It’s official: our new community shop and hub will be called THE HIVE.

The name was chosen by our Trustees from suggestions made during a recent competition.  All the names of those who voted for ‘The Hive’ were added to a prize draw, and we are pleased to say that our Facebook ‘friend’, Kat Stevens, was drawn to win the £20 shopping voucher for use in Watsons Grocery Store.

 

The Hive now contains a shop front with locally-produced arts and crafts, including a lovely selection of greetings cards, jewellery, pottery, woodwork, and small gifts.

   

The rear-alcove is filled with pre-loved clothes and accessories, including a good range of seasonal garments,  children’s wear, handbags and shoes.

 

Our Library is proving a popular replacement for the recently lost mobile-library service.  We are building up a good section of reference books for loan, and fiction books are available either to borrow or to buy.  We also have a small section of DVDs and CDs for sale.

   

Our two rear Workshop areas are still being developed for use, but will soon be hosting a series of practical skills workshops, and we have a number of local artisan workers keen to share their skills.

We are trying out different patterns of Opening Hours, to evaluate which best suit our volunteers and local shoppers.  You can find our opening hours listed on the door of The Hive each week, and advertised on our Facebook page.

If you haven’t been along to see us yet, NOW is the time to find out what the BUZZ is about!

 

 

 

Moniaive Initiative are pleased to announce that Glencairn Community Council Windfarm Fund offered grant support of £3,638 to Moniaive Initiative, at their October Meeting.  This grant will provide us with Core Costs to enable us to continue operating during the period January – March 2019.  Applications have already been submitted to other bodies for funding for the period April 2019 – April 2020.

You can find more about how the Windfarm funds will be spent by reading our letter of thanks to the Community Council, here:

Windfarm Funding Grant Allocation

Moniaive Initiative would like to take this opportunity to thank the Glencairn Community Council Windfarm Fund for their continued support through the offer of grant funding made on 8 October 2018.

As you are aware, we were very fortunate this year to receive a grant from the Comic Relief Core Strength Local Communities fund to cover the bulk of our predicted core costs for 2018-19. The £3,638 offered by GCCWFF will bridge the shortfall caused by our unsuccessful application to D&G Nithsdale Area Committee, and enable us to continue operating during the period January to March 2019.

During this time our two part-time staff will continue to work to bring to fruition a number of long-term projects. Last year our project officers achieved over £50k of grant funding towards these projects. So far this year they have achieved grant offers of over £100k, bringing two of our projects much closer to fulfilment. Later this month we plan to open a 6-month long Community Shop and Hub, whilst completing the application process to raise the grant funding required to purchase the building for long-term community use. Both staff will work regularly in the Hub building, and in this way our work will be more accessible to a wider cross section of our community. We also anticipate being in a position, by Christmas, to commence our first affordable housing project.   Meanwhile, we continue to support other community groups in the development of their own projects, to investigate ideas for improving our community spaces, and to negotiate some of the improvements called for in our Lower Speed Communities project.

Most of this work would have ground to a halt without your generous grant offer.

Following the success of our weekend-long Pop-up Hub in May this year, we are pleased to announce that Moniaive Initiative are now arranging a 6-month lease on the AMD Building in Moniaive High Street.   We have carried out a Valuation and Condition Survey on the building, and now intend to trial various ideas, including the community charity shop, information point and arts & crafts space, while we continue the application process to raise funds to buy the building. We have already arranged our first workshop, and more information on that will follow soon.

 

Our Timber Waggon Survey closed on 31 July, and we were very pleased with the level of response.  We received 79 replies (paper copies and online responses), with 70 votes in favour of us negotiating TIME RESTRICTIONS on chapel Street at School Entrance / Exit times.

Here’s what one respondent said: “I have to walk my children up that street two or three times a day to access the school and Playcare. The street is always busy with pedestrians, especially young children and older people going to school or the doctors. Furthermore the shop often gets deliveries at this time, and it makes the street very busy and increases the danger to these pedestrians, who don’t have the safety of a pavement and often have to come out from behind parked vehicles. Restricting timber lorries would go some way to making this street safer.”

Of the 9 respondents who voted against our proposal, only 5 left comments, two of which touched on the possible impact to the forestry industry. Here is one of them:

“Driver hours are already restricted without villages starting to create times when they can’t go through them. This will cost haulage companies thousands of pounds and that will be passed on inevitably to customers, ie me and thee. Can you imagine if every village done this? Absolute carnage and chaos. This is utter stupidity.”

We would like to reiterate that Moniaive Initiative are very aware of the strategic importance of the local route through Moniaive to the forestry industry, and will be mindful of this throughout any negotiations. One of the remits of the Timber Transport Forum is to minimise the impact of timber transport – both the road network and the communities it serves – through voluntary agreements adhering to agreed routes. The B729 Carsphairn to Moniaive road currently carries an estimated 70,000 tonnes of timber per year, and is subject to ongoing monitoring due to the heavy impact of this.  The roads around Moniaive are currently graded:

B729 Carsphairn to Moniaive: Severely Restricted

B729 Moniaive to Dunscore: Consultation Route

Dalwhat Glen: Consultation Route

A702 Dalry to Moniaive: Consultation Route

A702 Dunreggan Road, Moniaive: Excluded Route

All our through-routes are therefore subject to some level of ongoing consultation and agreement.  Other villages do already have restrictions in place, including time restrictions outside schools. We therefore hope to negotiate a time restriction that will provide a similar benefit to Moniaive without impacting adversely on an important local industry.

 

Our Safety Scarecrow has been on patrol through the summer holidays to politely remind motorists to slow down as they enter Moniaive.

Thanks to the pupils of Moniaive Primary School who created him.

While he may not be the only safety scarecrow in Dumfries & Galloway (….we spotted a duo in Carsethorn recently!) he must surely be the only one with tinsel hair!

 

 

Moniaive Initiative have been in discussion with Moniaive Primary School and the School Parent Council regarding the issue of timber waggons passing through the village during school entrance and exit times. Given the narrow roads and lack of pavements for pedestrians, there are serious concerns over safety of families during these times.

Timber waggons transit the village via Chapel Street (A702) – High Street (C116) – Ayr Street (B729), which is a ‘Consultation Route’ (ie, one that is recognised as key to timber extraction, but is not up to ‘Agreed Route’ standard). The only restrictions on this route currently are weight restrictions.

Moniaive Initiative would like to negotiate TIME RESTRICTIONS for this route, excluding timber waggons from passing through the village between 8.50-9.20am and 3.00-3.30pm.   It has been suggested that these vehicles will need to pass through the village slightly earlier / later than they currently do, to compensate for this. We therefore need the support of local residents to be able to negotiate this change.

A paper copy of our Questionnaire will be provided to homes within Moniaive on the timber consultation route, and further copies will be available in Watsons Shop; these can be returned to the MI Comments Box located in Watsons Shop.

An ONLINE survey is also available here (limited to one response per household):

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QJ9QB5B

The survey will be open from 1 June to 31 July 2018.

 

We have reviewed our Data Protection Policy in line with the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force on 25 May 2018. You can read our full Policy below. Where you have provided us with your contact details, we will continue to keep and process your data, in a safe and secure manner, for the legitimate purpose of communicating with you about our work. We do not send our regular newsletters, and will only usually contact you directly if our work requires it. As before, you may request that your details are removed from our files at any time, by writing or emailing to us at the addresses given on our website.

Data Protection Policy

It is Moniaive Initiative’s policy to comply with all laws regulating computers and data protection. It is therefore important that Trustees, Staff, Members and Volunteers with access to Moniaive Initiative computers and files abide by certain rules whilst engaged in activity for the charity.

Staff are responsible for the day to day safety and maintenance of computer and other equipment, which they use at work, as well as the security of software and data stored on that equipment. It is Moniaive Initiative’s aim to ensure that all staff recognises the risks involved when dealing with digital information, and fully understand the steps that must be taken in order to minimise such risks. Wherever necessary, trustees, staff, members and volunteers will receive training to ensure that they understand the dangers of inappropriate and illegal use of the personal data they may have access to.

Our objectives are to ensure:

• Any personal information collected will be processed in a prudent and lawful manner, and kept up to date and accurate at all times.
• Any personal information collected will be held, used or disclosed only for the purpose for which it was collected.
• No personal information will be disclosed to any Third Party without the express permission of the person to whom the information pertains.
• Any personal information collected will be retained only for the period necessary for the completion of the task for which it was collected.

Moniaive Initiative will be hosting a POP-UP COMMUNITY HUB and information point over the weekend of the Moniaive Folk Festival. It will be an opportunity for all interested community groups to display information about their organisation, showcase projects (current or past), publicise forthcoming events, and generally raise their profile.

We will be opening the Hub from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th May inclusive, 11am until 6pm. The aim is provide a space to showcase all the wonderful things that are available here in Glencairn. We would welcome your leaflets, events posters, or even just some lovely photos to show everybody what you’ve been doing.  We will also be displaying a map of the village to show visitors where the local walks and points of interest are located.

The hub will be essentially un-manned, so we cannot accommodate anything of value (eg, original photos) but a festival steward will be monitoring it on a regular basis. We will be getting the space ready next week and can accept material from Wednesday 9th May onwards. Unfortunately we do not have the resources to print out materials for you, so we can only accept pre-printed material.

If you are interested in displaying information, or have any questions, please get in touch with Kara or Deb (email: kara.moniaiveinitiative@gmail.com or telephone 01848 200601, 10am-3pm weekdays).

 

Moniaive Initiative are pleased to announce that we have received a grant of £6,752 from the Core Strength Local Communities Programme, to cover the bulk of our core organisational costs for the 2018-19 financial year.

This will enable us to continue working on legacy projects to meet our three objectives:

• To relieve rural isolation, social & economic disadvantage due to remote location
• To advance sustainable community development
• To encourage participation in education, arts & culture and leisure for all individuals in the community.

You can find out more about how we intend to meet these objectives by reading our Glencairn & Moniaive Action Plan.  Details of the individual projects we are working on can be found here on our website under OUR PROJECTS, with regular updates on our NEWS page.

 

Funded by Comic Relief through Foundation Scotland.  Comic Relief spends money raised by its fundraising campaigns, Red Nose Day and Sport Relief.

 The Trustees and Staff of Moniaive Initiative would like to thank everyone who helped to make our Playground Opening yesterday such a success. We had a generaous supply of volunteers who helped prepare the park in the morning (including the wonderful bike circuit); those who provided water and electricity for our catering; donations of chocolate and other goodies for prizes; the School for loaning us sports equipment; Playcare, the Institute and the Craigdarroch for loaning catering equipment; The Gala crew and other volunteers who helped organise races and games; and those who stayed to clear up afterwards….and finally, thanks to everyone who turned up to share the day with us!