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Glendaruel News Projects Resilience Stronafian Working Groups

Resilience Group Newsletter No. 3

SUPPORTING COLGLEN’S LOCAL ECONOMY

As the Lockdown extends into late June and looks like continuing until Autumn, the Resilience Group is looking at ways of supporting the local economy, particularly for those who are self-employed or dependent on the tourism industry.

In this Issue

Jobs Exchange • ColGlen Quiz Night • Venison available for all households

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Broadband Clachan Colintraive Glendaruel News Opportunities Press & Publicity Projects

Kyles Community Broadband Public Meetings

If you live in Colintraive & Glendaruel, Kilfinan or Bute Community Council areas, and you aren’t within 1 km of a BT Next Generation Enabled telephone exchange, this is for you:

kcbposter

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Forestry News Press & Publicity Projects Recruitment Renewables Stronafian Woodland Crofts

We’re recruiting at CGDT!

COMMUNITY FOREST DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

  • Contract worth:  £28,000
  • Initial period: 1 Year

A varied role with sustainable woodland development its core and community revitalisation its heart.

Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust is recruiting for a new Community Forest Project Officer to work with the board over the coming year to maintain the momentum in our high profile and highly successful Stronafian Forest Project.

Purchased in February 2013 for £1.55M Stronafian forest is the trust’s flagship project, providing a focus for the community’s aspirations to increase local employment, housing and visitor attractions, as well as sustainable income through renewables. In our first year we met and exceeded many of our funder-led objectives, but it is in our second year we expect the project to take off and provide the foundation for an ongoing and exemplary community endeavour.

On the agenda for a successful candidate will be woodland crofts, the chambered cairn, a wind turbine, woodland burials, access design and management, deer management, woodfuel, walker and mountain bike use and a potential dark skies park. Of course there will also be funder liaison, including claims and report writing, as well as all the necessary administrative tasks which come with that, and equally important will be liaison with the community, our commercial forestry tenant and their clients.

The role is therefore multi-faceted, needing a person with the strategic vision to manage the project, and also the experience both at a commercial and community levels who understands the forestry context.

With potential to continue beyond the period we are now advertising for, the focus in the coming year will be to continue with our highly successful and motivated community working groups as well as pursuing positive outcomes with the wind turbine, crofting, housing and biomass.

Based at the Colintraive Village Hall office, the successful candidate will become part of a highly successful team at the trust which is presently delivering excellent and ongoing Climate Challenge Fund Project “Greener ColGlen”, as well as planning the revitalisation of the Cowal Way, a Community Broadband project for Southwest Cowal and a further community asset acquisition.

We are open to applications from candidates who cannot commit to a full-time contract but are willing to share it on a pro rata part-time basis.

Application packs are available by writing to Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust, The Village Hall, Colintraive, Argyll, PA22 3AS, via email at cgdt@cgdt.org, can be downloaded here, or by telephoning 01700 841358.   Applicants should be available for immediate start.   Closing date for applications Monday 28th April 2014

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Colintraive Glendaruel News Opportunities Recruitment

Your Development Trust Needs You!

It’s almost two months since the Trust’s Annual General Meeting and those members who attended will recall the various presentations which outlined the Trust’s achievements to date. Against the priorities highlighted by the community which were collated in the Development Plan, significant progress has been made in a relatively short time.  The community now owns an extremely valuable asset in Stronafian Forest which offers tremendous potential for regeneration of the area.  Employment opportunities;  jobs creation;   affordable housing and amenity use all have the potential to impact on community confidence.   Increasing the economically active population will, in turn, help improve the local economy; create service provision; and help secure the local school.
A great deal of time and effort has been expended on the Forest project to date and Mark, our Forest Officer, is promoting an open evening (with homemade soup!) on 13th September (6-8p.m.)in Colintraive Village Hall when local residents can learn how they can be involved in influencing what happens in the forest.
The Community Development Plan highlighted Stronafian Forest as the “Flagship” project and now that this is well and truly underway, the Trust is considering the next priority to be tackled.   This is the optimum time to inspire the next phase of development, so why not consider joining the board and influencing what major project should be tackled next.  We currently have a board of 5 dedicated individuals but additional directors would help move projects forward sooner rather than later. Whilst it’s true that Directors have certain responsibilities which demand a degree of diligence, these are not onerous and there is no threat to any individual – or their assets – as the liability of members is limited to £1 should the Trust ever be wound up.
Progress towards the aspirations of the Community Development Plan can be accelerated with the commitment of additional board members. Could you be that addition? Would you like to talk it over with an existing board member?  Directors can be contacted for an informal chat without any obligation (contact details below).
The Trust has helped both Colintraive and Glendaruel Village Halls to upgrade and is currently supporting a further phase of improvements to the Glen Hall;  the feasibility study has been completed for the Cowal Way;  renewable energy projects, both wind and hydro, are currently being investigated and several other priorities contained in the Development Plan are under investigation.
Please consider exploring the possibility of joining the Board – your community needs you!
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Community Notices

Colintraive Hotel at Easter

New… Apres Kirk lunch at 12. Special £7.95, scampi or soup and sandwiches.

Carry out food available every day from the hotel.

Art in the Pub for the month of March, pub art exhibition. Scottish Scenes by
Cat Comrie from Strachur

Pre-quiz nights fish and chips special £7.95 Last one this Friday

Mother’s Day lunch or dinner £15.95 for 2 courses

Easter Day lunch or dinner

Friday the 13th Davy the Ghost at the Colintraive Hotel Book your tickets £5 pp
fun for all the family at 6pm.

All of the above is pre bookable

Colintraive Shop & Post office open every morning, with newspapers, fresh
milk and bakery. If you have any further requirements from our shop please
don’t hesitate to ask.

Did you know we also can supply you at very short notice with foreign currency for your holidays, as well as banking for all banks now.

We thank you for all your support

Categories
Clachan CRtB Glendaruel Glendaruel Hotel Ideas News Opportunities Premises Projects Working Groups

Of Hall, Hotel and Hub: an Ongoing Discussion

One of the ongoing discussions we have been engaged in is seeing a way forward for Glendaruel what with the CRtB on the Hotel, the initial plans drawn up by the Hub Group and the ongoing progress the Village Hall Committee are making towards renewing the hall. To aid the community’s thinking we organised a session with all three groups at the Village Hall facilitated by Donald Walker and building on the decision-making matrix that the Development Trust has already developed.

Here’s Donald’s Review of the meeting:

The group listened to a short introduction of the aims and process and then heard 5 minute summaries of the activities of each of the working groups. The group were given the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and then worked through 2 set exercises which were designed to generate a consensus over next steps.

Using the presentations and the knowledge of the group, the team assembled a number of criteria which will be used to evaluate options. These criteria were forced ranked 1 to 10 although it was agreed that there could be an opportunity to combine or reclassify some of them at a later date.

The team then selected a number of “wants and needs” for the community and listed these in no particular order. The “wants and needs” were written in way that did not describe the solution; so, the community wants/needs access a licensed premises rather than the community wants/needs a pub. In this example, a pub is one possible solution to the requirement to access a location which is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages.

The team used a 1-3-9 scale to score the relationship between the “want/need” and the criteria where 1 = remote relationship/influence, 3 = moderate influence and 9 = strong relationship. This scale is designed to force a separation between items which have a big impact and those which don’t.

Next steps
The team agreed that this activity should not delay or derail any activities planned by the Village Hall team.

All those present agreed to re-convene for a further 2 hour meeting in the new year to complete the table. During this second session, the team agreed to define each of the criteria to improve clarity and to make the description more objective.

The team also agreed to complete a third session which would be designed to form solutions to each of the wants and needs. These solutions will be evaluated using the same approach as the prioritrisation matrix.

The presentation and matrix are attached so that all interested parties can see what was covered and participate in the process.

Glendaruel Discussion Presentation 5MB
This is Donald’s opening presentation outlining the method and the way outcomes are achieved.

XLS Spreadsheet
If you have Excel and would like to contribute your scores to our next discussion, please send them into us. Remember to score only 1s, 3s and 9s!

PDF of spreadsheet
For those of you who don’t have excel, here’s the pdf which you can open using Adobe Acrobat Reader, freely available from adobe.com

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Clachan Glendaruel Kilmodan Primary School News

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a really great New Year, and here’s hoping that today’s news on the halting of the schools consultation means that Argyll and Bute Council drop all plans to close Kilmodan.

The Development Trust is convinced of the absolutely crucial importance the school plays in ensuring our community grows and thrives.

Well done to the Parent Council for all the effort they have put into the Save Kilmodan School campaign!