Newsletter Sept 21

AVA Magazine 

September 2021 

New Hospital Homecoming Project • Member Spotlights 

• Mearns & Coastal Healthy Living Network •

Scottish Charity Number: SC014223 

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AVA | September 2021 3 

The Butterfly Effect 

Dan Shaw 

AVA CEO 

Almost everything that the community, 

voluntary, and third sectors do can in 

some way be linked back to supporting 

the mental health and wellbeing of people 

within our communities. No matter who we are 

or where we live, the smallest of things that 

someone makes an effort to do can have ‘the 

butterfly effect’ of starting a big change in 

the lives of others. From The Seedbox through 

it’s horticultural efforts; via Families Outside 

who support children and families affected by 

imprisonment and individual charitable efforts; 

to AVA and our own efforts in enabling hospital 

patients to be discharged faster and recover 

in the familiar surroundings of their own home. 

Every one of us makes a valuable contribution 

to our local social economy in our own way 

and in part, that’s what makes Aberdeenshire 

such a great place to live and work in. 

With that in mind, we are receiving lots of 

information about consultations that are 

happening at local, 

regional, and national 

levels. Examples of these 

include Aberdeenshire’s 

‘Tackling Food Poverty’, 

and ‘Autism Strategy’ 

surveys, NHS Grampian’s 

‘Plan for the Future 2022- 

2028’ consultation, and 

Scotland’s ‘National 

Care Service’ and 

‘Volunteer Involving 

Organisations’ 

consultations. We’ll 

continue to upload any consultations that we 

receive to our website here and we really 

would like to encourage as many of you as 

possible to contribute in areas that you feel 

you have experience in. It’s so important 

that views from within our sector are heard. 

I’m really pleased that you’ve chosen to spend 10 

minutes or so having a look at this edition of our 

magazine; I hope you get to the end and feel 

it’s been a good use of your precious time, and 

if you feel motivated to contribute in the future, 

please do get in touch with us to let us know. 

With very best wishes 

Dan and the entire AVA Team 

daniel.shaw@avashire.org.uk 

Contents 

4-5 

6 

AVA Data Healthcheck 

...smarter support for Members 

Hospital Homecoming 

Introducing the new 2-year project 

12-13 

15 

Success Stories 

A snapshot of our thriving 

Aberdeenshire communities 

Member Spotlight 

Lend A Hand Kemnay’s 

Community Larder 

7 

Member Spotlight 

Families Outside 

16-17 

Children & Families 

Making Children’s Rights Real 

8-9 

10-11 

Social Enterprise Awards Scotland 

The Seed Box shortlisted for award 

Mearns & Coastal Healthy 

Living Network 

Presenting at National Conference 

18-19 

20 

Fundraising Art Trails 

Our own staff member raises 

money for NE charities 

Profile 

Chris White, AVA Vice-Chair

4 AVA | September 2021 

AVA|Data 

Healthcheck 

The top three primary causes of these groups 

are under the broad headings of ‘people and 

communities’ (31%); ‘health, social care, and 

general wellbeing’ (31%); and ‘education and 

training support’ (24%). 

Since April, our team has interacted with groups 

1,466 recorded times for a variety of reasons; or 

to put it another way, AVA has been interacting 

with on average, 66 groups per week to offer 

both reactive and proactive support, advice 

and guidance whenever it has been asked for. 

Each interaction may have had more than one 

outcome for groups, and to date, 57% have 

included discussion of capacity building (e.g. 

governance, funding, volunteering); 55% have 

included discussion of connecting (e.g. to other 

groups, to opportunities, to different sectors); 

and in 49% of cases, AVA has acted as a source 

of knowledge (e.g. training, development, 

guidance). 

Dan Shaw 

AVA CEO 

Anyone who has been in touch with AVA 

for any reason since April this year may 

have noticed some slight differences 

to what we are doing and how we are doing 

it. In addition to the work that the team does 

directly with community, voluntary and third 

sector groups on a regular basis, they have also 

been working really hard behind the scenes 

to help AVA grow in our ability to understand 

more about Aberdeenshire’s vital community, 

voluntary and third sectors. This has included 

developing new ways for people to contact 

us for a faster response; building networks of 

likeminded groups who can come together and 

collaborate on similar issues; and learning new 

information recording systems so that we are 

able to join lots more dots together to support, 

and advocate for the sector in a more informed 

way. 

Over time, AVA has gathered a lot of information 

about the groups/organisations that we have 

worked with; as of 1st September 2021, we 

hold information about 1,191 active groups 

who are delivering services in Aberdeenshire. 

We are however very aware that we can always 

know and do a lot more, and we are being 

approached more regularly by our public sector 

partners for this reason. One example of this is 

the community mapping exercise that we are 

collaborating with the Health and Social Care 

Partnership on (click here to access the survey). 

Between us we are aware of a large number 

of groups and organisations who may wish to 

engage more as the health and social care 

agenda evolves, so we have jointly developed 

this activity to help us both find out more of what 

we don’t already know about interested groups/ 

organisations (whilst obviously being respectful 

of the private nature of some of the data that 

we hold). 

We currently have a membership body 

numbering 524 organisations and individuals. 

As a membership organisation, knowing more 

about our members and other organisations 

would enable us to paint a much more 

informed picture about how the community, 

voluntary, and third sectors are working in 

Aberdeenshire. For example, we would like 

to know more about how many people are 

employed across the sectors, how many people 

are volunteering across the sectors, how groups 

and organisations are funded (contracts, grants, 

donations etc. and the duration that they are 

secure for), and how many service users each 

group/organisation supports. When combined, 

we believe the information may help to paint a 

picture of how vitally important the sectors are 

for service users, but also how fragile the sectors


are in both human and financial terms as we 

start to emerge from the pandemic. 

With growing expectations on what the sectors 

might be able to do to support the public sector 

to deliver services in the future, AVA will, with that 

evidence, be able to work harder to advocate 

in a more informed way for the sectors we are 

here to support. Please help us to do this by 

completing the survey below. 

Help us get to 

know you better: 

AVA Members and 

all Aberdeenshire 

Voluntary groups 

are invited to fill in 

our Data Healthcheck 

here 

“Our staff have 

been working really 

hard behind the 

scenes to help AVA 

grow in our ability 

to understand 

more about 

Aberdeenshire’s 

vital community, 

voluntary and third 

sectors.” 

AVA Membership | Join Us 

Community and third 

sector organisations are 

invited to join AVA as 

full members, and people who 

either work or volunteer for 

those organisations are invited 

to join as affiliated members. 

Volunteers are the lifeblood 

of our sector and those who 

volunteer on a regular basis 

are invited to join AVA as 

associate members. 

Apply here H 

www.avashire.org.uk/join-ava.html 

Become an AVA Member: 

• Enhanced communications 

through specialism networking 

and information mailing lists 

• Priority access to news, updates and 

information 

• Free and priority access to AVA 

membership and specialist forum events 

• Priority access to AVA Training resources 

• Priority access to AVA services and facilities 

• Access to discounted rates for AVA 

Office Support Services 

• Access to professional services offering 

discounted rates to members


Introducing|Hospital Homecoming 

Hospital Homecoming is a new and exciting two-year test 

of change project. It aims to engage community groups 

and volunteers to support faster discharge of patients from 

acute care by providing and supporting a community-based 

infrastructure to receive the patient and enable them to live at 

home. It is known that patients recover more quickly in a home 

setting, and with appropriate support the aim is to ensure these 

individuals are not readmitted to acute care. 

Aimi Blueman 

AVA Community Support 

Coordinator, Hospital 

Homecoming Project 

The project will bring together NHS Grampian, the three Health 

and Social Care Partnerships and the Third Sector (community 

groups and other third sector providers) to co-produce the 

model. 

AVA have employed Aimi Blueman, as a Community Support 

Coordinator (Hospital Discharge) to deliver the Aberdeenshire 

test of change in three pilot areas alongside ACVO in Aberdeen 

City and tsiMoray in Moray. The Covid-19 pandemic has 

highlighted existing and new groups delivering similar support 

activities as part of the resilience effort and this project will utilise 

and build on the excellent work being undertaken. 

If you are a community group or volunteer and wish to hear 

more about the project please contact Aimi Blueman at: 

aimi.blueman@avashire.org.uk or call: 07585 507524. 

AVA Office Services 

AVA members can access office services at very competitive rates. 

Payroll services 

AVA can provide 

monthly payroll services, 

including production of 

monthly payslips, HMRC 

submissions and end of 

year returns, assistance 

with auto enrolment 

compliance and pension 

file uploads. 

Independent 

examination 

of accounts 

Receipts and Payments 

Accounts examination 

is available for noncompany 

charities 

and groups with a 

gross annual income of 


AVA Member Spotlight| 

Families Outside 

Lindsay Allardyce 

AVA Communications 

& Membership Manager 

Families Outside, is the only national charity 

in Scotland to support children and families 

affected by imprisonment. Currently in 

Scotland around 27,000 children have a parent 

in prison, which is twice the amount than are 

affected by divorce. They are innocent, but are 

often treated as though they are guilty. They feel 

stigma, rejection, victimisation, and rarely know 

who to turn to for help. 

When a family member is sent to prison, the 

impact on the family’s health and wellbeing 

can be significant and enduring. Children with 

a parent in prison face significant challenges 

including trauma (making it hard for them to 

learn) and stigma (which can lead to behaviour 

problems and bullying). They are more likely to 

come from families with complex needs but if 

children are recognised and supported, they are 

more likely to succeed and fulfil their potential 

at school and beyond. Resilience can only be 

achieved if these children and young people 

have opportunities to discuss their experiences 

openly. 

Each year Families Outside support thousands of 

families from across Scotland, helping with issues 

such as housing, finance, stigma, and isolation. 

Families Outside offer a range of support & 

information and can meet with family members 

in the community to provide confidential, 

practical & emotional support. They also offer a 

free helpline for families and those who work with 

them, providing support and information which 

can be reached on 0800 254 0088. 

Their CLUB 10 programme funded by BBC 

Children in Need aims to strengthen relationships 

between inmates at HMP&YOI Grampian and 

their family members, through sport and creative 

activities. CLUB 10 takes place on the last Tuesday 

of every month and it engages families in free 

sport and wellbeing activities, aiming to reduce 

social isolation by connecting individuals in similar 

circumstances. 

Find more information and resources from 

Families Outside on their website at: www. 

familiesoutside.org.uk or contact Regional 

Family Support Coordinator, Jen Riach at: 

Jen.riach@familiesoutside.org.uk


2021 Social Enterprise Scotland| 

Shortlist announced 

Aileen Longino 

AVA Development Officer 

specialising in Social Enterprise 

The unveiling of the shortlisted applicants for 

the 2021 Social Enterprise Scotland Awards 

has just taken place. The judges have 

been hard at work reviewing the applications 

prepared by organisations across Scotland 

over the last couple of weeks. 

The shortlisted organisations across the seven 

award categories have all impressed with their 

applications, mission and purpose, and the 

impact they deliver. The seven categories for 

these awards are: Social Enterprise of the Year, 

One to Watch Award, Provie it: Social Impact 

Award, Market Builder Award, Health & Social 

Care Award, Environmental Social Enterprise 

and Social Enterprise Champion. 

We are delighted that one of our AVA 

members, The Seed Box, has been shortlisted 

for the Health & Social Care Award with winners 

announced on November 2nd. The Seed Box 

which is based in the beautiful walled garden 

at Ballogie Estate near Aboyne, aims to improve 

the social, emotional and physical health of its 

service users through horticultural and outdoor 

activities. 

As a social enterprise all profits of the company 

will be used for the benefit of the users. It provides


Rowlands and her staff and service users alike. 

They so deserve this award and I will be keeping 

everything crossed for them.” 

On hearing about their shortlist nomination 

Belinda Rowlands, Manager of The Seed Box 

said, “We are delighted to be short listed for this 

award, which is a fantastic recognition of all our 

hard work. The other organisations shortlisted in 

the Health and Social Care category are all 

strong contenders - it is always interesting to 

hear about other Social Enterprises. We look 

forward to being part of the Digital Awards 

Ceremony in November, when the results are 

announced.” 

Good luck to The Seed Box! 

Read more about the Social Enterprise Scotland 

Awards and shortlist here. 

a day service providing support to adults and 

children with additional support needs, who 

are presently unable to work in mainstream 

employment through meaningful work-related 

activities. These promote and encourage 

independence and social rehabilitation as well 

as life skills and training to enable users to move 

on to employment, sheltered or otherwise. 

The Seed Box has had a huge impact on the 

communities it serves in Deeside with steady 

growth over the last 8 years. Within the last two 

years they have been organising the monthly 

Aboyne Farmers Market on the village green 

on the second Saturday of every month from 

April to December which now has over 30 stalls 

attending and people coming far and wide to 

enjoy it. 

During lockdown they have continued working 

hard to support the community and diversified 

further by doing home deliveries of veg boxes, 

plants and flowers free within a 10 mile radius of 

Aboyne. 

We have worked closely with The Seed Box 

over the last 5 and half years and thoroughly 

enjoy our site visits. Our Development Officer, 

Aileen Longino said, “There is always such 

a buzz about the place when I visit and I am 

always met with a warm welcome from Belinda 

If you need support with your social 

enterprise or are thinking of setting one 

up please contact our AVA Social 

Enterprise specialist, Aileen Longino, 

Email: aileen.longino@avashire.org.uk 

or Tel: 07824 096531.


AVA Member 

Mearns & Coastal Healthy 

Living Network to present 

at Age Scotland National 

Conference 

Jane Mitchell 

Manager, Mearns & Coastal 

Healthy Living Network 

Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living 

Network (MCHLN) is delighted to have 

been asked to present a workshop at 

this year’s Age Scotland annual conference in 

September. 

MCHLN provides activities, services and 

support to maintain and improve the health 

and well-being of people aged 50+. Based in 

Laurencekirk, the organisation delivers a range 

of community-led services in the coastal villages 

and inland rural communities of Kincardine 

and Mearns in South Aberdeenshire. Resources 

are focused on the things that older people 

themselves say are important and which enable 

them to live in their own homes for as long as 

possible – help with shopping, transport, small 

jobs around the house, a friendly call telephone 

service and garden maintenance, as well as 

a range of groups and activities to combat 

social isolation and loneliness, including social 

gardening groups, low-level health walks, chairbased 

exercise groups, lunch clubs, a group 

for people with dementia, and a dementiafriendly 

monthly café and cinema screenings. 

Although group activities had to stop as COVID 

took hold last year, MCHLN were able to keep 

their services running, providing much needed 

support at the time. 

Jane Mitchell from MCHLN said, “The loneliness 

and social isolation faced by many older people 

during the pandemic was a real concern to us, 

so when we got the green light to restart our 

three health walks and two social gardening 

groups, we jumped at the chance.”


The theme of Age Scotland’s conference is 

Resilience and Recovery: the important role 

of Older People’s groups and organisations, 

and MCHLN’s presentation focuses on nature, 

growing and enjoying the outdoors, and the 

importance of having access to green spaces 

for our health and wellbeing. 

“We saw first-hand last year the difference it 

made to people’s lives to have a social activity 

to attend, especially for those living alone, 

and our outdoor activities gave us the perfect 

opportunity to provide those. We followed the 

guidelines from partner organisations such as 

Paths for All to ensure we ran our groups as safely 

as possible, and supported staff and volunteers 

to feel confident to return to face-to-face 

activities. The outdoors became so important 

to many of us last year, as time away from the 

four walls of our homes, a safe space to meet 

others, and a place where we could take part 

in activities to support both our physical health 

and mental wellbeing.” 

The Age Scotland conference takes place 

on Wednesday 22nd September. For further 

information please call 0333 323 2400 or email 

nationalconference2021@agescotland.org.uk 

Moving forward, MCHLN are keen to work in 

partnership with organisations, groups and 

services across the local area to deliver activities 

and support which meet the changing needs of 

our communities. Their services and activities are 

all delivered with help from the Network’s team 

of fantastic volunteers, the majority of whom are 

older people themselves, and who are a vital 

part of the organisation. If you are interested 

in volunteering with any of their services and 

activities, MCHLN would love to hear from you. 

Get in touch with MCHLN – 

Email: office@mchln.org.uk, 

Tel: 01561 378130 Website: www.mchln.org.uk 

or via their Facebook page 

Thrive Training 

E-Learning Hub for groups, 

clubs and organisations in 

Aberdeenshire 

Sign up here 

H 

This online training resource offers over 40 

courses. The cost of each 12-month user 

licence is £40 for AVA Members and £75 

for non-members. Organisations are free 

to buy as many licences as needed. A free 

trial period can also be arranged. Please 

contact Training@avashire.org.uk for more 

information or complete the online user 

licence application by filling out the form 

here: https://tinyurl.com/vpjm3zy5 

communications 

on-line training 

covid-19 response 

self-management 

wellbeing 

IT skills 

compliance 

finance 

workplace development


Success 

Stories 

Donna Speed 

AVA Funding Officer 

We love sharing success stories from our 

Aberdeenshire Third Sector, here are just 

some: 

Aberdeenshire Men’s Sheds have been provided 

with defibrillators as part of a new campaign. St 

Andrew’s First Aid have donated defibrillators to 

the Aberchirder, Inverurie and Peterhead groups 

as well as seven other sheds in Scotland. 

The Formartine Area Committee Budget has 

awarded funds to: Balmedie Leisure Centre 

Association who will receive £5000 towards 

the creation of an outdoor inclusive play area. 

Ellon Rotary Club will receive £1000 towards its 

project to create a picnic and activity area in an 

unused outdoor area at Ellon Resource Centre. 

The Ellon Parks Improvement Committee will 

be awarded with a sum of up to £6987 to assist 

with its project to remove and replace the swing 

sets at Auchterellon play park and Turriff Local 

Charity will gain a small boost of £317 to help buy 

equipment, materials and tools to improve its 

charity shop on the town’s High Street. 

Princess Anne has officially opened the Banchory 

and District Men’s Shed. The Princess Royal visited 

the Deeside group on 1st September, and heard 

about the work they do – not only as a hobby, 

but to help their community, during a tour. She 

then unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark 

the official opening before being presented with 

a bird box made by member Alan Pumfrey. 

The Friends of Tarlair group has now appointed 

Studio Octopi and Heritage Architecture to restore 

the pavilion at Tarlair Outdoor Pool after funding 

assistance for the restoration was secured from 

Aberdeeshire Council’s Macduff Vision and Action 

Plan. Restoration work is due to commence next 

year once the full funding package is secured. 

Last year the Friends of Tarlair group had a formal 

application accepted by Aberdeenshire Council 

to take over the ownership of the pool.


Stonehaven Ladies Football Club is one of over 

500 clubs across Scotland receiving Scottish 

FA FootballForAll funding. This has contributed 

towards supporting 183 girls & woman at the 

club throughout their age groups from the 

under 7’s rght through to the ladies. 

Aboyne Paths and Tracks have been awarded 

a £1500 grant by Paths For All to buy strimmers 

and get formal training in their use for some 

of their volunteers. That should help keep the 

riverside and other paths clear next summer! 

Tarland Paths have been awarded a grant by 

Paths for All which will allow them to buy some 

much needed equipment to help maintain the 

Tarland Paths network as well as a new bench. 

A major community effort saved a north-east 

village’s football pitch when water damage 

left children with nowhere to play. Much of the 

pitch in Cumniston had become a bog during 

the winter months when it was barely in use, so 

the local community took on the mammoth 

DIY project and came together to fix the pitch. 

Companies stepped up to provide diggers, 

labour, stones and pipes free of charge and a 

baking rota was even set up to help keep the 

volunteers fed during the tough work. There 

were about 80 people taking aggregate in 

and out, digging trenches and helping out with 

the manual work - all saving the Cuminestown 

Youth Active Football Club around £30,000. 

Community spirit at it’s best. 

Skateraw Hall trustees are aiming to take 

ownership of Skateraw Hall in Newtonhill and 

are now aiming to raise £10,000 to complete 

the deal, securing its future as a meeting place 

in the village for years to come. They have 

launched a GoFundMe page to secure the 

remaining money here. 

Belhelvie Community Trust were able to secure 

£8000 from The National Lottery Community 

Fund toward funding the installation of a double 

accessible swing in the play park at the Sand 

Bothy. 

Tarves Parish Church, received £9,999 from The 

National Lottery Community Fund to build a 

new shed that could be used as storage space 

by groups who utilise the Youth Hall. 

Braemar Community Limited secured £10,000 

from The National Lottery Community Fund 

to employ a project development officer 

to oversee completion of a project to build 

affordable housing in the area, Donside 

Community Council received £9,500 from The 

National Lottery Community Fund to run an 

online community hub to benefit the people who 

live in and around Alford. Gordon Woodworkers 

received £5000 from The National Lottery 

Community Fund to upgrade their woodturning 

workshop. 

The AFFA Fine Open Air Market at Milton of 

Crathes is offering limited opportunities for 

local charities and community associations 

to fundraise at the event. Contact: susanne. 

shepherd@leysgroup.com. 

Thank you all for making Aberdeenshire 

a better place to live! 

Torphins Christmas Post Box with the help 

of Torphins Pharmacy and The Paper Girls, 

Aboyne have raised £385.65 to donate to 

AberNecessities, a charity who looks after 

families in hardship, living in Aberdeen and 

Aberdeenshire. 

Inchmarlo Community Workshop - The Bothy 

have completed their extension using a 

small grant awarded by the King George V 

Community Wind Turbine Fund to construct the 

wall surrounding the bothy. 

Search for funding using our 

search engine and subscribe 

to our weekly funding bulletin 

on the AVA website at: 

www.avashire.org.uk/searchforfunding

the ava 

website 

H 

bringing you more of the 

resources you need... 

Funding search 

We are delighted to 

have teamed up with 

Funding Scotland to 

bring you a fantastic new 

funding search engine 

- from small grants to 

funding for big capital 

projects, we can help 

you track down the 

funding you need. It’s so 

easy to use, and you can 

also subscribe to the new 

weekly funding bulletin 

there too. 

Organisation search 

Search for Third Sector 

groups and organisations 

across Aberdeenshire. 

Our search engine will 

show you a range of 

information for each 

organisation as well 

as any volunteering 

opportunities they have 

on offer. 

Our Magpie Online Shop 

Shop online with 

Magpie! Magpie is 

also on Facebook and 

Instagram, so give us a 

follow. 

A-Z of AVA Members 

Our A-Z of AVA Members 

has links to their websites, 

or social media – get an 

overview of the scope of 

our membership, as well 

as useful links with fellow 

members. 

Volunteering Forms 

Let us know if your 

organisation has any 

volunteering roles and 

we can upload them to 

our system for sharing. 

Subscribe to our new 

Volunteering Bulletin 

published every 2 

months with the latest 

opportunities across 

Aberdeenshire. 

Nominate a volunteer for 

an AVA Award 

Use our nomination 

form to recognise 

individual commitment 

to volunteering for 1, 

5, 10 and 15 years and 

for volunteers who 

have given 20 years 

or more there is a 

Lifetime Volunteering 

Achievement Award. 

Support Request Form 

Get in touch with us via 

our Support Request Form 

and we’ll make sure the 

right person gets back to 

you. 

Volunteering 

Opportunities 

Use our search engine 

to search for local and 

national volunteering 

opportunities. 

Resources 

Find a range of links 

to useful pages and 

organisations – and Quick 

Guides for new groups. 

See the latest Covid 

guidance, AVA Office 

Services for members, 

and read past and 

present newsletters/blogs. 

Training 

We have partnered with 

Highland Third Secor 

Interface to provide 

AVA members with a 

discounted extensive 

training programme, 

including over 30 

e-courses in a range of 

subjects. 

www.avashire.org.uk


AVA Member Spotlight| 

Lend A Hand Kemnay 

opens new community larder 

Aileen Longino 


specialising in Social Enterprise 

During the pandemic the village of Kemnay 

like hundreds of other villages during this 

time rallied round those in most need. 

When people were isolating and struggling 

to get the basic food essentials Lend A Hand 

Kemnay formed mid March in 2020 to help 

those in need. 

They started with supporting people with 

prescriptions and shopping then Helen Aitken 

started a pop-up larder in a tent in her garden 

with surplus food being donated by Grahams 

Dairy, M&S, local butchers, Coop and many 

more. The tent changed to a wagon and 

everyday Helen managed it through rain, 

hail and snow for 14 months. Here at AVA we 

recognised the effort of the team behind this 

achievement with our Community Spirit Awards 

in July 2020. 

It became obvious to organiser Kayleigh 

Wallace and her team with the support of 

Kemnay Community Council, that something 

more permanent needed to be done to make 

this essential service sustainable. With the help 

of our AVA Response Recovery and Resilience 

Fund and the National Lottery, they have now 

opened a permanent Lend A Hand Kemnay 

Community Larder in Kemnay Village Hall. With 

continuing support from local businesses and 

the community, the larder will provide a wide 

range of store cupboard staples, toiletries and 

fresh goods. 

The Community Larder is open Tuesday 

and Thursdays 9.30 -11.30 for the people of 

Kemnay and Monymusk. They have started a 

membership scheme to become a Friend of 

Lend A Hand Kemnay and Bag for Life scheme. 

Completely run by volunteers for their 

community this is a wonderful achievement by 

a community that has worked together through 

the hardest of times. Well done everyone! 

Contact Lend A Hand Kemnay at: 

LaHKemnay@hotmail.com


Children & Families|Making 

Children’s Rights Real 

and while not yet incorporated in Scottish law 

yet (in process) it is implemented in various 

legislation such as Children and Young People 

(Scotland) Act 2014 The Children (Scotland) 

Act 2020, GIRFEC and several other Acts. 

The UNCRC sets out the specific rights that all 

children have to help fulfil their potential, including 

rights relating to health and education, leisure 

and play, fair and equal treatment, protection 

from exploitation and the right to be heard. 

Sandra McGuigan 


specialising in Children & Families 

Earlier this year Children in Scotland 

offered the third sector in Aberdeenshire 

training on Making Children’s Rights Real 

and a key theme was for organisations to 

prepare for the implementation of The United 

Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 

(UNCRC) (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act. 

When I put the offer of the 2 session with 

eLearning training out to our organisations 

serving Aberdeenshire there was an 

immediate response showing that our Third 

Sector are motivated to continue to put 

children’s rights at the heart of what they do. 

We were fortunate to involve 17 lovely folk from 

a wide range of multi-agency backgrounds 

over the last few weeks including One Stop 

Shop, Avenue, Mucky boots, Home-Start 

Kincardine, Home-Start North East, Ask Autism, 

Absafe, Barnardos North, Your Love Rara, 

Salvesteen Mindroom, North East Police Division, 

Grampian NHS and Aberdeenshire Council. 

UNCRC stands for the United Nations 

Convention on the Rights of the Child and is the 

most widely ratified human rights treaty in the 

world, although the USA have not adopted this, 

which attendees at the training found shocking. 

The Bill passed unanimously on 16th March 2021 

Key to any training is what attendees do with their 

learning, Children in Scotland requested each 

of us to make a pledge, writing this was mine 

along with sharing further training opportunities. 

Salvesen Mindroom Centre created Respecting 

& Promising Children’s Rights, this document 

clearly links how they support the different 

articles in their work where they support, inform 

and empower children and young people living 

with learning difficulties. 

Other attendees are looking at or have 

implemented: 

• Thinking about communication tools/ 

resources for pre-school and non verbal 

children to ensure their ideas are included 

in planning around them. 

• Making the Children’s Rights poster visible in 

their work place 

• Extending further training to staff, volunteers 

and board members 

• Adding UNCRC information to their website 

and social media posts 

• Involving young people as stakeholders 

in supporting organisations plan work and 

strategies. 

Children’s rights awareness and knowledge is 

essential for everyone who comes into contact 

or is involved in services who support children 

and young people. Consider prioritising training 

and cross referencing the UNCRC in your policies 

and documents that underpin your values and 

practices and show a clear commitment by 

involving our children and young people in 

decision-making in the services that serve them.


training 

Further Children’s Rights Training 

| 

Children in Scotland: Children’s 

Rights Training eLearning 

This course is designed to support you to develop your knowledge about children’s 

rights in Scottish policy and practice. 

GIRFEC: Children’s Rights and Participation 

This online courses supports multi-agency reflection on promotion of Children’s 

Rights in our day-to-day roles and signposts participants to a range of practice 

tools and helpful resources. An ALDO account is required for this course, if you do 

not already have one please email: training.courses@aberdeenshire.gov.uk


AVA Communications 

& Membership 

Manager raises 

over £28,000 for 

local charities 

Visit Archie Lighthouse Keeper at Aberdeen 

University Botanic Garden until 17th October. 

Lesley Lawrinson 

AVA Communications Officer 

Earlier this year in the midst of the post- 

Christmas lockdown, our very own Lindsay 

Allardyce found the time (in addition to 

her busy day job here at AVA!) to create the 

stunning Archie Lighthouse Keeper, one of 45 

lighthouses now currently on display throughout 

the northeast in a bid to raise money for CLAN 

Cancer Support as part of the Light the North 

lighthouse trail. Although delayed 1 year due to 

the Covid pandemic, this is actually Lindsay’s 

4th contribution to the region’s annual charity 

sculpture trail having first completed The Parting 

Song anchor in 2017 in memory of her dear friend 

and colleague who sadly lost her battle with 

cancer earlier that year. The Parting Song alone 

raised a staggering £15,000 and contributed to a 

fundraising total of £1million for Friends of Anchor 

to create a world class cancer research unit in 

the northeast. 

In 2018 Lindsay painted ‘Fair Isla’, a stylish 6ft 

penguin modeling a colourful fair isle sweater 

inspired by a trip to Shetland. Fair Isla raised an 

incredible £8,000 and spent the summer of 2018 

as part of Maggie’s Penguin Parage in Perth and 

is now the official mascot of Errol Sunday Market! 

In total, Maggie’s Penguin Parade secured 

£540,000 to cover the cost of running the 

Dundee Maggie’s Centre for another year. 

The summer of 2019 saw the Oor Wuille Bucket 

Trail and Lindsay’s cheerful ‘Floo’er Wuillie’, who 

took pride of place at The Green in Aberdeen 

City Centre and raised £5,600 at auction for 

AVA Member, The Archie Foundation. The entire 

event raised a whopping £1.3million, proceeds 

from which benefitted Royal Aberdeen’s 

Children’s Hospital (RACH), The Highland 

Children’s Unit and Tayside Children’s Hospital. 

We are so proud of Lindsay personally for raising 

over £28,000 and collectively achieving a total 

of nearly £3million for 4 charities all making a 

huge difference across northeast. Watch this 

space for a fundraising update when Archie 

The Lighthouse and his friends are auctioned 

later this year! 

After a summer of bringing joy to families across 

the northeast, the 50 large and 8 small lighthouses 

will go under the hammer in November to 

raise funds for another of our members - CLAN 

Cancer Support. Would you like to be the proud 

owner of a lighthouse sculpture? If you’d like to 

register your interest in attending the auction, 

you can do so here: Auction - Light The North. 

For more of Linday’s colourful folk artwork, visit 

daisyglaisy.scot.


PROFILE | 

Getting to know those who work hard in 

your Third Sector Interface 

Who are you? 

Chris White - recently 

appointed as AVA Vice Chair 

What is your job (in addition to 

AVA Board Member)? 

I retired in 2020 from many 

years as Aberdeenshire 

Council’s Area Manager for 

Buchan, based in Peterhead. 

Along with supporting the 

eleven Councillors in making local decisions, I lead 

on several corporate roles including the Tackling 

Poverty and Inequality work of Community Planning 

partners, coordinating external funding effort and 

supporting the first phases of resettling Syrian refugees. 

Previously I’d spent a lot of time with community 

and environmental groups trying to help establish 

sustainable schemes and funding packages. So, the 

voluntary and charitable sectors have always be close 

to my heart and much of the good work in rural Buchan 

in particular could not have been done without them. 

How did you end up working with AVA? 

I’d previously been involved with many of AVA’s 

member organisations and particularly worked closely 

with Keith Anderson on the poverty work. I’d also worked 

alongside the Scottish Government and third sector 

interfaces to try to see where agendas could coincide. 

My retirement was rapidly followed by the pandemic, so 

it has been very helpful to have some areas of previous 

interest that I can stay involved with and continue to 

contribute. 

What does a typical day look like? 

Sue Kinsey said her days were her own and this is largely 

true for me now also. Lockdown has brought two new 

avenues. Following the trend the garden has been 

turned into a centre of horticultural education {lots of 

stuff growing, some in the right place} and I have a 

collie dog who demands that not every day is my own. 

How has Covid-19 affected your job? 

The careful planning of a seven-week post retirement 

tour of the eastern seaboard of the United States and 

Quebec rapidly descended into a month of dismantling. 

But this would trivialise the true impacts, which have 

been detachment from some of the activities that I 

intended to pursue in Peterhead, the worry for friends 

and family continuing to work with vulnerable people 

and coming to terms with what we can all safely do to 

keep communities and groups flourishing through such 

stark times. 

Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action is a 

charitable company limited by guarantee. 

Company number: SC137343. 

Scottish Charity Number: SC014223 

Registered office: 57 Station Road, Ellon, 

Aberdeenshire AB41 9AR 

Tel: 03718 110008 

Email: enquiries@avashire.org.uk 

Website: www.avashire.org.uk 

Follow us on Facebook 

AberdeenshireVoluntary Action1 

Twitter @AVAShire 

Instagram @magpieshops 

YouTube AVA Shire 

We want to hear from you! 

Give us feedback, suggestions, 

whatever - fill in our form here. 

AVA Magazine available in large print 

H 

Read previous editions 

Read previous editions 

of the AVA newsletters, 

bulletins and magazines 

on our website at: 

www.avashire.org.uk 

If you’re an AVA member and 

would like to contribute to future 

magazines, please get in touch 

with Lindsay Allardyce at: 

Lindsay.Allardyce@avashire.org.uk 

www.avashire.org.uk

Newsletter Sept 21

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