Rural Community Gateway

Editor's Note

The Rural Gateway has been sharing news, views and information across Scotland's rural communities for five years. The site was launched on 10th March 2003, and to celebrate our fifth birthday we put together a series of articles looking back through the archives.

• Happy 5th Birthday Rural Gateway
• Rural Gateway at five - five features under the spotlight
• Rural Gateway at five - five most popular stories

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our users for all your valued contributions over the past five years. Keep getting involved by emailing us with your suggestions, taking part in our features, commenting on issues or entering our photo competition. Look out for some new ways to get involved coming to the site soon.

New events feature - tell us about events in your area
Is there a great community event coming up in your area? Have you been to a concert that was so good you want to tell others? Later in April, we'll be launching a new monthly feature highlighting forthcoming events in rural Scotland and reviewing some recent events. And we need your contributions.

There are so many events going on all around the country - from food festivals to Highland Games to music concerts. We want you to get involved with our new feature by telling us about community and cultural events in your area. There are two ways to take part:

• Send us 75 - 100 words on a forthcoming rural event - don't forget to include details of where to go for more info
• Send us a review of up to 250 words about a rural event you've recently attended

We'll publish a selection of the contributions we receive. We're particularly keen to hear from young people, so tell us about events at your school or organised by groups you are involved in. Contributions should be sent to editor@ruralgateway.org.uk by Monday 21st April.

Great contributions
We've had a number of great contributions over the past few weeks. John Gold's latest insightful 'A Southerly Aspect' article asks 'What is this community capacity building we keep talking about?'. Petra Vergunst reports on Banchory's vision to turn their town hall into a thriving civic centre, while Debbie Gray explains North Highland College's Online Learning Bytes. And Patrick Vickery is back with a Rural Rambling involving muffins and climate change!

If you want to tell us about news, an issue or projects in your area, why not write a special report for us? Get in touch by emailing mailto:editor@ruralgateway.org.uk.

Great Rural Debate on Tourism
What do you think about the quality of Scotland's hotels, hostels and bed and breakfasts? Let us know by joining our latest Great Rural Debate 'A warm welcome is more important than the right number of teabags'. You can read contributions from Rural Gateway member Daye Tucker and Philip Riddle Chief Executive of VisitScotland, and comments posted already.

Do you think accommodation providers with no website are doomed to failure? Do you think we are obsessed with tourist accommodation at the expense of other parts of tourism infrastructure like public transport? We want to know what you think about the issues raised so far. Take part in our Great Rural Debate on Tourism.

Calor Village of the Year - open for entries
The Calor Village of the Year Awards are open for entries from communities with less than 5000 people. The Rural Gateway is delighted to be supporting these prestigious awards, along with the Association for Scottish Community Councils. There are four regions: North, Central and South Scotland and Scottish islands. Each regional winner will receive £1000. The overall winner will receive a further £3000. The closing date for applications is 31st May 2008. You can find out more about Calor Village of the Year and how to apply in Gateway supports Village of the Year.

Leader funding announcement
The Scottish Government have announced details of the LEADER funding programme designed to empower communities at a grassroots level. Find out more in LEADER funding announcement. Look out for more about LEADER and the Scotland Rural Development Programme coming to the Rural Gateway soon.

Be transported with our magical photo competition gallery
Take a look at our first photo competition gallery of 2008 and you'll be transported to some of rural Scotland's most stunning and beautiful places. We were very impressed with your submissions to the 'My favourite place in rural Scotland' theme.

We want your photos of working in rural Scotland
The next theme in our photo competition is 'Working away in rural Scotland'. And it's not just rural jobs we're interested in - you can get creative with this theme. Your subject could include volunteering on a community project, doing some gardening or working on a project for school, for example. The closing date for this theme is 29th April 2008.

Young photographer's competition
Don't forget we also have a special competition for photographers under the age of 18. Young photographers can submit photos under any of our themes before 15th December 2008. Find out more about our photo competition.

Scotland's rural policy reviewed - what do you think?
We're still keen to hear your thoughts on the OECD's recent review of rural policy in Scotland. We've had some interesting comments so far. See Scotland's rural policy reviewed.

Your Project
We've had two great Your Project articles recently. The first came from Ewan Black at UHI Millennium Institute who told us about their Continuing Professional Development project. Also, Cindie Reiter explained the Rag Tag 'n' Textile project near Kyle of Lochalsh. This social firm works mainly with people recovering from mental health problems to make accessories and home furnishing items from recycled materials.

Events
In our events calendar you will find details of a Food Policy for Scotland event in Edinburgh and the Langholm Walking Festival. You can add your own events direct to our calendar. If you want to know more email me at editor@ruralgateway.org.uk.

Documents
Recently added documents include findings from Growing up in rural Scotland's research 'Children's issues in community plans', the consultation document for the consultation on a Climate Change Bill for Scotland, and a study of community energy projects in the UK called 'Low Carbon Communities'.

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.

Thank you
Thanks to John Henderson, Daye Tucker, David Woodhouse, Maggi Kaye, Karl Pipes, Geoff Crolley, Liz Curtis, Andrew Gallagher, Brian Moffat, Michael Johnston, Ewan Black, Thomas Black, Debbie Gray, Dianne Smith, Ian Watson, John Gold, Andrew Thompson, Patrick Vickery, Donald McPhillimy and more for their recent comments and contributions.

Top Stories

• Leader funding announcement
• Future Farmer Award - still time to apply
• Responses to housing consultation published
• Rural round up 91
• A Southerly Aspect: What is community capacity building?
• My favourite place in rural Scotland gallery
• Your Project - Rag Tag 'n' Textile
• Rural rambling 12
• Special report: Banchory wishes to transform town hall into civic centre
• Special report: Learning 4 Life - Online Learning Bytes
• Event report: Growing up in rural Scotland
• Your Project - Continuing Professional Development at UHI
• Event report: Rural economy and tourism under sustainable spotlight
• Off the shelf - March 2008

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. If you wish to unsubsribe from this newsletter go to My Newsletters.

Best wishes
Norette Ferns

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