Rural Community Gateway

RURAL UPDATE: ISSUE 108
16 November 2007
Catch up with the latest news from the Rural Community Gateway
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/

---

 
EDITOR'S NOTE
We've had a number of great special reports and contributions
recently. John Gold gives us an update on the Communities on the Edge
project, Jim McCreath tells us about a new commuter bike project and
David Rogers provides information on the benefits of woodfuel. Lots
of people have been in touch lately with news in their area or field
of work. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to get in touch.
Although we can't always fit everything in, we always appreciate getting
your news.

I'll be at the Highland Voluntary Sector 2007 event on 23rd November
in Inverness. It's looking set to be a great day, with lots of
interesting groups taking part. Hopefully I will see some of you
there. If you want to know more you will find a booking form in our
document library.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/information/documents.html

NEWSWIRE FORMAT
If you have not received this newsletter in our new format, go to My
Newsletters and select to receive the newswires in html format.
See https://secure.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi?page=33

COMMUNITY GUIDELINES
Sharing views, experiences and knowledge is vital to the Rural
Gateway, and we would encourage you to get involved. You can let us
know what you think on a whole range of issues by adding a comment to
our articles, sharing information with people, getting involved with
our regular features and even becoming a regular contributor.

We want as many people as possible to feel confident about
contributing, so we've added Community Guidelines to the Rural
Gateway. You can take a look at the guidelines here:
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/information/documents.html

The Community Guidelines are not set in stone, in fact we expect them
to change and evolve. So, if you have any comments or think there is
something missing, please get in touch by emailing
mailto:editor@ruralgateway.org.uk and let me know.

NEW ARCHIVES
We've gone through the vaults of the Rural Gateway and gathered our
Rural Round Up articles together in one place. Rural Round Up is one
of the oldest and most popular of our regular features. It has been
bringing you snippets of rural news since April 2003. To have a look
at the archive see http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2064

We've also added an archive for one of our newer regular features,
International Spotlight.

You will find both of these archives in the right hand column of the
home page with the other archives.

YOUR PROJECT
If you live in a rural area, but commute to Inverness each day a new
project lets you do the last leg of your journey by bike. The Re-
Cycle project is the latest to take part in our Your Project regular feature.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2076

PHOTO COMPETITION
The photo competition is hotting up, with only two monthly finalist
places left. To be considered for our November prize you must have
your submission in by 20th November. We will be closing the
competition slightly early in December to give us time to announce
the winner and get the voting started for the overall winner. So to
be considered for the December prize, and your last chance to be a
monthly winner, your entry must be submitted by 9am on 17th December
2007.

Our October gallery is now on the site. You can check out the best of
that month's submissions here:
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2056

MONITOR YOUR MAIL
Postwatch Scotland are looking for 300 volunteers to monitor their
post in the run up to Christmas so that mail performance can be measured.
All you have to do is monitor your mail from 1st to 24th December
inclusive. Postwatch will provide you with the forms you need to do
this. For more info go to the 'Volunteers wanted to monitor festive
mail' article.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2071

ARE YOU INVOLVED IN A COMMUNITY GROUP IN SKYE AND RAASAY?
Claire Hannah from the e-Communities project has been in touch. They
would like community groups in Skye and Raasay to get involved with
the project by taking part in a survey. If you are interested in the
e-Communities project or would like to take part in the survey go to
our 'Take part in e-Communities research' article.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2063

HITRANS DEADLINE
Sheila Fletcher from the Community Transport Association got in touch
to tell us that HITRANS have announced that applications to the
Enhanced Demand Responsive Transport Initiative must be with them by
21st December 2007. Find out more here:
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2075

EVENTS
Don't forget to take a look at the events calendar. Recently added
events include a free seminar on the mental health needs of farming
communities to be held in Midlothian, a series of free marketing and
PR training sessions for social enterprises and a series of events
from DTA Scotland.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/information/events.html

DOCUMENTS
Rural Scotland Key Facts 2007 is packed with interesting facts on
people and communities, services and lifestyle and economy and
enterprise. It's well worth a look, with information presented in
graphics and tables so it's easy to read. It's just one of the
documents in the Rural Gateway library.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/information/documents.html

WEB OF MONTH
Don't forget to take a look at our web of the month for November -
the RSABI website.
See http://www.rsabi.org.uk/view_item.aspx?item_id=3
 
FUNDING NEWSWIRE
If you need to know about funding, sign up for our very popular
Funding latest newswire, produced by Sandra Hogg, our resident
funding expert. Remember to select to receive them in html format.
See https://secure.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/profile.cgi?page=1

THANK YOU
Thanks to David Rogers, John Gold, DTA Scotland, Claire Hannah,
Biggart Baillie LLP, John Davidson, Postwatch Scotland, Sheila
Fletcher, Steven Wray, Jim McCreath and more for their recent
comments and contributions.

---

TOP STORIES
Avian flu - farmers and public urged to be vigilant
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2073

Announcement - HITRANS deadline
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2075

Time to talk, time to listen
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2072

Volunteers wanted to monitor festive mail
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2071

Take part in e-Communities research
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2063

Rural round up 86
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2062

Woodfuel seminars to answer burning question
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2058

Shetland and Skye in top of sustainable tourism list
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2061

Special report: Communities on the Edge update
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2060

Get the tools to start development trust
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2059 

---

CONTACT US
We are always happy to hear from Rural Gateway users, so please feel
free to email editor@ruralgateway.org.uk with any comments or
suggestions.

Best wishes
Norette Ferns

Copyright 2007 Rural Community Gateway. The Rural Community Gateway
is a Scottish Government initiative, designed and developed by online
community specialists Sift with content and editorial services
provided by the Rural Communities Team of the Scottish Council for
Voluntary Organisations.

---

Story read 422 times

Search the Website

• Privacy
• Help
• Contact Us
• Disclaimer