Ballater Cellars
Aboyne Community Action Plan
Huntly Healthy Helpings Health Walks Project
Introduction to Wind Energy and Community Benefit
Brander Building former museum spaces
A public meeting regarding the potential future community use of the two former museum spaces in the Brander Building Huntly, took place in the Clashmach Centre on the 30th November 2011. The meeting was facilitated by Mike Powell of Marr Area Partnership and supported by Hazel Mclaren Community Planning Officer. The Chair and Secretary of Huntly Community Council were invovled in the small steering group that organised the event. A summerized note of the meeting and a mindmap of the brianstorming session have been put together. View or download the note of meeting here, or the Mindap here.
Huntly Community Newsletter
A new community newsletter will be issued in March in Huntly. This is to replace the Watson. The newsletter will include information and events from a wide variety of groups in and around Huntly. If you would like to find out more please contact Callum at Huntly Mental Health by email:
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Community Ward Forums - Your Priorities
One of the sessions held during the August Community Ward Forums concentrated on how future forums could be improved and setting priorities for the next year's content. This informaton will be used to help guide the programme for the forums over the next year as thier key aim is to be responsive to the needs of community representatives and organisations. More informantion on our Community Ward Forums including the priorities you identified and dates for future meetings can be found here.
Community Representation on the Marr Community Planning Group
Election papers have now been sent out to Community Councils in Ward 14 and 16 the election process for Community Ward Representatives from Community Councils in for the Marr Community Planning Group. We are looking for a Community Coucillor to represent each of these areas . Liz Moore from Torphins Community Council currently represents Ward 15. Please encourge your Community Councillors to take part in the elections to join the Marr Community Planning Group to get more voices from your communities heard.
Huntly Wellbeing Festival 10th - 15th October
A celebration of 'Community' which brings us together and recongises how friends, family, groups and organisations contribute to our sense of well-being. The first Huntly WellBeing Festival, organised by Huntly Food and Health Group, is now well underway. The Huntly WellBeing Festival is offering a programme of events. That will help you, your family and friends to access a series of activities you might never have tried before, that could keep you happy and healthy. From Mood and Food classes to Nordic Skiing, from Dru Yoga to Embroidery Huntly's residents have been trying lots of new activities over the last week.
Scottish Government Summer Cabinet venues announced
The Scottish Government's new strengthened Cabinet team will visit Fort William, Stranraer, Kirkcaldy and Elgin this summer.
In addition to the formal Cabinet Meeting, Ministers will host public meetings on public services improvement and delivery. A separate reception to mark 'Active Scotland' will also take place, highlighting Scotland's attraction as a destination for active holidays and celebrating the efforts of local youth groups and schools involved in promoting international and national sporting events in the run up to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
The Cabinet meeting in Elgin will be held on the 6th September.
Mid Deeside Community Council - New Website
Mid Deeside Community Council have launched a new website, providing information on the Community Council and projects they are currently involved in. You can also find copies of their meeting minutes, who sits on the Community Council, who your local councillors are and lots of links for information that may be useful to you if you live in the Mid Deeside Community Council area. This covers areas around: Aboyne, Kincardine O'Neil, Dinnet Glentanar. The website address is http://www.middeesidecc.org/
Huntly Flood Alleviation Measures discussed with residents
A £2.9million project to help reduce the risk of flooding in Huntly is moving forward, following a public meeting in the town to discuss plans with residents. Residents, partner agencies and local organisations were among those represented at a meeting to discuss the Huntly Flood Plan at The Gordon Schools on Thursday May 26.
During the meeting the council discussed long-term measures to protect the Meadows area from flooding,
Residents also heard about short-term measures that are to be put in place in order to provide some level of protection ahead of the major works.
The Meadows area of the town suffered badly from flooding as a result of heavy rain in 2009. Aberdeenshire Council agreed in April this year to set aside £2.9million towards a flood protection scheme for the town.
The project contains a series of measures including the construction of improved defences to reduce the risk of the River Deveron overtopping, and new and strengthened embankments at several locations to store and divert excessive flood water flows.
Among those in attendance at the meeting were Aberdeenshire Council, Grampian Police, NHS Grampian, Grampian Fire and Rescue, SEPA, Scottish Flood Forum, Grampian Housing Association and the Huntly Development Trust.
Representatives of the Meadows Nursing Home and other special care providers were also at the meeting.
Marr area manager Les Allan said: “It was a very positive meeting. The council has made a major commitment and everybody seemed very supportive of what we will be doing.”
As part of the short-term measures, planning permission is to be sought for containers that would be used to store sandbags for local use. And Grampian Housing Association is in the process of installing flood guards at its properties.
A powerpoint presentation of the measures to be taken can be seen here
Dementia Aberdeenshire
A new website was launched at Aberdeenshire Council’s Social Work and Housing Committee last week (Thursday, June 2) to provide information about dementia and sources of support and advice in the area.
Aberdeenshire Council and NHS Grampian developed Dementia Aberdeenshire (http://www.dementia-aberdeenshire.org/) in response to feedback from people diagnosed with dementia.
Disability Information Scotland
UPDATE is Scotland’s foremost disability information service, providing across-the-board disability-related information to organisations in the voluntary, public and private sectors as well as to individual members of the public.
How Much Do I Drink - online alchol diary
During 2009 an online confidential alcohol diary was piloted across Grampian.
Feedback showed that the majority of those participating were clearly surprised by their results showing most people consistently underestimate units, time, calories and money spent on alcohol.
As a result of participating, some 62% of you were ready to change your drinking habits and overall 33% of all those participating had made a change at a 3 month follow up.
If you are curious to measure you measure's you'll find this resource at www.howmuchdoidrink.com/
Glamourhaugh Allotments, Huntly
The new allotments at Glamourhaugh, Huntly were offically opened on Saturday the 2nd April 2011 more information to follow.
The Allotments Regeneration Initiative
Have a very useful website, with information on everything you would need to know to about Allotments.
They work with absolutely anyone involved in regenerating or creating allotments – all of thier services are free to not-for-profit organisations throughout the UK!
You will find them at www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/
Bonnie Banchory - Beautiful Scotland Award
Congratulations to BDI and BERI for their Silver Award in the Keep Scotland Beautiful Campaign.
Their achievements include:
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Development of the largest allotment area in Scotland
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Maintenance and promotion of the wildlife area
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The conservation work carried out in the Scolty Hill regeneration project
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Working in partnership with the council to have the lamposts repainted
A massive amount of work will have gone into this and its great to hear that this work has been recognised.
Community Action Plans
Marr Area Partnership (MAP) have been working on behalf of the Marr Local Community Planning Group to support communities that want to develop their own Community Action Plans.
MAP can work with communities of all sizes on these plans adapting the process and timescale according to the size of the community.
MAP have supported:
- Alford
- Banchory
- Ballater
- Tarland
to develop their own Community Action Plans and are currently working with:
- Glenbuchat
- Torphins
- Kincardine O'Neil
- Aboyne
For more on Community Action Plans in Marr and for examples of completed plans click here.
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Tarland Community Composting Project
The Tarland Community Composting scheme, is a great example of a community led environmental project. It is a non-profit making, volunteer-led service run by the Tarland
Development Group.
Tarland Community Action Plan identified the need for a community composting scheme through their Community Action Plan.
The setting up of the project was enabled by:
- A quick win grant of £2000 from the Marr Local Community Planning Group
- £1000 from the Initiative Grant Scheme (IGS), funded by the Marr Area Committee and administered by the Marr Area Partnership
- In kind support from the MacRobert Trust
- A group of enthusiatic volunteers
For an annual fee of £10, garden waste will be collected fortnightly from people's homes during the 2010 gardening season. The first collection was held on Saturday 24th April and Kate Redpath, the Community Composting co-ordinator, said
"the Development Group are delighted with the initial uptake for the scheme, and with the number of people volunteering to help".
More information on Tarland Community Composting can be found on the Tarland and Cromar Community web site http://www.tarland.org/.
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Don't forget the Your Hall Manual 
If you are looking for advice and information on running your local hall, look no further than the Marr Community Planning Group sponsored 'Your Hall Manual'. This provides you with lots of useful information and templates and helps you to stay on the right side of the Public Entertainment Licence regulations.
It can be customised to meet specific needs and has been developed to cover regulations specific to Aberdeenshire and the Marr area. It is updated on an ongoing basis. Templates include:
The Your Hall Manual is availible from the Marr Area Partnership who also provide the updates for the manual.
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For events in Marr, either click on our Local Events link at the top of the page or visit Aberdeenshire Council's Events Directory.
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