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AVA Magazine<br />
<strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
New Hospital Homecoming Project • Member Spotlights<br />
• Mearns & Coastal Healthy Living Network •
Scottish Charity Number: SC014223<br />
second hand<br />
furniture<br />
electricals<br />
homeware<br />
bric-a-brac<br />
white goods<br />
clothes<br />
vinyl & loads more...<br />
Tillybrake Industrial Estate, Banchory AB31 5UN<br />
Tel: 01330 823800<br />
SHOP ONLINE: www.magpieshops.org.uk<br />
magpieshops
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 3<br />
The Butterfly Effect<br />
Dan Shaw<br />
AVA CEO<br />
Almost everything that the community,<br />
voluntary, and third sectors do can in<br />
some way be linked back to supporting<br />
the mental health and wellbeing of people<br />
within our communities. No matter who we are<br />
or where we live, the smallest of things that<br />
someone makes an effort to do can have ‘the<br />
butterfly effect’ of starting a big change in<br />
the lives of others. From The Seedbox through<br />
it’s horticultural efforts; via Families Outside<br />
who support children and families affected by<br />
imprisonment and individual charitable efforts;<br />
to AVA and our own efforts in enabling hospital<br />
patients to be discharged faster and recover<br />
in the familiar surroundings of their own home.<br />
Every one of us makes a valuable contribution<br />
to our local social economy in our own way<br />
and in part, that’s what makes Aberdeenshire<br />
such a great place to live and work in.<br />
With that in mind, we are receiving lots of<br />
information about consultations that are<br />
happening at local,<br />
regional, and national<br />
levels. Examples of these<br />
include Aberdeenshire’s<br />
‘Tackling Food Poverty’,<br />
and ‘Autism Strategy’<br />
surveys, NHS Grampian’s<br />
‘Plan for the Future 2022-<br />
2028’ consultation, and<br />
Scotland’s ‘National<br />
Care Service’ and<br />
‘Volunteer Involving<br />
Organisations’<br />
consultations. We’ll<br />
continue to upload any consultations that we<br />
receive to our website here and we really<br />
would like to encourage as many of you as<br />
possible to contribute in areas that you feel<br />
you have experience in. It’s so important<br />
that views from within our sector are heard.<br />
I’m really pleased that you’ve chosen to spend 10<br />
minutes or so having a look at this edition of our<br />
magazine; I hope you get to the end and feel<br />
it’s been a good use of your precious time, and<br />
if you feel motivated to contribute in the future,<br />
please do get in touch with us to let us know.<br />
With very best wishes<br />
Dan and the entire AVA Team<br />
daniel.shaw@avashire.org.uk<br />
Contents<br />
4-5<br />
6<br />
AVA Data Healthcheck<br />
...smarter support for Members<br />
Hospital Homecoming<br />
Introducing the new 2-year project<br />
12-13<br />
15<br />
Success Stories<br />
A snapshot of our thriving<br />
Aberdeenshire communities<br />
Member Spotlight<br />
Lend A Hand Kemnay’s<br />
Community Larder<br />
7<br />
Member Spotlight<br />
Families Outside<br />
16-17<br />
Children & Families<br />
Making Children’s Rights Real<br />
8-9<br />
10-11<br />
Social Enterprise Awards Scotland<br />
The Seed Box shortlisted for award<br />
Mearns & Coastal Healthy<br />
Living Network<br />
Presenting at National Conference<br />
18-19<br />
20<br />
Fundraising Art Trails<br />
Our own staff member raises<br />
money for NE charities<br />
Profile<br />
Chris White, AVA Vice-Chair
4 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
AVA|Data<br />
Healthcheck<br />
The top three primary causes of these groups<br />
are under the broad headings of ‘people and<br />
communities’ (31%); ‘health, social care, and<br />
general wellbeing’ (31%); and ‘education and<br />
training support’ (24%).<br />
Since April, our team has interacted with groups<br />
1,466 recorded times for a variety of reasons; or<br />
to put it another way, AVA has been interacting<br />
with on average, 66 groups per week to offer<br />
both reactive and proactive support, advice<br />
and guidance whenever it has been asked for.<br />
Each interaction may have had more than one<br />
outcome for groups, and to date, 57% have<br />
included discussion of capacity building (e.g.<br />
governance, funding, volunteering); 55% have<br />
included discussion of connecting (e.g. to other<br />
groups, to opportunities, to different sectors);<br />
and in 49% of cases, AVA has acted as a source<br />
of knowledge (e.g. training, development,<br />
guidance).<br />
Dan Shaw<br />
AVA CEO<br />
Anyone who has been in touch with AVA<br />
for any reason since April this year may<br />
have noticed some slight differences<br />
to what we are doing and how we are doing<br />
it. In addition to the work that the team does<br />
directly with community, voluntary and third<br />
sector groups on a regular basis, they have also<br />
been working really hard behind the scenes<br />
to help AVA grow in our ability to understand<br />
more about Aberdeenshire’s vital community,<br />
voluntary and third sectors. This has included<br />
developing new ways for people to contact<br />
us for a faster response; building networks of<br />
likeminded groups who can come together and<br />
collaborate on similar issues; and learning new<br />
information recording systems so that we are<br />
able to join lots more dots together to support,<br />
and advocate for the sector in a more informed<br />
way.<br />
Over time, AVA has gathered a lot of information<br />
about the groups/organisations that we have<br />
worked with; as of 1st <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong>, we<br />
hold information about 1,191 active groups<br />
who are delivering services in Aberdeenshire.<br />
We are however very aware that we can always<br />
know and do a lot more, and we are being<br />
approached more regularly by our public sector<br />
partners for this reason. One example of this is<br />
the community mapping exercise that we are<br />
collaborating with the Health and Social Care<br />
Partnership on (click here to access the survey).<br />
Between us we are aware of a large number<br />
of groups and organisations who may wish to<br />
engage more as the health and social care<br />
agenda evolves, so we have jointly developed<br />
this activity to help us both find out more of what<br />
we don’t already know about interested groups/<br />
organisations (whilst obviously being respectful<br />
of the private nature of some of the data that<br />
we hold).<br />
We currently have a membership body<br />
numbering 524 organisations and individuals.<br />
As a membership organisation, knowing more<br />
about our members and other organisations<br />
would enable us to paint a much more<br />
informed picture about how the community,<br />
voluntary, and third sectors are working in<br />
Aberdeenshire. For example, we would like<br />
to know more about how many people are<br />
employed across the sectors, how many people<br />
are volunteering across the sectors, how groups<br />
and organisations are funded (contracts, grants,<br />
donations etc. and the duration that they are<br />
secure for), and how many service users each<br />
group/organisation supports. When combined,<br />
we believe the information may help to paint a<br />
picture of how vitally important the sectors are<br />
for service users, but also how fragile the sectors
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 5<br />
are in both human and financial terms as we<br />
start to emerge from the pandemic.<br />
With growing expectations on what the sectors<br />
might be able to do to support the public sector<br />
to deliver services in the future, AVA will, with that<br />
evidence, be able to work harder to advocate<br />
in a more informed way for the sectors we are<br />
here to support. Please help us to do this by<br />
completing the survey below.<br />
Help us get to<br />
know you better:<br />
AVA Members and<br />
all Aberdeenshire<br />
Voluntary groups<br />
are invited to fill in<br />
our Data Healthcheck<br />
here<br />
“Our staff have<br />
been working really<br />
hard behind the<br />
scenes to help AVA<br />
grow in our ability<br />
to understand<br />
more about<br />
Aberdeenshire’s<br />
vital community,<br />
voluntary and third<br />
sectors.”<br />
AVA Membership | Join Us<br />
Community and third<br />
sector organisations are<br />
invited to join AVA as<br />
full members, and people who<br />
either work or volunteer for<br />
those organisations are invited<br />
to join as affiliated members.<br />
Volunteers are the lifeblood<br />
of our sector and those who<br />
volunteer on a regular basis<br />
are invited to join AVA as<br />
associate members.<br />
Apply here H<br />
www.avashire.org.uk/join-ava.html<br />
Become an AVA Member:<br />
• Enhanced communications<br />
through specialism networking<br />
and information mailing lists<br />
• Priority access to news, updates and<br />
information<br />
• Free and priority access to AVA<br />
membership and specialist forum events<br />
• Priority access to AVA Training resources<br />
• Priority access to AVA services and facilities<br />
• Access to discounted rates for AVA<br />
Office Support Services<br />
• Access to professional services offering<br />
discounted rates to members
6 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
Introducing|Hospital Homecoming<br />
Hospital Homecoming is a new and exciting two-year test<br />
of change project. It aims to engage community groups<br />
and volunteers to support faster discharge of patients from<br />
acute care by providing and supporting a community-based<br />
infrastructure to receive the patient and enable them to live at<br />
home. It is known that patients recover more quickly in a home<br />
setting, and with appropriate support the aim is to ensure these<br />
individuals are not readmitted to acute care.<br />
Aimi Blueman<br />
AVA Community Support<br />
Coordinator, Hospital<br />
Homecoming Project<br />
The project will bring together NHS Grampian, the three Health<br />
and Social Care Partnerships and the Third Sector (community<br />
groups and other third sector providers) to co-produce the<br />
model.<br />
AVA have employed Aimi Blueman, as a Community Support<br />
Coordinator (Hospital Discharge) to deliver the Aberdeenshire<br />
test of change in three pilot areas alongside ACVO in Aberdeen<br />
City and tsiMoray in Moray. The Covid-19 pandemic has<br />
highlighted existing and new groups delivering similar support<br />
activities as part of the resilience effort and this project will utilise<br />
and build on the excellent work being undertaken.<br />
If you are a community group or volunteer and wish to hear<br />
more about the project please contact Aimi Blueman at:<br />
aimi.blueman@avashire.org.uk or call: 07585 507524.<br />
AVA Office Services<br />
AVA members can access office services at very competitive rates.<br />
Payroll services<br />
AVA can provide<br />
monthly payroll services,<br />
including production of<br />
monthly payslips, HMRC<br />
submissions and end of<br />
year returns, assistance<br />
with auto enrolment<br />
compliance and pension<br />
file uploads.<br />
Independent<br />
examination<br />
of accounts<br />
Receipts and Payments<br />
Accounts examination<br />
is available for noncompany<br />
charities<br />
and groups with a<br />
gross annual income of<br />
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 7<br />
AVA Member Spotlight|<br />
Families Outside<br />
Lindsay Allardyce<br />
AVA Communications<br />
& Membership Manager<br />
Families Outside, is the only national charity<br />
in Scotland to support children and families<br />
affected by imprisonment. Currently in<br />
Scotland around 27,000 children have a parent<br />
in prison, which is twice the amount than are<br />
affected by divorce. They are innocent, but are<br />
often treated as though they are guilty. They feel<br />
stigma, rejection, victimisation, and rarely know<br />
who to turn to for help.<br />
When a family member is sent to prison, the<br />
impact on the family’s health and wellbeing<br />
can be significant and enduring. Children with<br />
a parent in prison face significant challenges<br />
including trauma (making it hard for them to<br />
learn) and stigma (which can lead to behaviour<br />
problems and bullying). They are more likely to<br />
come from families with complex needs but if<br />
children are recognised and supported, they are<br />
more likely to succeed and fulfil their potential<br />
at school and beyond. Resilience can only be<br />
achieved if these children and young people<br />
have opportunities to discuss their experiences<br />
openly.<br />
Each year Families Outside support thousands of<br />
families from across Scotland, helping with issues<br />
such as housing, finance, stigma, and isolation.<br />
Families Outside offer a range of support &<br />
information and can meet with family members<br />
in the community to provide confidential,<br />
practical & emotional support. They also offer a<br />
free helpline for families and those who work with<br />
them, providing support and information which<br />
can be reached on 0800 254 0088.<br />
Their CLUB 10 programme funded by BBC<br />
Children in Need aims to strengthen relationships<br />
between inmates at HMP&YOI Grampian and<br />
their family members, through sport and creative<br />
activities. CLUB 10 takes place on the last Tuesday<br />
of every month and it engages families in free<br />
sport and wellbeing activities, aiming to reduce<br />
social isolation by connecting individuals in similar<br />
circumstances.<br />
Find more information and resources from<br />
Families Outside on their website at: www.<br />
familiesoutside.org.uk or contact Regional<br />
Family Support Coordinator, Jen Riach at:<br />
Jen.riach@familiesoutside.org.uk
8 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
20<strong>21</strong> Social Enterprise Scotland|<br />
Shortlist announced<br />
Aileen Longino<br />
AVA Development Officer<br />
specialising in Social Enterprise<br />
The unveiling of the shortlisted applicants for<br />
the 20<strong>21</strong> Social Enterprise Scotland Awards<br />
has just taken place. The judges have<br />
been hard at work reviewing the applications<br />
prepared by organisations across Scotland<br />
over the last couple of weeks.<br />
The shortlisted organisations across the seven<br />
award categories have all impressed with their<br />
applications, mission and purpose, and the<br />
impact they deliver. The seven categories for<br />
these awards are: Social Enterprise of the Year,<br />
One to Watch Award, Provie it: Social Impact<br />
Award, Market Builder Award, Health & Social<br />
Care Award, Environmental Social Enterprise<br />
and Social Enterprise Champion.<br />
We are delighted that one of our AVA<br />
members, The Seed Box, has been shortlisted<br />
for the Health & Social Care Award with winners<br />
announced on November 2nd. The Seed Box<br />
which is based in the beautiful walled garden<br />
at Ballogie Estate near Aboyne, aims to improve<br />
the social, emotional and physical health of its<br />
service users through horticultural and outdoor<br />
activities.<br />
As a social enterprise all profits of the company<br />
will be used for the benefit of the users. It provides
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 9<br />
Rowlands and her staff and service users alike.<br />
They so deserve this award and I will be keeping<br />
everything crossed for them.”<br />
On hearing about their shortlist nomination<br />
Belinda Rowlands, Manager of The Seed Box<br />
said, “We are delighted to be short listed for this<br />
award, which is a fantastic recognition of all our<br />
hard work. The other organisations shortlisted in<br />
the Health and Social Care category are all<br />
strong contenders - it is always interesting to<br />
hear about other Social Enterprises. We look<br />
forward to being part of the Digital Awards<br />
Ceremony in November, when the results are<br />
announced.”<br />
Good luck to The Seed Box!<br />
Read more about the Social Enterprise Scotland<br />
Awards and shortlist here.<br />
a day service providing support to adults and<br />
children with additional support needs, who<br />
are presently unable to work in mainstream<br />
employment through meaningful work-related<br />
activities. These promote and encourage<br />
independence and social rehabilitation as well<br />
as life skills and training to enable users to move<br />
on to employment, sheltered or otherwise.<br />
The Seed Box has had a huge impact on the<br />
communities it serves in Deeside with steady<br />
growth over the last 8 years. Within the last two<br />
years they have been organising the monthly<br />
Aboyne Farmers Market on the village green<br />
on the second Saturday of every month from<br />
April to December which now has over 30 stalls<br />
attending and people coming far and wide to<br />
enjoy it.<br />
During lockdown they have continued working<br />
hard to support the community and diversified<br />
further by doing home deliveries of veg boxes,<br />
plants and flowers free within a 10 mile radius of<br />
Aboyne.<br />
We have worked closely with The Seed Box<br />
over the last 5 and half years and thoroughly<br />
enjoy our site visits. Our Development Officer,<br />
Aileen Longino said, “There is always such<br />
a buzz about the place when I visit and I am<br />
always met with a warm welcome from Belinda<br />
If you need support with your social<br />
enterprise or are thinking of setting one<br />
up please contact our AVA Social<br />
Enterprise specialist, Aileen Longino,<br />
Email: aileen.longino@avashire.org.uk<br />
or Tel: 07824 096531.
10 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
AVA Member<br />
Mearns & Coastal Healthy<br />
Living Network to present<br />
at Age Scotland National<br />
Conference<br />
Jane Mitchell<br />
Manager, Mearns & Coastal<br />
Healthy Living Network<br />
Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living<br />
Network (MCHLN) is delighted to have<br />
been asked to present a workshop at<br />
this year’s Age Scotland annual conference in<br />
<strong>Sept</strong>ember.<br />
MCHLN provides activities, services and<br />
support to maintain and improve the health<br />
and well-being of people aged 50+. Based in<br />
Laurencekirk, the organisation delivers a range<br />
of community-led services in the coastal villages<br />
and inland rural communities of Kincardine<br />
and Mearns in South Aberdeenshire. Resources<br />
are focused on the things that older people<br />
themselves say are important and which enable<br />
them to live in their own homes for as long as<br />
possible – help with shopping, transport, small<br />
jobs around the house, a friendly call telephone<br />
service and garden maintenance, as well as<br />
a range of groups and activities to combat<br />
social isolation and loneliness, including social<br />
gardening groups, low-level health walks, chairbased<br />
exercise groups, lunch clubs, a group<br />
for people with dementia, and a dementiafriendly<br />
monthly café and cinema screenings.<br />
Although group activities had to stop as COVID<br />
took hold last year, MCHLN were able to keep<br />
their services running, providing much needed<br />
support at the time.<br />
Jane Mitchell from MCHLN said, “The loneliness<br />
and social isolation faced by many older people<br />
during the pandemic was a real concern to us,<br />
so when we got the green light to restart our<br />
three health walks and two social gardening<br />
groups, we jumped at the chance.”
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 11<br />
The theme of Age Scotland’s conference is<br />
Resilience and Recovery: the important role<br />
of Older People’s groups and organisations,<br />
and MCHLN’s presentation focuses on nature,<br />
growing and enjoying the outdoors, and the<br />
importance of having access to green spaces<br />
for our health and wellbeing.<br />
“We saw first-hand last year the difference it<br />
made to people’s lives to have a social activity<br />
to attend, especially for those living alone,<br />
and our outdoor activities gave us the perfect<br />
opportunity to provide those. We followed the<br />
guidelines from partner organisations such as<br />
Paths for All to ensure we ran our groups as safely<br />
as possible, and supported staff and volunteers<br />
to feel confident to return to face-to-face<br />
activities. The outdoors became so important<br />
to many of us last year, as time away from the<br />
four walls of our homes, a safe space to meet<br />
others, and a place where we could take part<br />
in activities to support both our physical health<br />
and mental wellbeing.”<br />
The Age Scotland conference takes place<br />
on Wednesday 22nd <strong>Sept</strong>ember. For further<br />
information please call 0333 323 2400 or email<br />
nationalconference20<strong>21</strong>@agescotland.org.uk<br />
Moving forward, MCHLN are keen to work in<br />
partnership with organisations, groups and<br />
services across the local area to deliver activities<br />
and support which meet the changing needs of<br />
our communities. Their services and activities are<br />
all delivered with help from the Network’s team<br />
of fantastic volunteers, the majority of whom are<br />
older people themselves, and who are a vital<br />
part of the organisation. If you are interested<br />
in volunteering with any of their services and<br />
activities, MCHLN would love to hear from you.<br />
Get in touch with MCHLN –<br />
Email: office@mchln.org.uk,<br />
Tel: 01561 378130 Website: www.mchln.org.uk<br />
or via their Facebook page<br />
Thrive Training<br />
E-Learning Hub for groups,<br />
clubs and organisations in<br />
Aberdeenshire<br />
Sign up here<br />
H<br />
This online training resource offers over 40<br />
courses. The cost of each 12-month user<br />
licence is £40 for AVA Members and £75<br />
for non-members. Organisations are free<br />
to buy as many licences as needed. A free<br />
trial period can also be arranged. Please<br />
contact Training@avashire.org.uk for more<br />
information or complete the online user<br />
licence application by filling out the form<br />
here: https://tinyurl.com/vpjm3zy5<br />
communications<br />
on-line training<br />
covid-19 response<br />
self-management<br />
wellbeing<br />
IT skills<br />
compliance<br />
finance<br />
workplace development
12 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
Success<br />
Stories<br />
Donna Speed<br />
AVA Funding Officer<br />
We love sharing success stories from our<br />
Aberdeenshire Third Sector, here are just<br />
some:<br />
Aberdeenshire Men’s Sheds have been provided<br />
with defibrillators as part of a new campaign. St<br />
Andrew’s First Aid have donated defibrillators to<br />
the Aberchirder, Inverurie and Peterhead groups<br />
as well as seven other sheds in Scotland.<br />
The Formartine Area Committee Budget has<br />
awarded funds to: Balmedie Leisure Centre<br />
Association who will receive £5000 towards<br />
the creation of an outdoor inclusive play area.<br />
Ellon Rotary Club will receive £1000 towards its<br />
project to create a picnic and activity area in an<br />
unused outdoor area at Ellon Resource Centre.<br />
The Ellon Parks Improvement Committee will<br />
be awarded with a sum of up to £6987 to assist<br />
with its project to remove and replace the swing<br />
sets at Auchterellon play park and Turriff Local<br />
Charity will gain a small boost of £317 to help buy<br />
equipment, materials and tools to improve its<br />
charity shop on the town’s High Street.<br />
Princess Anne has officially opened the Banchory<br />
and District Men’s Shed. The Princess Royal visited<br />
the Deeside group on 1st <strong>Sept</strong>ember, and heard<br />
about the work they do – not only as a hobby,<br />
but to help their community, during a tour. She<br />
then unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark<br />
the official opening before being presented with<br />
a bird box made by member Alan Pumfrey.<br />
The Friends of Tarlair group has now appointed<br />
Studio Octopi and Heritage Architecture to restore<br />
the pavilion at Tarlair Outdoor Pool after funding<br />
assistance for the restoration was secured from<br />
Aberdeeshire Council’s Macduff Vision and Action<br />
Plan. Restoration work is due to commence next<br />
year once the full funding package is secured.<br />
Last year the Friends of Tarlair group had a formal<br />
application accepted by Aberdeenshire Council<br />
to take over the ownership of the pool.
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 13<br />
Stonehaven Ladies Football Club is one of over<br />
500 clubs across Scotland receiving Scottish<br />
FA FootballForAll funding. This has contributed<br />
towards supporting 183 girls & woman at the<br />
club throughout their age groups from the<br />
under 7’s rght through to the ladies.<br />
Aboyne Paths and Tracks have been awarded<br />
a £1500 grant by Paths For All to buy strimmers<br />
and get formal training in their use for some<br />
of their volunteers. That should help keep the<br />
riverside and other paths clear next summer!<br />
Tarland Paths have been awarded a grant by<br />
Paths for All which will allow them to buy some<br />
much needed equipment to help maintain the<br />
Tarland Paths network as well as a new bench.<br />
A major community effort saved a north-east<br />
village’s football pitch when water damage<br />
left children with nowhere to play. Much of the<br />
pitch in Cumniston had become a bog during<br />
the winter months when it was barely in use, so<br />
the local community took on the mammoth<br />
DIY project and came together to fix the pitch.<br />
Companies stepped up to provide diggers,<br />
labour, stones and pipes free of charge and a<br />
baking rota was even set up to help keep the<br />
volunteers fed during the tough work. There<br />
were about 80 people taking aggregate in<br />
and out, digging trenches and helping out with<br />
the manual work - all saving the Cuminestown<br />
Youth Active Football Club around £30,000.<br />
Community spirit at it’s best.<br />
Skateraw Hall trustees are aiming to take<br />
ownership of Skateraw Hall in Newtonhill and<br />
are now aiming to raise £10,000 to complete<br />
the deal, securing its future as a meeting place<br />
in the village for years to come. They have<br />
launched a GoFundMe page to secure the<br />
remaining money here.<br />
Belhelvie Community Trust were able to secure<br />
£8000 from The National Lottery Community<br />
Fund toward funding the installation of a double<br />
accessible swing in the play park at the Sand<br />
Bothy.<br />
Tarves Parish Church, received £9,999 from The<br />
National Lottery Community Fund to build a<br />
new shed that could be used as storage space<br />
by groups who utilise the Youth Hall.<br />
Braemar Community Limited secured £10,000<br />
from The National Lottery Community Fund<br />
to employ a project development officer<br />
to oversee completion of a project to build<br />
affordable housing in the area, Donside<br />
Community Council received £9,500 from The<br />
National Lottery Community Fund to run an<br />
online community hub to benefit the people who<br />
live in and around Alford. Gordon Woodworkers<br />
received £5000 from The National Lottery<br />
Community Fund to upgrade their woodturning<br />
workshop.<br />
The AFFA Fine Open Air Market at Milton of<br />
Crathes is offering limited opportunities for<br />
local charities and community associations<br />
to fundraise at the event. Contact: susanne.<br />
shepherd@leysgroup.com.<br />
Thank you all for making Aberdeenshire<br />
a better place to live!<br />
Torphins Christmas Post Box with the help<br />
of Torphins Pharmacy and The Paper Girls,<br />
Aboyne have raised £385.65 to donate to<br />
AberNecessities, a charity who looks after<br />
families in hardship, living in Aberdeen and<br />
Aberdeenshire.<br />
Inchmarlo Community Workshop - The Bothy<br />
have completed their extension using a<br />
small grant awarded by the King George V<br />
Community Wind Turbine Fund to construct the<br />
wall surrounding the bothy.<br />
Search for funding using our<br />
search engine and subscribe<br />
to our weekly funding bulletin<br />
on the AVA website at:<br />
www.avashire.org.uk/searchforfunding
the ava<br />
website<br />
H<br />
bringing you more of the<br />
resources you need...<br />
Funding search<br />
We are delighted to<br />
have teamed up with<br />
Funding Scotland to<br />
bring you a fantastic new<br />
funding search engine<br />
- from small grants to<br />
funding for big capital<br />
projects, we can help<br />
you track down the<br />
funding you need. It’s so<br />
easy to use, and you can<br />
also subscribe to the new<br />
weekly funding bulletin<br />
there too.<br />
Organisation search<br />
Search for Third Sector<br />
groups and organisations<br />
across Aberdeenshire.<br />
Our search engine will<br />
show you a range of<br />
information for each<br />
organisation as well<br />
as any volunteering<br />
opportunities they have<br />
on offer.<br />
Our Magpie Online Shop<br />
Shop online with<br />
Magpie! Magpie is<br />
also on Facebook and<br />
Instagram, so give us a<br />
follow.<br />
A-Z of AVA Members<br />
Our A-Z of AVA Members<br />
has links to their websites,<br />
or social media – get an<br />
overview of the scope of<br />
our membership, as well<br />
as useful links with fellow<br />
members.<br />
Volunteering Forms<br />
Let us know if your<br />
organisation has any<br />
volunteering roles and<br />
we can upload them to<br />
our system for sharing.<br />
Subscribe to our new<br />
Volunteering Bulletin<br />
published every 2<br />
months with the latest<br />
opportunities across<br />
Aberdeenshire.<br />
Nominate a volunteer for<br />
an AVA Award<br />
Use our nomination<br />
form to recognise<br />
individual commitment<br />
to volunteering for 1,<br />
5, 10 and 15 years and<br />
for volunteers who<br />
have given 20 years<br />
or more there is a<br />
Lifetime Volunteering<br />
Achievement Award.<br />
Support Request Form<br />
Get in touch with us via<br />
our Support Request Form<br />
and we’ll make sure the<br />
right person gets back to<br />
you.<br />
Volunteering<br />
Opportunities<br />
Use our search engine<br />
to search for local and<br />
national volunteering<br />
opportunities.<br />
Resources<br />
Find a range of links<br />
to useful pages and<br />
organisations – and Quick<br />
Guides for new groups.<br />
See the latest Covid<br />
guidance, AVA Office<br />
Services for members,<br />
and read past and<br />
present newsletters/blogs.<br />
Training<br />
We have partnered with<br />
Highland Third Secor<br />
Interface to provide<br />
AVA members with a<br />
discounted extensive<br />
training programme,<br />
including over 30<br />
e-courses in a range of<br />
subjects.<br />
www.avashire.org.uk
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 15<br />
AVA Member Spotlight|<br />
Lend A Hand Kemnay<br />
opens new community larder<br />
Aileen Longino<br />
AVA Development Officer<br />
specialising in Social Enterprise<br />
During the pandemic the village of Kemnay<br />
like hundreds of other villages during this<br />
time rallied round those in most need.<br />
When people were isolating and struggling<br />
to get the basic food essentials Lend A Hand<br />
Kemnay formed mid March in 2020 to help<br />
those in need.<br />
They started with supporting people with<br />
prescriptions and shopping then Helen Aitken<br />
started a pop-up larder in a tent in her garden<br />
with surplus food being donated by Grahams<br />
Dairy, M&S, local butchers, Coop and many<br />
more. The tent changed to a wagon and<br />
everyday Helen managed it through rain,<br />
hail and snow for 14 months. Here at AVA we<br />
recognised the effort of the team behind this<br />
achievement with our Community Spirit Awards<br />
in July 2020.<br />
It became obvious to organiser Kayleigh<br />
Wallace and her team with the support of<br />
Kemnay Community Council, that something<br />
more permanent needed to be done to make<br />
this essential service sustainable. With the help<br />
of our AVA Response Recovery and Resilience<br />
Fund and the National Lottery, they have now<br />
opened a permanent Lend A Hand Kemnay<br />
Community Larder in Kemnay Village Hall. With<br />
continuing support from local businesses and<br />
the community, the larder will provide a wide<br />
range of store cupboard staples, toiletries and<br />
fresh goods.<br />
The Community Larder is open Tuesday<br />
and Thursdays 9.30 -11.30 for the people of<br />
Kemnay and Monymusk. They have started a<br />
membership scheme to become a Friend of<br />
Lend A Hand Kemnay and Bag for Life scheme.<br />
Completely run by volunteers for their<br />
community this is a wonderful achievement by<br />
a community that has worked together through<br />
the hardest of times. Well done everyone!<br />
Contact Lend A Hand Kemnay at:<br />
LaHKemnay@hotmail.com
16 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
Children & Families|Making<br />
Children’s Rights Real<br />
and while not yet incorporated in Scottish law<br />
yet (in process) it is implemented in various<br />
legislation such as Children and Young People<br />
(Scotland) Act 2014 The Children (Scotland)<br />
Act 2020, GIRFEC and several other Acts.<br />
The UNCRC sets out the specific rights that all<br />
children have to help fulfil their potential, including<br />
rights relating to health and education, leisure<br />
and play, fair and equal treatment, protection<br />
from exploitation and the right to be heard.<br />
Sandra McGuigan<br />
AVA Development Officer<br />
specialising in Children & Families<br />
Earlier this year Children in Scotland<br />
offered the third sector in Aberdeenshire<br />
training on Making Children’s Rights Real<br />
and a key theme was for organisations to<br />
prepare for the implementation of The United<br />
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child<br />
(UNCRC) (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act.<br />
When I put the offer of the 2 session with<br />
eLearning training out to our organisations<br />
serving Aberdeenshire there was an<br />
immediate response showing that our Third<br />
Sector are motivated to continue to put<br />
children’s rights at the heart of what they do.<br />
We were fortunate to involve 17 lovely folk from<br />
a wide range of multi-agency backgrounds<br />
over the last few weeks including One Stop<br />
Shop, Avenue, Mucky boots, Home-Start<br />
Kincardine, Home-Start North East, Ask Autism,<br />
Absafe, Barnardos North, Your Love Rara,<br />
Salvesteen Mindroom, North East Police Division,<br />
Grampian NHS and Aberdeenshire Council.<br />
UNCRC stands for the United Nations<br />
Convention on the Rights of the Child and is the<br />
most widely ratified human rights treaty in the<br />
world, although the USA have not adopted this,<br />
which attendees at the training found shocking.<br />
The Bill passed unanimously on 16th March 20<strong>21</strong><br />
Key to any training is what attendees do with their<br />
learning, Children in Scotland requested each<br />
of us to make a pledge, writing this was mine<br />
along with sharing further training opportunities.<br />
Salvesen Mindroom Centre created Respecting<br />
& Promising Children’s Rights, this document<br />
clearly links how they support the different<br />
articles in their work where they support, inform<br />
and empower children and young people living<br />
with learning difficulties.<br />
Other attendees are looking at or have<br />
implemented:<br />
• Thinking about communication tools/<br />
resources for pre-school and non verbal<br />
children to ensure their ideas are included<br />
in planning around them.<br />
• Making the Children’s Rights poster visible in<br />
their work place<br />
• Extending further training to staff, volunteers<br />
and board members<br />
• Adding UNCRC information to their website<br />
and social media posts<br />
• Involving young people as stakeholders<br />
in supporting organisations plan work and<br />
strategies.<br />
Children’s rights awareness and knowledge is<br />
essential for everyone who comes into contact<br />
or is involved in services who support children<br />
and young people. Consider prioritising training<br />
and cross referencing the UNCRC in your policies<br />
and documents that underpin your values and<br />
practices and show a clear commitment by<br />
involving our children and young people in<br />
decision-making in the services that serve them.
AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong> 17<br />
training<br />
Further Children’s Rights Training<br />
|<br />
Children in Scotland: Children’s<br />
Rights Training eLearning<br />
This course is designed to support you to develop your knowledge about children’s<br />
rights in Scottish policy and practice.<br />
GIRFEC: Children’s Rights and Participation<br />
This online courses supports multi-agency reflection on promotion of Children’s<br />
Rights in our day-to-day roles and signposts participants to a range of practice<br />
tools and helpful resources. An ALDO account is required for this course, if you do<br />
not already have one please email: training.courses@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
18 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
AVA Communications<br />
& Membership<br />
Manager raises<br />
over £28,000 for<br />
local charities<br />
Visit Archie Lighthouse Keeper at Aberdeen<br />
University Botanic Garden until 17th October.<br />
Lesley Lawrinson<br />
AVA Communications Officer<br />
Earlier this year in the midst of the post-<br />
Christmas lockdown, our very own Lindsay<br />
Allardyce found the time (in addition to<br />
her busy day job here at AVA!) to create the<br />
stunning Archie Lighthouse Keeper, one of 45<br />
lighthouses now currently on display throughout<br />
the northeast in a bid to raise money for CLAN<br />
Cancer Support as part of the Light the North<br />
lighthouse trail. Although delayed 1 year due to<br />
the Covid pandemic, this is actually Lindsay’s<br />
4th contribution to the region’s annual charity<br />
sculpture trail having first completed The Parting<br />
Song anchor in 2017 in memory of her dear friend<br />
and colleague who sadly lost her battle with<br />
cancer earlier that year. The Parting Song alone<br />
raised a staggering £15,000 and contributed to a<br />
fundraising total of £1million for Friends of Anchor<br />
to create a world class cancer research unit in<br />
the northeast.<br />
In 2018 Lindsay painted ‘Fair Isla’, a stylish 6ft<br />
penguin modeling a colourful fair isle sweater<br />
inspired by a trip to Shetland. Fair Isla raised an<br />
incredible £8,000 and spent the summer of 2018<br />
as part of Maggie’s Penguin Parage in Perth and<br />
is now the official mascot of Errol Sunday Market!<br />
In total, Maggie’s Penguin Parade secured<br />
£540,000 to cover the cost of running the<br />
Dundee Maggie’s Centre for another year.<br />
The summer of 2019 saw the Oor Wuille Bucket<br />
Trail and Lindsay’s cheerful ‘Floo’er Wuillie’, who<br />
took pride of place at The Green in Aberdeen<br />
City Centre and raised £5,600 at auction for<br />
AVA Member, The Archie Foundation. The entire<br />
event raised a whopping £1.3million, proceeds<br />
from which benefitted Royal Aberdeen’s<br />
Children’s Hospital (RACH), The Highland<br />
Children’s Unit and Tayside Children’s Hospital.<br />
We are so proud of Lindsay personally for raising<br />
over £28,000 and collectively achieving a total<br />
of nearly £3million for 4 charities all making a<br />
huge difference across northeast. Watch this<br />
space for a fundraising update when Archie<br />
The Lighthouse and his friends are auctioned<br />
later this year!<br />
After a summer of bringing joy to families across<br />
the northeast, the 50 large and 8 small lighthouses<br />
will go under the hammer in November to<br />
raise funds for another of our members - CLAN<br />
Cancer Support. Would you like to be the proud<br />
owner of a lighthouse sculpture? If you’d like to<br />
register your interest in attending the auction,<br />
you can do so here: Auction - Light The North.<br />
For more of Linday’s colourful folk artwork, visit<br />
daisyglaisy.scot.
20 AVA | <strong>Sept</strong>ember 20<strong>21</strong><br />
PROFILE |<br />
Getting to know those who work hard in<br />
your Third Sector Interface<br />
Who are you?<br />
Chris White - recently<br />
appointed as AVA Vice Chair<br />
What is your job (in addition to<br />
AVA Board Member)?<br />
I retired in 2020 from many<br />
years as Aberdeenshire<br />
Council’s Area Manager for<br />
Buchan, based in Peterhead.<br />
Along with supporting the<br />
eleven Councillors in making local decisions, I lead<br />
on several corporate roles including the Tackling<br />
Poverty and Inequality work of Community Planning<br />
partners, coordinating external funding effort and<br />
supporting the first phases of resettling Syrian refugees.<br />
Previously I’d spent a lot of time with community<br />
and environmental groups trying to help establish<br />
sustainable schemes and funding packages. So, the<br />
voluntary and charitable sectors have always be close<br />
to my heart and much of the good work in rural Buchan<br />
in particular could not have been done without them.<br />
How did you end up working with AVA?<br />
I’d previously been involved with many of AVA’s<br />
member organisations and particularly worked closely<br />
with Keith Anderson on the poverty work. I’d also worked<br />
alongside the Scottish Government and third sector<br />
interfaces to try to see where agendas could coincide.<br />
My retirement was rapidly followed by the pandemic, so<br />
it has been very helpful to have some areas of previous<br />
interest that I can stay involved with and continue to<br />
contribute.<br />
What does a typical day look like?<br />
Sue Kinsey said her days were her own and this is largely<br />
true for me now also. Lockdown has brought two new<br />
avenues. Following the trend the garden has been<br />
turned into a centre of horticultural education {lots of<br />
stuff growing, some in the right place} and I have a<br />
collie dog who demands that not every day is my own.<br />
How has Covid-19 affected your job?<br />
The careful planning of a seven-week post retirement<br />
tour of the eastern seaboard of the United States and<br />
Quebec rapidly descended into a month of dismantling.<br />
But this would trivialise the true impacts, which have<br />
been detachment from some of the activities that I<br />
intended to pursue in Peterhead, the worry for friends<br />
and family continuing to work with vulnerable people<br />
and coming to terms with what we can all safely do to<br />
keep communities and groups flourishing through such<br />
stark times.<br />
Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action is a<br />
charitable company limited by guarantee.<br />
Company number: SC137343.<br />
Scottish Charity Number: SC014223<br />
Registered office: 57 Station Road, Ellon,<br />
Aberdeenshire AB41 9AR<br />
Tel: 03718 110008<br />
Email: enquiries@avashire.org.uk<br />
Website: www.avashire.org.uk<br />
Follow us on Facebook<br />
AberdeenshireVoluntary Action1<br />
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Give us feedback, suggestions,<br />
whatever - fill in our form here.<br />
AVA Magazine available in large print<br />
H<br />
Read previous editions<br />
Read previous editions<br />
of the AVA newsletters,<br />
bulletins and magazines<br />
on our website at:<br />
www.avashire.org.uk<br />
If you’re an AVA member and<br />
would like to contribute to future<br />
magazines, please get in touch<br />
with Lindsay Allardyce at:<br />
Lindsay.Allardyce@avashire.org.uk<br />
www.avashire.org.uk