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Sanday Projects
One of our most exciting projects is our youth drop-in centre. A group of young people is developing this project under the guidance of Trust director, Margaret Dearness, also the island’s Youth Development Worker. Maggie says, “it’s great to have a group of young people working with the Trust. Facilities that young people don’t have on Sanday – somewhere to meet, a public internet access point and a recording studio – are close to becoming a reality. There’s a real sense of ownership among the group working on the project, and it has been a great vehicle for them to put into practice what they’ve learned on various youth development courses in the past year or so. We’ve used an Investing in Ideas grant from the Big Lottery Fund to employ a local architect to help us to work up our ideas, and also to take a trip south to Gillingham in Kent to see the Sunlight Development Trust’s self-sustaining community facilities.”
The Trust received a grant of £50,000 from the Youth Organisations Capital Fund to purchase the buildings that will house the drop-in centre, and Orkney Islands Council has provisionally approved a grant of £54,000 towards the overall development costs.
Something that involves people more at the other end of the age spectrum is the Sanday Oral History Project. This project aims to create a permanent sound archive that preserves the voices and reflections of people who have lived and worked in Sanday. Many recordings have been made, and the publication of the materials in the form of a CD and accompanying booklet, and online podcasts is underway. The project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and LEADER+.
A Sanday photo archive was launched in March and is attracting great interest. It is growing rapidly thanks to contributions from local people. Also increasing, are information leaflets about Sanday - six leaflets have been published, including four on natural history topics, one on wartime Sanday and “Let’s Spy Sanday” - an activity leaflet for children. Historic Scotland, CED, OIC, SNH and Awards for All funded the various leaflets.
The Sanday Countryside Ranger service is one of the Trust’s earliest achievements. The service, now it its fourth year, has been funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, the Rural Challenge Fund, CED, OIC and HIE Orkney. The appointment has been a great success, enabling greater access to Sanday’s environment, with many local people and visitors participating in activities arranged by ranger Roderick Thorne, including guided walks, talks, expeditions to Start Point Lighthouse, bagging bruck, bird races, rock pooling, seal watching, and storm-petrel ringing.
A new project, which is gathering momentum, is a partnership between the Trust, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Sanday Community School to set up a music teacher-training programme, which will provide additional music tuition in the school and throughout the community, and potentially, a similar programme in Malawi. Communities Scotland’s New Ideas Fun and Loganair, the British Airways franchise, have supported the initial stages of this project.
Sanday’s ongoing Good Food Project has proved popular this year. It’s been funded by a grant from Community Food and Health (Scotland) and involves motivational talks, “cook and eat” sessions, subsidies of fruit and healthy snacks in school and community, and other events to promote healthy eating.
Other projects include:
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a value mapping project, nearing completion, which shows how the island might manage future expansion and development to promote sustainable growth without destroying the island’s unique sense of place. This project was funded by LEADER+.
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Broadband – the Trust is working closely with the Scottish Executive Telecoms Unit and HIE Orkney to ensure that a reach issue is resolved as soon as possible.
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A weather station set up in the school plantation and is now generating data that will be used for to monitor local conditions and for education projects. The Scottish Communities Household Renewables Initiative funded the purchase of the equipment.
- The regeneration of Sanday’s old community hall site to include enterprise units, an internet café and a recycling project.
If you require further information please contact the Local Development Officer (LDO):
Rosemary Seagrief
Address:
Hammerbrake
Sanday
Orkney
KW17 2BL
Telephone: 01857 600412
E-mail: rosemary.seagrief@btinternet.com
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