Scotland: National Rural Network
This is the second part of the event report on the Scottish National Rural Network Rural Aberdeenshire event. In this part you can find details of two interesting project presentations and the lively discussion session. In Part 1, you can find details of the opening session and information updates from LEADER, Rural Priorities and the SNRN.
Donald Boyd gave an interesting presentation on the work of the Huntly Development Trust, which was established as an organisation about six months ago. The trust emerged from the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership project, through which Huntly benefited for about four years. By the end of 2008, things were changing and they worked with the local communities and Aberdeenshire Council to keep things going.
During a community consultation two things became clear. The community wanted town centre regeneration and life beyond the supermarkets and they wanted a vehicle to be established to make things happen post Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership. During a study visit to Birse two messages came out: the importance of having access to an asset and the importance of not being reliant on grant funding.
Mr Boyd talked about some of the projects that the Huntly Development Trust are involved in. They are currently developing the Huntly Hub un the town centre. This will be a multi-purpose space for community groups, small businesses and offices for the Huntly Development Trust. They are also looking at a biofuel heating system which will also provide heating for nearby buildings.
With the help of Forestry Commission Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, they are also working on a project to develop walking in Huntly. A walk from Huntly to Dufftown will take people into Speyside and the Cairngorms, as well as provide links into other walks in Rural Aberdeenshire. They will be training guides and working on promotion and signage.
Mr Boyd thanked the funders, and said that Rural Abderdeenshire LEADER was the easiest grant making process they'd been involved in.
So, what have they learnt so far? These are just some of the points raised in the presentation:
You can find out more about the work of the project by downloading Donald Boyd's presentation, by visiting the Huntly Development Trust website, or by emailing donald.boyd@huntly.net.
At every regional event, a project for an other area will give a presentation on their work. The external project for this event was the Knockando Woolmill in Moray. Jana Hutt gave an insightful presentation into the work of the Knockando Woolmill Trust, which is based on a single building project.
The project is about restoring the Knockando Woolmill, the last district mill on the Scottish mainland. The mill has been manufacturing cloth since 1784, and apart from a similar mill on Islay they are told there is not another one like it in the world.
Part of Jana's presentation was a short film about the project, which you can watch below:
They plan to run the mill as a community business and they see seven or eight people being employed there. They will also have facilities for visitors and will invite schoolchildren to look at the technology, design of cloth and the history of the mill. The watermill will be restored and they are also looking at a biomass boiler and a hydro system in the burn.
The site is A-listed and the cost for the restoration has gone up from £2.5 million as it states in the film, to £3.5 million. A trust of six people have raised the money through public funding and own fundraising and it is hoped the contractors can start in the new year.
During the time of the restoration the trust will be working on their business plan. They have two years of Moray LEADER funding to get it up and running, but they have to keep the place financially viable to expand. They won't make money out of tourism and education, but the textile manufacturing will increase.
Ms Hutt said it's not the ideal time to start a manufacturing business, but you have to look at what's unique to you. For example, there is a market in Japan for the cloth from the small mill. Old looms can make exclusive, small run cloth more cost effectively than bigger ones. Farmers with small flocks want to have their own wool spun, and they can also get it woven at the mill. They also have an informal partnership with Johnstons in Elgin to help look at new markets.
They have to seperate the Trust from the operational company. Any profits go back into the Trust so there is a virtous circle.
And what tips came out of the presentation?
If you can afford to get a film made it's a great idea. The video gets a lot of hits and is a great promotional tool
You can find out more by downloading the Knockando Woolmill presentation, visiting the Knockando Woolmill website or by emailing jana@glenarder.com.
After some great soup and sandwiches, it was time for the facilitated discussion session, delivered by Sheila Fraser. Delegates split into groups of five and told each other the best thing that had happened in their communities in the past year. The groups then mixed up and told their new group about one of the stories they heard in the previous group, and so on and so on.
The session was very lively, and groups heard about lots of innovative and inspiring projects taking place in Aberdeenshire and elsewhere in Scotland. At the end of the session groups were left with post-it notes with very brief descriptions of the many stories that had been told. The group as a whole were asked to identify themes that had emerged during discussion, and then post-its were arranged accordingly.
The themes that emerged were:
Projects that we heard about included an under-18s disco, a community graveyard, a campaign against plastic bags that snowballed, the Tin Hut, the Portait of Our Time project, the Portsoy Players and many more. At the end of the session, delegates were asked to come to the front and tell everyone about one of the stories they'd heard about.
Following the Rural Aberdeenshire event, we've posted some topics in our Forum about issues raised on the day. We've also started a topic for people who heard about an interesting project and want to know more. We'll do our best to put you in touch with the relevant people. So get involved and take part in the following forum topics:
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