Aird Scouts Group is inviting any member of our community to help out.

So this Thursday, 17^th May, we will be providing help to keep nature in check by clearing weeds from the path between Inchmore and Reelig. The path has been narrowed by encroaching grasses so the Scouts are going to push them back!

What each Scout/volunteer will need is:

a flat spade or trowel,
some gardening gloves (any gloves will do to stop blisters forming)
along with the usual waterproof jacket if it looks like rain.

We would also like parents to join in as well so we can make the maximum impact on the path so if you can come along that would be fantastic.

Meet at the Bog Roy Inn(The Inn Formerly Know as The Old North Inn) car park at 7 pm. Pick up as usual at 9 pm.

See you then

Paul, Helen, Andy, Karen

Tickets for many of the events are already selling well so don’t leave it too late to secure your tickets. We expect to sell out for the Food Demonstration Night, The Pamper Night and Gala Dance. Please do not leave it too late as these will be fantastic nights.

At last week’s Gala Disco the Gala Queen, Princesses and Princes were chosen. This year’s royals are Gala Queen Louisa Fairgrieve, Princesses Anna Knox and Catriona Johannsen and Princes Lachlan O’Flynn and Cameron McDonald. More than 100 children attended the Discos and had a great time.

There’s lots of  old favourites again this year such as the ever popular Bingo Night and Pets Parade but also some new features including a Pamper Evening for girls and ladies and food demonstration night. We’ve introduced a new Scarecrow competition too on a Royal Jubilee theme. We can’t wait to see scarecrows popping up all over. If you need some inspiration visit the fantastic Tattie Bogle website from Skye. And of the course the week will be finish off with a fantastic Gala Day with a huge range of activities and stalls including a gun dog and falconry display and the Gala Dance featuring Torridon.

Food demonstration night

The food demo night is one for all those budding ‘Jamie Oliver’s’ and ‘Gordon Ramsay’s’ as well as the budding ‘Nigella’s’ and ‘Delia’s’. It will be a really great night with the chance to sample the delicacies made and have a couple of glasses of wine and a chance to catch up with people that you just don’t see enough of. You’ll get loads of hints and tips from Louisa from the Kitchen Range in Dingwall and a chance to purchase some of the many items she stocks in her shop.

Pamper Evening

The Pamper Evening is for ladies of all ages, from pampered princesses to queen mothers.  There’s a full night  of pamper opportunities and your ticket includes a glass of wine and homemade shortbread.  There will be a number of short demonstrations from cupcake decorating, cocktail making, and ethnic jewellery and luxury facials. Ladies will have the chance to book mini treatments at a cost of £3 a time (a real bargain) which will include glitter tattoos, reflexology, head massage, tidy and polish nail treatments, hand massages, eyebrow shaping, hair straightening and curling, neck and shoulder massage, gel nail overlays. They’ll also be stalls including Jewellery, Jamie at Home, Temple Spa, Lush, Luxury Candles, Handbags and Scarves, Cake Mamma to name a few.

Sorry fellas you are not allowed, but there is Junior Shinty on which will attract a good crowd and is very entertaining. Our community centre and grounds will literally be bursting on this night so if you can please don’t take your car if you don’t need to.

Help needed

We are looking for donations for Tombola – please contact Wilma Williamson on 831737. If you have any books to donate, please contact Joan MacKay on 831578.

Full gala programme

Download the full Gala Programme

Kirkhill Community Centre

Finally, don’t forget that Kirkhill Gala Week supports Kirkhill Community Centre and helps us keep fantastic facilities for the whole community to enjoy. This year we are celebrating our 25th anniversary. We have also just heard the news that we have secured the funding needed to renovate and extend the community centre. We’re using all the reserves we have and taking out a loan so your support is needed more than ever. We want to make the community facilities in Kirkhill the best in the area.

Find out more in Funding secured for Kirkhill Centre Forward project 

We’re delighted that the Highland LEADER programme have awarded us £150,000 towards the £304,000 we need for the project. We had already secured funding from the Climate Challenge Fund, Robertson Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation and the Highland Council Ward Fund. The funding also includes £62,000 of the KDAA’s own money and a Highland Opportunity loan of £20,000.

The plans for the centre include enlarging the kitchen and vestibule, improving the changing rooms, insulating throughout, and creating a larger brighter vestibule with a Post Office counter/box office in the existing hall. The extension will include a new meeting room, store and toilets.  You can find out more on the Kirkhill Centre Forward page.

The  Kirkhill Centre Forward committee has done a huge amount of work to get the project to this stage and thanks should go to them all, particularly Alasdair Morrison  for leading the team and Sandra Hogg for filling in all the funding applications.  Alasdair said, “We’re delighted that this project can finally go ahead. It’s been a long term aspiration of this community and with a growing population is much needed.”

There’s still a lot of work to do but we hope that we will be able to start work in early July and reopen in October.

Finally we’d like to thank the whole community for their support over the years . The fundraising during  Gala Week has enabled us to build up sufficient funds for this project to go ahead. However, as we’re committing all the funds we have available and taking out a loan it makes it more important than ever that this year’s Gala is a success.

Please come along to support the events and help us make sure the new community centre is fit for the next 25 years.

Kirkhill Gala Week 2012

Public Exhibitions and Evening Workshops

The Highland Council are holding consultation events in each of the main settlements within the Inner Moray Firth area between April and June 2012. The Kirkhill meeting is on the 25th of April at Kirkhill Community Centre. Drop in any time between 2pm and 6.30pm.

A round table discussion is also being held at each of the same communities on the same evening. If you wish to attend any of the evening events please contact 01463 702259. Please let us know if you have any accessibility issues such as the need for disabled access to a venue. 

Go along and see what future developments may be in lined for our community and express your views to the Community Council on how you wish the area to be developed.

Kirkhill meeting poster

Tickets will be available from 1st May, from Lorraine on 01463 831465.

Can’t wait until June for Gala Week? Well don’t worry, we’re kicking off early this year with a pre-Gala dance on the 28th of April. Featuring Wood & Stone the popular Easter Ross band it’s sure to be a night to remember. The band are well known for their easy listening country music and a wide and varied selection of other styles. They headlined the street party on Tain High Street this year.

Help us get the KDAA fundraising off to a cracking start.

Saturday 28th April 2012

Kirkhill Community Centre

Doors open 8pm, strictly over 18′s only, BYOB

Tickets £10 available from:

 Lorraine MacLeod 01463 831465

 Amanda MacGillivray 01463 831776

Membership forms and further information are available on the MUGA information page.

The KCF project now hinges on the Highland LEADER application that will be considered in April.

Squirrels to be followed by Kirkhill & Bunchrew Community Trust AGM. Find out about the work of the Trust. Everybody is welcome and refreshments will be provided.

The Trust will be considering a new constitution to enable it to convert from a Limited Company to a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. See draft constitution .

A new national campaign encouraging everyone across the country to play their part in making Scotland a cleaner, greener place to live has been launched.

The new Greener Together campaign demonstrates that every greener effort – big or small – does make a difference. By showing we can all contribute, the campaign encourages people to recognise greener living benefits for them, their families and Scotland as a whole. Importantly, it seeks to empower everyone to work together to make a difference and create a greener, cleaner Scotland now and for the future.

Launching the campaign Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Every journey starts with a single step and Scotland will truly go Greener Together when we realise the individual actions we take can collectively have a massive impact. There are many ways to go greener, which bring big benefits if we all get involved. Turning our thermostats down by just one degree, for example, not only saves money but also reduces the amount of energy we use as a country. By taking this green action, we could save up to £60 per year as well as reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions from housing by ten per cent.

Scots homeowners lead the way in take-up of renewable scheme

Scottish households are saving hundreds of pounds by embracing green technologies like solar thermal hot water panels and wood fuelled boilers. Scots are leading the way when it comes to a £15m national voucher scheme (£12m for individuals and £3m for social housing) to help households install heat generating systems, such as wood fuelled boilers and heat pumps.

The vouchers are worth a maximum value of £1,250 and are issued in Scotland by the Energy Saving Trust. But those wishing to make their homes more cosy and energy efficient only have until 31 March 2012 before the scheme expires.

It is rural parts of Scotland that have proved the most likely to embrace the voucher scheme with almost a quarter of applications coming from households in the Highlands Council area. So far, 114 vouchers have been issued to homeowners in the Highland Council area, followed by 73 in Aberdeenshire Council area and Perth & Kinross with 47 vouchers.

Wood fuelled boilers have proved the most popular form of green technology comprising almost 32 per cent of applications in Scotland. Solar thermal hot water panels are the second most popular technology.

The scheme primarily targets households not heated by mains gas – who have to rely on higher carbon forms of heating which also tend to be more expensive than gas, such as heating oil and electric fires to keep warm. Vouchers for the following technologies are available to householders in Scotland, England and Wales:

Ground Source Heat Pump – £1,250 (for homes without mains gas heating)
Wood fuelled boiler – £950 (for homes without mains gas heating)
Air source heat pump – £850 (for homes without mains gas heating)
Solar thermal hot water panels – £300 (available to all households regardless of the type of heating system used)

Interested homeowners should get in touch with their local Energy Saving Scotland advice centre on 0800 512 012

 LEDs offer a brighter future

LEDs can bring about significant reductions in energy and maintenance costs, according to an Energy Saving Trust field trial of over 4,000 light fittings in England.

It waws recently forecast that LED lighting has the potential to become the dominant technology in domestic and commercial lighting as early as 2015.

In 2008, the Energy Saving Trust completed a feasibility study that looked into installing LED lighting in communal areas of social housing, such as stairwells and corridors. The study showed that there was considerable potential for achieving energy savings in such areas, particularly as the lighting is typically on 24 hours per day.

Now Lit Up, the Energy Saving Trust’s field trial report of the technologies in action, shows increases in light levels, colour temperature and good maintenance of performance over time, as well as considerable energy and long-term cost savings.

The trial also showed LEDs maintaining their performance over time. Light levels were measured after approximately six months use, showing average maintenance of levels across the two trial phases of 93.6 per cent. Some sites showed no discernable change over the time period at all, while one found increased light levels.

On the back of the study, the Energy Saving Trust is planning to begin discussions with government and industry about ways that the market for LEDs could be supported in coming years. The Trust are also looking to endorse a larger range of LED products under the Energy Saving Trust Recommended labelling scheme over the coming months.