Strathaven News

The Strathaven InsideOut continues to be developed and will be formally launched during May 2021.  The App was developed by the STAND Agency in conjunction with Strathaven John Hastie Museum Trust and South Lanarkshire Council following a successful bid to the 2019 Town Centre Fund by Strathaven and Glassford Community Council.

The App, which is available on the Apple Store and Google Play, works on iPhones and Android devices.  It covers all of the local businesses that have registered on the App including offers and perks available.  It also features local heritage trails and will cover events, festivals, groups and organisation across our community.

The aim is to make the App and the Discover Strathaven website at www.discoverstrathaven.org the go to places for all information about Strathaven. Strathaven Business Association has accessed funding to install lamppost banners promoting Strathaven businesses, Discover Strathaven, Scotland Loves Local and the Strathaven InsideOut App.

The App will continue to be developed with plans for more heritage trails and other useful information to be added over the next year.

Strathaven Business Association encourages all businesses and local organisations to register for the App to make it as user friendly and comprehensive as possible. To register go to http://insideoutapp.co.uk/ and follow the instructions.  Creating an account enables you to register details of your business or organisation and then to manage the content on an ongoing basis once it is loaded onto the App.

We also encourage residents and visitors to download the App to find out all that is available across our community. More and more businesses and organisations are being added to the App every month and as they update the information themselves you know it is accurate and up to date.

Download on the Apple Store at https://apps.apple.com/mt/app/insideout-app/id1534592376

Download from google Play for Android at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.insideout.app

Strathaven Business Association promotes initiatives of interest to local businesses and also to the local community.

Strathaven Business Association is therefore delighted to be able to promote this joint initiative between Banks Renewables and South Lanarkshire Council and to raise awareness of this excellent employability initiative.

South Lanarkshire Council and Banks Renewables Employability Initiative partnership

The Connect2Renewables Employability initiative is funded from a proportion of the community benefit funds from Middle Muir Windfarm, Crawfordjohn and Kype Muir Windfarm, Strathaven. The purpose of the fund is to help people living within 10km of either windfarm into employment by providing the following: 

• Learn new skills/re-train
• Get employability advice and support 
• Overcome transport challenges – help with travel to work, training or childcare

Who is eligible for help?

People who are workless or unemployed who live within 10km of either windfarm 
    
Towns and villages within 10km radius of Middle Muir Windfarm:

• Abington
• Coalburn
• Crawford
• Crawfordjohn
• Douglas
• Douglas Water
• Glespin
• Leadhills
• Rigside
• Roberton

Towns and villages within 10km radius of Kype Muir Windfarm:

• Auchenheath
• Blackwood
• Boghead
• Caldermill
• Chapelton
• Draffan
• Drumclog
• Glassford
• Gilmourton
• Kirkmuirhill
• Lesmahagow
• Sandford
• Stonehouse
• Strathaven

Are you an employer in South Lanarkshire?

In partnership with Connect2 Renewables and our local communities we are helping local people into employment and training by offering full time and part time jobs or work experience places.

We will support you by providing recruits from the area with training, protective clothing or even assist with travel if required.

We may even be able to offer an employment incentive as well as offering advice and support to you as an employer and to your employee.

For more information about connect2renewables

Contact Wilma at Connect2Renewables Employability Initiative

Phone: 0800 9520 070
Email: connect2renewables@southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Connect2 Renewables Employability Fund

Supporting local business and local people into employment

South Lanarkshire Council/Banks Renewables Windfarm Partnership

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.

A number of groups are coordinating community support across Avondale, supporting communities in Strathaven, Glassford, Chapelton, Sandford, Gilmourton and Drumclog. Groups include Strathaven Evangelical Church Foodbank, Outreach Community Church, Strathaven and Glassford Community Council, Strathaven Business Association, Glassford Community Group and Avondale LEAP.

The groups have been working closely with VASLan and Home Energy Scotland, which is helping identify how best to support people in Energy need (see leaflet below).

The groups are being supported by a fund managed by Strathaven and Glassford Community Council, using funds donated by Banks Renewables and Falck Renewables.

The Strathaven Community Resilience Group is also offering community support with the contact details on the form below.

To date the groups have helped in a number of ways, with funding from the Strathaven and Glassford Community Council. In addition, Strathaven Golf Club donated over 300 cans of soft drinks and boxes of crisps to the OCC for distribution.

1. Strathaven’s Foodbank, operated by Strathaven Evangelical Church has been delivering a minimum of 10 food parcels per week. It is trying to reach out to as many people in need as possible. If you are in need or know someone in need please get in touch by calling one of the numbers on the leaflet below.
2. A free meal delivery service on Sundays, operated by Outreach Community Church. On the first weekend, May 17th 102 meals were delivered and the numbers are expected to grow to around 140 on May 24th. On Friday May 22nd the OCC also handed out over 30 Youth Parcels.
3. Glassford Community Group’s support for frontline workers has seen 15 nominees awarded £25 vouchers for the Steayban, part funded from the CC Fund. It has also collected and delivered around 25 prescriptions.
4. Avondale Young Farmers have collected and delivered around 150 prescriptions across the community.
5. Printing and distribution of a leaflet promoting the work of local community groups and encouraging people in need to get in touch (see below). 1100 have already been handed out to local shops and businesses for distribution to customers.
6. The local production of 250 visors for distribution across our community to groups, individuals and businesses. 77 visor have already been handed round businesses in Strathaven and Glassford with more available as required.

The visors were produced in Strathaven as part of a collaboration between Gary Tompsett and the University of Glasgow (which donated the brow frames). There being modelled below by Arthur and Emma from Roasted.

Sainsbury’s has set up a trolley for donations to Strathaven’s Foodbank and we would encourage shoppers to donate in this way whilst doing their shopping. To start off the trolley, Sainsbury’s in Strathaven donated £100 of items for distribution.

The leaflet below is being distributed across the community to advise of help available.

The groups have established links with the local health centre, VASLan, Home Energy Scotland amongst others. The image below is on the reverse of the leaflet being distributed.

And in the latest development, Creative Strathaven CIC has been funded to produce art kits for distribution around the community.

The Art Kits are going to be completely free and the plan is that we’ll be using Frets Creative unit in Barn Street Mews as a distribution centre where you can pick up your Kit (social distancing measures will be put in place). 

Once we’ve got the final numbers, etc, we’ll give you more information on how to get your kit. All you need to do is fill out the poll by clicking the link below (it’s completely anonymous) and let Creative Strathaven CIC know whether or not you’re interested.

https://doodle.com/poll/gy3yterx3cyr9rgn