over the year.

    If you are interested in helping with community waste activity, our biannual litter pick will be taking place on Saturday 20th April.  Contact Erik at 831742 for more details.

  • Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO)

    In March 2012 the membership of Kirkhill and Bunchrew Community Trust agreed that the Trust should apply to the Office of the  Scottish Charity Regulator to convert its legal status from a Company Limited by Guarantee to a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Institution (SCIO). This application was approved on 21  August 2012. The change of status reduces the amount of bureaucracy the Trust needs to comply with, but makes no difference to its day to day activities (or its accountability as a registered charity). The new constitution of the Trust can be found here.

     What is the SCIO? – The SCIO is a new legal form that has been purpose built for the charity sector in Scotland. It provides limited liability and separate legal identity to organisations that want to become charities but do not want or need the complex structure of company law. SCIOs are regulated by OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charities Register) and do not need to register with Companies House.

    What are the benefits of the SCIO? – Reporting to one regulator, and not having to produce accrued accounts are two reasons why smaller charities are finding the SCIO model attractive.

    When is the SCIO available? – The new legal form became available on 1 April 2011 to groups that have not already incorporated under company law. Incorporated groups will be able to convert to the SCIO form in 2012

  • Kirkhill’s Got Talent – Cancelled

     

    This years local talent fest – KIRKHILL’S GOT TALENT has been cancelled – more info will follow.

  • Energy Efficiency Programme – November Update

    Energy meters

    Another group of community residents have come to the end of their free electricity monitor period. We have 5 electricity monitors that are very easy to install and show how electricity is being used over the day in our homes. Some of the recent feedback from the residents who’ve had the meters included;

    – Halogen lights very energy hungry and expensive,

    – Computer screens were using much more electricity than the actual computer,

    – The kettle is amazingly expensive, having the electricity monitor also made me realise how often I walked away from the nearly boiled kettle and then re-boiled it a couple of minutes later;

    –  The washing machine is also very expensive to run and the monitor really highlighted that – the machine is on its last legs so I will be looking to replace it very soon and will be paying particular attention to the drum size and also the  energy rating.

     

    If you are interested in getting a free monitor for a couple of months, please get in touch with me on 07584 297485

     

    “How To” Case Studies

    Over the winter we will be preparing a number of “How To” case studies. These will explain in non technical terms, renewable energy and how to make homes more energy efficient. So if you have thoughts about making 2012 an energy efficient home3 year, keep an eye on the web pages for these guides.

     

    Keeping Warm Over the Winter

    Finally, the colder temperatures are well and truly here for  the winter. The Energy Saving Trust has some tips on how to keep warm over the  winter. While some of these sound pretty common sense, how many of us have given them some thought

    – Get together – spending more time together over Christmas and New Year watching telly or playing with new presents means not all the rooms in our homes have to be heated to the same temperature. Turning the heating down in rooms we are not using will help reduce the heating bill,

    – Exercise – having just spent the afternoon sledging, with my children I can vouch that despite the cold temperatures, exercise for a couple of hours is a good way to keep warm.

    – Give your home a draught proofing MOT, checking there are no unwanted cold winds getting into your house,

    – Top up the duvet with some blankets on the bed or make sure the duvet is suitable for the colder winter temperatures. A duvet rated 13.5 tog is good for the winter.