Community Support across Avondale

Strathaven Business Association has formed a core part of ‘Working Together for Avondale’ since it was formed in March following a meeting in roasted to discuss options for providing coordinated and planned community support across Avondale.

Here is a summary of our latest projects and how coordinated community support is being delivered across Avondale.

Strathaven and Glassford Community council continues to support the ongoing, coordinated community support effort across Avondale. It has been so positive to see so many of our community groups joining together to ensure that support is given in a coordinated, consolidated and productive way. 

The Community Council hold the funds and these are allocated to projects initiated to groups working on a joint basis. Groups working independently do not have access to those funds. A sub-group of the Community council forms part of the ‘Working Together for Avondale’ group along with representatives of the Strathaven Business Association, Strathaven Evangelical Church, Glassford Community Group and OutReach Community Church. The group also liaises with Avondale LEAP, local schools, VASLan, Home Energy Scotland and both Medical Practices in Strathaven.

To date we have received £21,500 from Banks (including a recent additional £2000), Falck Renewables, REF and Sandford and Upper Avondale Community Council.

In addition to the projects reported previously here see our earlier blogs) is a list of new projects we have been working on over the last month or so:

1.  We are funding the production of 500 Xmas Art Kits to be distributed across the community by Creative Strathaven CIC.  These should be ready for collection and issue by December 12th. 

2.  We have funded a series of mindfulness videos from Mind Marvels and these will be used across our Primary School community in coming weeks and months.

3.  We are funding free meals through the Crib Community Coffee House to an identified group including the Sheltered Housing complex at Park Crescent.  The list of who will get meals is currently being collated by the Crib based on food deliveries in the summer and new information on need. 

4.  We are supporting the Crib and the Sandford Giving Tree in its work to provide Xmas gifts for a significant number of families and children.  They are working with Social Work, Health Visitors and Women’s Aid to identify specific cases across Avondale. 

5.  We are supporting Strathaven Academy and Strathaven Giving Tree to provide gifts for teenagers from the Academy in need and also the elderly normally invited to the Academy Christmas concert.  This will involve food hampers to 56 women and also gift hampers to Park Crescent and Abbeyfield.  The Academy is also collecting within the school for Strathaven’s Foodbank. 

6.  We are planning mental health support for January onwards in conjunction with The Crib Community Coffee House/Outreach Community Church and a local SAMH worker who has previously run successful peer support groups in Strathaven.

In other developments we continue to work with the Strathaven Foodbank to promote emergency food supplies and energy top ups.  New posters were distributed around Strathaven last week to advise of the service.  This also includes the availability of funds to enable energy card top-ups where those are required.

With the ongoing pandemic and the likelihood of support being needed well into 2021, Strathaven Business Association is delighted to be able to support the ‘Working Together for Avondale’ group in working across the community to provide such essential support.