AVA Magazine December 2021

AVA Magazine
December 2021
• Community Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund •
• Member Spotlights • New Year Forums

the ava
website
bringing you more of the
resources you need...
H
AVA
will close
for the holidays
on 23rd Dec and
reopen on
5th Jan 2022
Funding search
We 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 useful
links – and Quick Guides
for new groups. See the
latest Covid guidance,
AVA Office Services for
members, and past and
present newsletters/blogs.
Training
We’ve 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 | December 2021 3
A Year of Change
Dan Shaw
AVA CEO
Welcome to the final AVA magazine of
2021. We were delighted to present our
Annual Report at our recent AGM; a
copy of which can be found here. Our Directors/
Trustees all stood down as they were required
to do, and each was re-elected for a period of
three years. At a subsequent Directors’ meeting
on the same day, Chris White was elected to
replace Mike Adams as Chairperson, and Fiona
Smith was elected to continue in the role she
held last year as Treasurer.
It has been a year of considerable change at
AVA, as it has for many organisations. We made
a conscious decision to learn from the pandemic
and we adapted our services so that we could
deliver even more for the Community, Voluntary,
and Third Sectors across Aberdeenshire. We have
built upon our relationships with public sector
organisations and we continue to advocate for
the inclusion of our sectors in more places where
decisions are made, for more positive outcomes.
It has been my privilege
to work alongside AVA’s
dedicated team of staff
over the last year, and
I would like to publicly
acknowledge the role
that each has played
in turning AVA into the
organisation it is today. It
is however very hard (in
the nicest possible way!)
to say goodbye to Lorna
Sandison who will be
retiring in January. Many
of you will know Lorna as our Development Officer
specialising in Volunteering, but to us she is a friend
who will be dearly missed.
I also would like to acknowledge every single
person who works or volunteers in the Community,
Voluntary, and Third Sectors across Aberdeenshire;
at this time of year, your kindness and dedication
to supporting people are often a lifeline for the
people who rely on your services. The only reason
that AVA exists is to support you as you go about
supporting people across our communities.
I wish a Happy Christmas to those who celebrate
it, and to everyone, I hope that your 2022 brings
you what you are hoping for. With very best wishes
from Dan and the entire AVA team.
Contents
4-5
6-7
Prepare To Volunteer events
Community Mental Health
& Wellbeing Fund
14-15
AVA Forums
Our latest Social Enterprise
events and dates for 2022
8-9
Member Spotlight
The Foggie Neuk
16-17
Member Spotlight
Young @♥Deeside
10-11
Success Stories
A snapshot of our thriving
Aberdeenshire communities
18
Local & National Support
Services
12-13
Member Spotlight
Salvesen Mindroom Centre
20
Profile
Our very own CEO, Dan
Shaw

4 AVA | December 2021
AVA|
Prepare to
Volunteer
Lorna Sandison
AVA Development Officer,
specialising in Volunteering
On Monday the 25th of October AVA
presented the first of many ‘Prepare
to Volunteer’ events at the welcoming
venue of Grampian Opportunities in Inverurie.
We saw some kent faces there between the
three of us, Lorna and Volunteering Admin,
Aileen Keith representing the Volunteering
side of things, and Sharon Francis in her role
of Supported Living Development Officer. We
were greeted by a full table of attendees which
was lovely to see, showing the promotion of this
event by AVA and GO staff had done the trick.
My initial address to our group of potential
volunteers explained who we are and how we
could help them get into a Voluntary role in the
community. The group proved to be very proactive
and soon Aileen and Sharon had them all
checking out various opportunities on our AVA
website. Not having the ability to look online from
home is a distinct disadvantage, so it was great
that our AVA team were able to give a website
navigation taster session. The feedback from the
group was great with everyone commenting
that they would definitely make an effort to find
a way to check the webpage for themselves, as
none of them expected to see such a variety of
opportunities.
Everyone attending this session had their
own reason for wanting to step out there and
Volunteer, so to be able to match a client up
with an organisation, or just see the spark of
motivation that wasn’t there when they walked
in, made it all worthwhile. Thank you to Grampian
Opportunities for being such wonderful hosts.
We have also been able to attend Gordon
Schools in Huntly twice this year at their Careers
events. Lorna and Sharon were treated with the
best hospitality possible and really enjoyed the
produce of the Home Economics Department
upon arrival.
Soon after setting up, the first group of students
began to flow in and I have to say I was really
impressed by them. They were so interactive
with us, keen to know what we are bringing
to them and overall a very good example for
the school. We spoke about volunteering in the
community and how some already are but want
to do more. We went over how much they know
and understand about volunteering and how
prepared they need to be. We also spoke about
accumulating Saltire Award points and how
much it benefits their CVs and job application
forms when they have a Saltire Award.
Volunteering Opportunities for younger people
can be few and far between which is the case
in most areas. We often have to dig a little
deeper to find organisations who may take
on younger volunteers - so if your organisation
is open minded and realises the potential of
having school pupils as volunteers, please get in
touch with us at AVA.

AVA | December 2021 5
“Everyone attending...
had their own reason for
wanting to step out there
and Volunteer.”
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

6 AVA | December 2021
Funding|Community Mental
Health & Wellbeing Fund
Dan Shaw
AVA CEO
As the summer was coming to an end, the
Scottish Government started discussing
the idea of a Communities Mental Health
& Wellbeing Fund with Integration Joint Boards
(IJBs) and the TSI Scotland Network. It was to
be a fund that would support local community
groups and third sector organisations to deliver
services that promote connections between
people, facilitate positive mental health,
and enable people to look after their own
wellbeing. The Third Sector Interface in each
local authority area is the lead partner, and in
collaboration with the Aberdeenshire IJB, and a
range of public and third sector partners, AVA
successfully launched our local £631,630 fund
on 17th November. Unlike many funds, because
this one is to encourage grass roots organisations
to make applications for localised activities,
unconstituted groups are able to apply, and the
maximum funding application can be for up to
£50,000 for larger organisations.
We split our experienced team of development
officers in half, with one half being involved in
supporting groups and organisations, and the
other half being involved in assessing applications.
Since launching we have supported groups and
organisations over 150 times with queries about
the fund, including helping groups with little
experience of completing funding applications
to get to grips with what is required of them. As a
result, we are also helping some of those smaller,
unconstituted groups with governance matters
to allow them to build their own capacity and
develop themselves into more robust operations.
The first phase of the fund closed on 7th
December, and it’s fair to say that we were
overwhelmed with applications, which ranged in
size from £500 to £49,986. The range of activities
and services that we have been reading about

AVA | December 2021 7
has been inspiring, and it really has highlighted
the diversity that exists within Aberdeenshire’s
Community, Voluntary, and Third sectors.
At the time of writing this piece, we are in the
midst of the assessment process for the first phase
of applications. We are delighted to have been
able to bring external colleagues for across a
range of public and third sector organisations
into the assessment team, including those with
a mental health & wellbeing background,
and some of the conversations around those
applications have been really insightful for us all.
All applicants will be receiving feedback from
us before Christmas, regardless of whether their
activities are being supported or not.
For groups and organisations who have not
had the chance to think about what their
application for the fund will look like, or for those
who just haven’t had the time to complete their
application, the fund will re-open for applications
on 5th January, and we’d encourage you to
keep an eye on our social media channels and
the website for any changes that we make to
the fund which will be based on how much
money we have remaining.
For those who are thinking of making an
application, our top tips would be:
1. Even if you think it’s obvious, make it
clear what you believe the mental
health and wellbeing benefits of the
activity(s) will be for service users.
2. Be transparent about your costs and
what each category of expenditure is
for.
3. Think carefully about what the legacy
of the activity(s) will be for the service
users, and what the benefit of the
activity(s) will be for the community(s)
that you serve.
More information about the fund is available
at: www.avashire.org.uk/cmhwfund.
To access support for making an
application (from 5th January onwards,
until the money is fully allocated), visit:
www.avashire.org.uk/development.html.

8 AVA | December 2021
Spotlight| Foggie Neuk
Aileen Longino
AVA Development Officer
specialising in Social Enterprise
When our Development Officer,
Aileen Longino, first heard about this
organisation she was very confused! It
is known locally as Foggie, but you might know
it as Aberchirder, and it’s just 9 miles outside
Huntly. A very pretty wee village with a real
sense of community spirit. Kay Thomson took
over an empty building in the centre square
of the village and very quickly turned it into a
community hub. The Foggie Neuk is a freshly
decorated modern rentable space completed
in a botanical theme which offers a wonderful,
bright community space for group events and
for hiring for all occasions. A place for folk to
relax and connect with others helping with rural
isolation and mental health and wellbeing all in
one go!
Kay and her team of volunteers have set about
organising events including a very popular
farmers market in the square as well as sewing
groups and young parent groups.
Looking to establish themselves as a Community
Interest Company with an emphasis on social
impact, this groups enthusiasm comes across
in everything they do. They want to give back
to the community and provide quite a unique
venue for groups to use.
If you want to find out more check out The
Foggie Neuk on Facebook page, look at their
website www.thefoggieneuk.co.uk or phone
07918 102214 for a chat.

10 AVA | December 2021
Success Stories
Donna Speed
AVA Funding Officer
We love sharing success stories from our
Aberdeenshire Third Sector, here are just
a few:
Meikle Carewe Windfarm Community Fund
Last month, funding worth a total of £33,141.10
was awarded to a range of local groups and
projects. Successful applicants were:
Drumotters Swim Club - £1230; Newtonhill,
Muchalls & Cammachmore Community Council
- £2209; Newtonhill Community Hall Association -
£4518.66; Friends of Newtonhill School - £2560.74;
Cookney Hall Baby & Toddler Group - £2323.10;
Maryculter Driving for the Disabled - £3000;
Portlethen Primary Together - £2750; Jubilee
Hall - £1500; Hillside Parents Group - £4998;
Kincardine & Mearns Citizens Advice Bureau -
£2349.60; Stonehaven Community Radio - £1000;
Stonehaven Horizon Project - £500; Mearns
Singers - £1600 and Stonehaven Riding Club -
£2602.
A new community hub website and app for Alford
and Donside is being delevloped with funding
being provided from a number of sources
including the Aberdeenshire Council’s Phoenix
Fund for post-lockdown business recovery, an
award from The National Lottery Community
Fund, Aberdeenshire Council’s Area Committee
budget and Aberdeenshire Charity Trust. The hub
will enable community organisations, businesses
and charities in the area to promote themselves
to residents and prospective visitors to Alford
and Donside.
Methlick Community Council has been awarded
a £250 grant for a Habitat Haven project. The
funding from Action Earth and Nature Scot will
enable the group to work with the school on
a piece of land that is to become part of the
village’s riverside revitalisation project.
Aboyne Judo Club received £2,021 from the
#ClubsinCrisis fund from Made By Sport to better
the mental health of young people in their local
area by providing free judo classes.
Victoria and Albert Halls, Ballater received
funding from the Aberdeenshire Council Town
Centre Fund to refurbish the hall.

AVA | December 2021 11
Asda Community Champions kindly donated
£200 to the Aberdeen FC Community Trust
FraserDeen Project through their green token
scheme. The project works to support children
at Peterhead Academy struggling with the
traditional school curriculum.
The community farm at Greenmyres near Huntly
has been officially launched by the development
trust whose vision and drive led to its purchase.
The Eco bothy which has given new life to the
farmhouse with its transformation into a warm,
bright, welcoming space was showcased at the
end of October. Read more here.
Stonehaven Men’s Shed took to their facebook
page recently to thank local businesses for
their ‘quiet contributions’ to the Shed. Mentions
included Howdens in Spurryhillock who donated
£200; The Bay Fish & Chips who donated £650
from the revenue from the 10p takaway bag
sales for July & August; and the Market Bar
Stonehaven who gifted £250 to the Shed.
After seven years of hard work by its 90 volunteer
members, Peterhead Men’s Shed is now officially
‘complete’ with its eighth and final unit in place
offering more space and a wider selection of
activities to its members. They have received
funding from numerous supporters over the
years including the Royal Voluntary Service’s
Sheds Grant Fund, Your Voice Your Choice, the
Suez Communities Trust, The Gordon and Ena
Baxter Foundation and the National Lottery
Community Fund. They have also had a huge
amount of support and donations from the local
community.
River Dee Radio would like to thank the Co-op
and its members for raising and donating nearly
£1,400 to them.
Marr Area Committee have awarded £2,000 to
the Huntly Development Trust to help establish
a new ‘remakery’ in the town to reduce the
amount of waste going to landfill.
Rotary clubs of Oldmeldrum and District and
Ellon with Haddo were pleased to hand over a
cheque for £3500 to the Scottish Air Ambulance
charity. This was part of the proceeds from the
Haddo Dino-Egg Hunt.
SensationALL will now be able to expand their
therapeutic play service and group support for
young people affected by neurodevelopmental
conditions across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
after an award of £200,000 from the National
Lottery.
Craigievar Community Hall and Association were
also awarded £10,000 from the National Lottery
to help improve the comfort of their community
hall for user groups by installing better lighting,
heating and insulation.
This is just a small snapshot of the
many amazing projects that are going
on across Aberdeenshire - there are so
many groups and volunteers doing
fantastic work. Thank you all for making
Aberdeenshire a better place to live!
RNLI Stonehaven received £2,500 from The Old
Pier who donated an entire days takings in
October.
Ellon Youth Football Team secured a £200
boost from the G. Burgess Coop Funeralcare in
September.
Belhelvie Community Trust received £8,000
from National Lottery Awards for All Scotland
to install a double accessible swing as part of
the playground of the Sand Bothy on Balmedie
Beach.
Gordon Woodworkers received £5,000 from
National Lottery Awards for All Scotland to
upgrade their woodturning workshop which is
based in Leslie Aberdeenshire.
Search for funding using our
search engine and subscribe
to our weekly funding bulletin
on the AVA website at:
www.avashire.org.uk/searchforfunding

12 AVA | December 2021
Spotlight|
Jenny Collings
Supporter Engagement Officer,
Salvesen Mindroom Centre
Salvesen Mindroom Centre is a Scottish
national charity with a mission to create
a world where no mind is left behind.
Our work is focused on supporting children,
young people and families through advice, 1:1
support and advocacy; raising awareness of
neurodiversity; and influencing reform in policy
and practice.
Currently, there are 226,838 children and young
people with additional support needs (ASN)
in Scotland – an average of 6 pupils in every
mainstream classroom. Of those children with
ASN, a high proportion are neurodivergent
and need to be supported by adaptations to
the school environment and the curriculum.
Without the right support, children and young
people with ASN can be at a significantly higher
risk of school exclusion or poor mental health.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve
seen a growing need for support and demand
for our services is up 112% on last year. Most of
our enquiries are about education and include
parents, or young people themselves, seeking
advice on their rights to education, school
placement and exclusion. We help with these
issues by providing emotional support, advice
and information. We will listen and help families
work with professionals to get the right support
for their child and provide advocacy for young
people under 25 to make sure their views are
heard when decisions are being made about
them.
The transition from school to adult life is a key
stage for young people, especially those with
ASN. Building on our expertise gained from
working in schools, we have created Future
Me, my digital workbook that is available on our
website and comes with a user guide. Moving
school or returning to school after a break in
education is also a very tricky time, and our Back
to School Toolkit has a host of useful resources
to help plan and reduce anxiety around getting
back into school.
These resources and support services are freely
available and open for self-referral, or referral by
professionals/agencies. We align our work with
the UNCRC, the UNCRDP and The Promise, and
we aim to take a person-centred approach to
all our work.
We also help professionals and organisations
to build their knowledge of neurodiversity
and strengthen the support they offer
neurodivergent children and young people.
Our training is delivered by staff with lived
experience of neurodiversity and we offer
webinars, workplace courses and bespoke
training packages to help promote inclusion
and acceptance. The full Training Programme
is available on our website and you can also
contact training@mindroom.org with any
enquiries.
For more information about Salvesen
Mindroom Centre’s services and resources
visit www.mindroom.org or contact our Direct
Help and Support Team at directhelp@
mindroom.org for advice.

AVA | December 2021 13
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 | December 2021 15
AVA| Forums
For more information on the Voluntary Code
of Practice for Social Enterprises and the Terms
of Reference for the Network look at our Social
Enterprise page on the AVA website here.
What better way to kick off 2022 than with our
first Social Enterprise Forum on Wednesday 26th
January from 10am -12 noon. We have some
brilliant speakers from funders First Port and the
National Lottery as well as Senscot and the
Social Enterprise Academy. If you would like to
join us please use the link here to register.
Social Enterprise Network and Forum
Our Development Officer, Aileen Longino,
who specialises in Social Enterprises held
her first Social Enterprise event recently
where like-minded, established and start up
organisations were able to network and think
about the way forward to form an Aberdeenshire
Social Enterprise Network. You can become a
member of the network by using the link here.
A super Steering Group has been formed with
the hope of launching the network properly at
the Social Enterprise Forum on Wednesday 26th
January from 10-12 noon.
For those of you out there who are unsure if you
are a social enterprise, there are some basic
requirements in order to qualify. These put simply
are: -
1. SEs are businesses operating in the market
through production of goods or services with
a primary objective to achieve either social
or environmental impact.
2. The constitution of an SE includes the legal
requirement that profits are reinvested in
the business or community (CICs and some
cooperatives allowed limited payment of
dividends)
3. There will also be a clause to ensure that
on dissolution, the assets of the SE must be
redirected in accordance with the social or
environmental objectives of the business. This
is known as the Asset Lock.
4. A SE can be the subsidiary of a registered
charity (like our own SE, Magpie) – but not a
public body or private company.
Aileen Longino can be contacted at:
aileen.longino@avashire.org.uk
or 07824 096531 for advice and support.
AVA Events for 2022
20th January, 10am
Children & Families Network
Meeting. Join here
26th January
10am - 12 noon
Social Enterprise Forum.
Register here
29th March
10.30am - 12 noon
Governance Forum
30th March
10am - 12 noon
Supported Living Forum
Thursday 5th May
10am -12pm
Children & Families Forum

16 AVA | December 2021
Spotlight|
Young@♥Deeside
Aileen Longino
AVA Development Officer
specialising in Social Enterprise
AVA Member young@heart Deeside is a
voluntary organisation run by our very own
Development Officer, Aileen Longino and
some friends in her spare time. It started a few
years ago to help support older and vulnerable
people living in the Aboyne, Ballater and
Braemar areas and their surrounding villages.
Their purpose is to support the mental health and
wellbeing of older people who may be on their
own or living in rurally isolated parts of Deeside.
In normal times they have organised events and
activities but covid restrictions have meant that
they had to change tact in the last year or so.
Worried about people on their own last
Christmas, they launched their Wee Bundle
of Christmas Cheer for people in the Howe
of Cromar. They hand-delivered Christmas
goody bags to over 100 residents. The goody
bags contained Christmas treats to eat, spring
bulbs, diaries, handwarmers, Cosie Bosies and
handmade cards made by the local primary.
Aileen and her friends hand-delivered the bags
leading up to Christmas.
This year they are going bigger and including
the village of Aboyne as well as Tarland, as
well as the care homes and sheltered housing
in both villages. Aileen said, “We had such a
positive response last year to this campaign with
everyone being so grateful for their Christmas
Cheer. We were able to have a good doorstep
news with many of the recipients. It was a
lovely thing to be involved with and we wanted
to expand our delivery to reach even more
people. We are aiming to deliver between 300-
400 Christmas Cheer bags over the next few
weeks. We are delighted that Aboyne Academy
pupils will be helping us this year making it a truly
intergenerational project.”
You can see what they are up to on the
youngatheartdeeside facebook page or
website at: www.youngatheartdeeside.org.
uk or you can email them at membership@
youngatheartdeeside.org.uk.

Aberdeenshire & National Support Services
Community Substance Misuse Service
Call 01467 536700
Closed 25th - 28th December
Open 29th - 31st December
Closed 1st - 4th January
Re-open as normal on 5th January
Out of Hours Number: 0345 6081206 Ext 2
Alcohol & Drug Partnership
Helpline (Freephone): 0333 3448 355
or 01224 594700
Mon - Fri 10.30 am - 1 pm, 2 - 5 pm
Sat - Sun 2 - 5 pm
Webchat open 12 - 1pm, 2 - 5pm daily
Services and Helpline closed 25th - 28th
December and 1st - 4th January
Reopens as normal on 5th January 2022
Visit: www.alcoholanddrugsaction.org.uk
Networks of Wellbeing
Clashmach Centre, Steven Road, Huntly
Call 01466 793732 or 07821 301569
Email: fiona@networksofwellbeing.org
Closed 25th - 28th December
Open 29th - 31st December, 9.30am - 3pm
Closed 1st - 4th January
Reopen as normal on 5th January 2022
AA National Helpline - 0800 9177 650
Email: help@aamail.org
To search for a meeting visit:
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
National NA Helpline - 0300 999 1212
10am - Midnight. There is also a
Meetings Search facility on the UK NA
website at: https://helpline.ukna.org/
Talk to Frank
(Honest information about drugs)
Call: 0300 123 6600 anytime
www.talktofrank.com SMS: 82111
Drinkline - 0300 123 1110
Weekdays 9am - 8pm Weekends 11am - 4pm
Grampian Women’s Aid
Call: 01224 593381
Visit: www.grampian-womens-aid.com
Samaritans - Freephone 116 123 anytime
Breathing Space - 0800 83 85 87
Open up when you’re feeling down
Mon - Thurs 6pm - 2am & Fri 6pm - Mon 6am
NHS 24 - Call free on 111 anytime
for urgent health advice
Call NHS Inform on: 0800 22 44 88 or visit:
www.nhsinform.scot for health information
National Domestic Abuse Helpline
Free 24-hour Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Childline - 0800 1111 anytime
The Silver Line - Offering free information,
friendship and advice to older people.
24-hour helpline: 0800 470 80 90
Visit: www.thesilverline.org.uk
Job Centre Plus - festive closures
Offices & phone lines closed on:
25th - 28th Dec & 1st - 3rd Jan
4th Jan - phone lines are open for
missing or urgent payments only
Rape Crisis Scotland
Tel: 08088 01 03 02
www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk
The Mix - Essential support for under 25s
Tel: 0808 808 4994 www.themix.org.uk
Cruse bereavement helpline 0808 808 1677
The Latest Scottish Government
Covid Guidelines:
www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19
Aberdeenshire North Foodbank
Festive Opening times:
aberdeenshirenorth.foodbank.org.uk/
locations
Aberdeenshire South Foodbank
Festive Opening Times:
aberdeenshiresouth.foodbank.org.uk/
locations

Scottish Charity Number: SC014223
second hand
furniture
electricals
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20 AVA | December 2021
PROFILE |
Getting to know those who work hard in your Third
Sector Interface
Who are you?
Dan Shaw. Husband, dad,
occasional runner (ok…
shuffler), dog-father, and precovid
a travel enthusiast.
What is your job?
Chief Executive Officer. I’m
accountable to the Board for
setting and delivering AVA’s
strategic aims, delivering our
annual workplan, and leading our team of incredible
staff. I’m also responsible to my colleagues for making
sure that they have the tools and resources they need
to do their jobs in the best way they can.
How did you end up working with AVA?
After gaining an A-level in PE (just the one!), I started
out as a sport scientist, working with world class athletes
before taking up the role of Subject Leader in the higher
education sector. After 12 years working in English and
Scottish Universities, I decided to change my career
path and went back to university as a student for a
year. After a couple of short detours, I found myself
working with the third sector, which is how I became
aware of AVA.
What does a typical day look like?
There isn’t one, which is why I enjoy my job so much!
I spend most of my time bouncing around in cyberspace
going from meeting to meeting. I engage
regularly with Aberdeenshire Council and Health &
Social Care colleagues, as well as other TSI colleagues
across Grampian, the North, and nationally. What I
really enjoy though is when I get the chance to take
part in our Forums programme because I get to hear
about what so many brilliant organisations are doing to
help people right across Aberdeenshire have a better
life: That’s the part of my job that is the most inspiring.
How has Covid-19 affected your job?
The pandemic has made me far more aware of the real
difficulties that many organisations have experienced,
and that’s made me more determined that AVA will
adapt when we need to so that we can deliver support
and advice in a meaningful way. The really great thing
though is that I’m not wasting any time on travelling
from one side of Aberdeenshire to the other between
meetings, as I can now get there with the click of a
button and be more productive with the time I have.
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
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