27th March, 2012

What beautiful weather we're having at the moment - the sun is shining, the sky is blue and although it's only 4C at 9am it goes up into the 20s by the afternoon. That'll give the solar panels a good workout! It's been a busy month here with residential groups in every weekend and Baptist Ministers Next Stage training during the week in the beginning of March. We had 2 self catering groups in a row,so Iain took the opportunity to train local volunteer Rosemary to do the welcome & introductions so she could then be available as the weekend contact, allowing Iain to have his days off at the weekend. When we have catered groups Iain works all weekend and so has to try to find time off during the week, which isn't always easy, so it's really helpful to be able to delegate lighter tasks like this, free up time and allow Iain the occasional weekend with his family. However there are perks to working at the weekend - Iain really enjoys being the host and meeting both familiar and new friends. As well as taking pride in serving lovely meals with special diets taken care of, he loves to chat & make sure everyone has everything they need. Last weekend it was the Scottish Christian Women's Fellowship, who have been coming to the Centre for the last 13 years. They were absolutely delighted with the new double glazing and couldn't get over the change in the chalet.  With local kids growing up and moving on to college and uni we could so easily have been struggling for help at weekends outside the holidays, but we've been blessed with new local young people happy to work in the kitchen and house during these bursts of residential activity.
 
Midweeks have been busy too with community groups. New this month we had a 4 week series of women's cycle workshops for 3 hours on a Thursday evening - everything from riding with confidence to cycle maintenance. Thursday evening is usually the Youth cafe  slot, but that's only on once a month and luckily we had 5 Thursdays this month! This month Disability Information Services in Perthshire started having drop in sessions on a Tuesday afternoon. It's been going really well and so they have extended their stay for another month.

I went to 2 fundraising conferences - both in the same week, which made it a lot to take in. The first one was in London with over 800 delegates. It covered a wide variety of questions from legislation and the new government attitude to charity's place in our society to examples of how to apply for funding and how to show you are doing what you have promised. I attended an interesting stream on faith based charities and was encouraged through being shown how in a society where a faith base is often seen as a disadvantage in the fundraising world, it is respected when we present faith in a positive light and promote it as a reason to care, to show integrity and to respect each individual and give them dignity. The second was in Perth. Small is beautiful.(still 100 delegates!) Only 2 key speakers and then 2 relevant and cutting edge workshops with great food too:). Now to put all that learning into practice!

Iain & the Trustees have been busy doing risk assessment for trustees. It's a major project leading to fresh thinking and new challenges. Please pray as they implement what they are learning.

Richard Underwood and Rulzion Rattray have volunteered to raise money for the Centre by riding in the Etape Caledonia Cycle Challenge in Pitlochry in May. Thanks guys! If you want to sponsor them just email or phone 01796 473044. Richard's going to be setting up a Justgiving account in April as well,so you'll be able to give by card there. If you want to cheer them on, come to Pitlochry on Sunday 13th May. Start time 6.30am outside the tourist office (next to the Centre) and the first will get to the finish (also at the Tourist Office) from 10.30am onwards.

Many thanks to those who have contributed towards the electrics for the disabled entry to our main entrance. We're over halfway there already. Keep up the good work & remember the bag pack in the Pitlochry Co-op on the 14th April to help us reach our target. If you can help with that please get in touch.

28th February, 2012

Hooray the last bit of the double glazing package is going in today. Alex is on the dining room roof replacing our domed rooflights with new triple skinned ones. The new main entrance was installed a couple of weeks ago too, but the electrics for the automatic push pad have been postponed to let us secure funding to cover the extra £3,000 in cost. If you can help us with this please get in touch. Originally we had been told they had to be installed together, but when the electrics people were slow to give us information and I was reminding people we had a funding deadline for the double glazing, suddenly they could be installed separately. It does mean the new door is not just double glazed, but also built to take the push pad when it comes. It opens so smoothly we've had to put a notice on to push/pull gently, as people were almost falling over at first as they expected resistance where there was none.

Computer classes for our local community have been going for 4 weeks now. The first week no-one turned up and the tutors had problems setting up the internet as their Perth College laptops had firewalls not allowing use outside of council run venues. 4 weeks on they've had to move to a bigger room and are wondering if they have enough staff for all the people coming. People coming to the English as a foreign language classes are from all over the world. Many are from Eastern Europe - Poland, Russia, Lithuania, but the other day I chatted to a lady from Ghana who has married a Scotsman and now lives in Pitlochry and there are also students from Bangladesh and Turkey. It makes us quite an international community.

The church (through the WA) has successfully started a lunch club for the elderly, taking place fortnightly in the Centre dining room. An advantage of being in the Centre is that soup can be bought from the firm renting our kitchen and so is served hot and freshly made with a good choice of varieties. This saves time and effort for volunteers and ensures hassle free compliance with food hygiene regs. It has proved very popular and numbers are growing.

Weekends have been full with residential guests at the Centre, although most have been self-catering recently, many groups taking advantage of our no frills option on the flexi tariff, so even though times are hard, we are still able to be of service. In fact there have been a few key weekends that it seems everybody wants. If you're looking for a venue mid weeks are much easier to get and you can still self cater midweek, using the kitchen at the self catering apartment or we can offer half or full board if that suits you better.
We've had a few people expressing interest in the summer volunteer post. If you are interested please apply soon as the deadline is set for Thurs 15th March after which interviews will take place.

We have now applied for planning permission for the proposed improvements to the Centre over the next few years - extending  and dividing the dining room so our conference space can move downstairs, changing the chalet into a disabled friendly self-catering apartment, making every bedroom en-suite and changing the office to give us more space to work and a live-in bedsit for staff. I wonder how long it will take to come through. Thank you to everyone who is praying for us. Remember,you can also support us by helping us to raise funds by setting up events or taking part in challenges. This weekend a young man from the church is running a marathon in aid of CRY (Young people with cardiac problems) This is the kind of thing you could do for the Centre, supporting our ministry to disabled and disadvantaged people by helping us to improve our facilities. Hope you can help.

1st February, 2012

Some things seem to take longer than you think and I've certainly found that there can be huge delays organising workmen. So the new disabled friendly double glazed front door hasn't gone in this month but now at least we have a firm date for February. Similarly the  new triple skin rooflights have been delayed due to illness. I get very nervous as we get near our funding deadline, so please pray there are no more delays and these things are put in this month. Last week was very busy with 3 residential groups in a row and community day groups on at the same time, so it was a chance to see how we coped with quick turnovers without the summer students available. Happily a couple of local young men could help us out and were soon shown the ropes by our cleaning lady, who only helps out herself when we're very busy. It was a real pleasure to have the Baptist Ministers training group for an in-service course. It's a good chance to catch up with churches in other parts of Scotland and to touch base with Baptist Union leaders. They were the first group to experience the difference made by the new double glazing in the chalet and the corridor actually. I believe they were duly impressed! After them was a new group - the History & Politics society of the University of the Highlands & Islands, who had a Burns Night here as well as meetings. Iain played the pipes for the procession of the haggis and our volunteer gardener Alastair, who is also an Am Dram fan, gave a hearty address to the haggis! After that a group of Church of Scotland Elders came for a retreat. It's interesting one of them had been here in the late 70's /early 80s, in the early years of the Centre when Iain was first here as a young man -  just shows, you never know when you'll meet someone again.

Two weeks ago I went to a Christian Conference Centre Managers' conference near Birmingham. It was a chance to meet other people facing the same challenges, to share ideas, to worship together and to encourage each other. It was an eye-opener for me how big some of the Centres are, making their job a different kettle of fish from ours, but also emphasising the benefits of being small, in the way we can personalise our service and get to know our guests as individuals and provide a much more cosy and home from home atmosphere. I also realised how lucky we are here to have the chance to be part of a local church and a local community, because we're not stuck in the middle of nowhere. For some conference centres life can be very isolating, or a bit of a gold fish bowl existance. Anyhow I came back encouraged that the business ideas we have been pursuing are also being recommended for other centres, which confirms we are going in the right direction  and with some new ideas to try out.

We're looking for volunteers for the summer from the beginning of June to the end of August, so if anyone is interested in a summer job in the middle of Scotland's outdoors country, Bed & Board & pocket money provided, or if you know someone else who might be, please get in touch. Please also remember that we need people to help us raise money to improve our disabled facilities and put in en-suites. We're looking for volunteers to set up fundraising events in their local church/area and for volunteers to take part in challenge events and be sponsored for the centre. Go here to find out more. NB. Places are full for the Etape Caledonia cycle challenge in Pitlochry in May, but you can still aplly for the Etape Pennines in October and it would be an ideal opportinuty to do something you love and raise money for the Centre at the same time.

9th January, 2012

Happy New Year!  Hope you had a good time in the holidays.We got back to the office on the 4th Jan but Iain has popped in a few times over the holidays as we had a self-catering group of 10 staying in the flat and a few rooms next to it, the church has used the Centre over the holidays (of course) and Dave, our volunteer electrician, came to do our PAT testing for us between Christmas and New Year. Thanks Dave. Four Ways elected to keep up their meetings over the festive period, so they were in too. Then, just before we got back another family came to the flat for a few days. so the flat's been well used. In the beginning of December we had East Kilbride Youth Pipe Band for a practice weekend. Using our flexi tariff, we gave them breakfast and lunch and they went out for their evening meal, which seemed to suit them fine and they were very happy with their stay. It was fascinating to watch them beat time on the dining room tables with their fluffy drumsticks. It's almost like a dance. That's the 2nd Youth Pipe Band to use us in a year, so it looks like we're getting on their map.

In December we had the bulk of our single glazing replaced with A rated double glazing. It's already made a huge difference to the Chalet - the oldest part of the building, built in 1971, which had those cold, metal framed windows, which gave us condensation problems. Now all of that is gone and the rooms even smell better. The new double glazing is calculated to save us over 6 tonnes of CO2. We've already had the pleasure of seeing a significant reduction in our energy bills over the last few months due to our new heating system and insulation and this should save us even more. This month we're due to have our main entrance replaced. It will not only be double glazed, but also have push button entry for wheelchair users, so it will be a significant improvement. The dining room roof lights are also being replaced with  new triple skin ones, which will be much more energy efficient.

In December I discovered a new free way of raising money. It's called easyfundraising.org. All you have to do is to register on their website as an Atholl Centre supporter (we're already registered with them) and then when you want to do your online shopping you use them as your browser. The store you buy from then gives them a percentage of the sale as a donation, which they pass on to the Centre. They work with  huge number of big brand stores such as Boots, M&S and Amazon. So please give it a try and register with them here now. You could even make it your New Year's resolution!

Did you get one of our fundraising packs? 100s were given out at the Assembly and have maybe got forgotten in the Christmas rush, but now New Year's here, so why not take a look and see if you can help us by setting up a fundraising event in your church. We've given you 100 fund raising ideas from car washes and bring & buy sales to sponsored adventure challenges. See if there's something that suits you & let us know. We'll give you as much help as we can. If you didn't get one or have lost yours, just give us phone (01796 473044) or email and we'll send you a new one.

12th December, 2011

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat. Remember that? We just hosted a performance of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", narrated by Ian Smith. It was  an amazing performance - each character brought to life through actions and voices and Ian's own drawings projected onto the screen as he spoke. One of the most poignant parts, which I had not noticed before, is when Bob Cratchet's son is reading from the Bible - and Jesus called a child and made him stand in front of them... (and said, "unless you change and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven") and then Scrooge realises that he should value the lives of others, especially the child Tiny Tim, and become more like the child he had been before he grew into an avaricious and twisted old man. It was a wonderful reminder that the little baby Jesus we celebrate at Christmas grew up to die to save us from meanness of spirit and to transform us by grace to become as generous and loving as Father God. Ian asked for donations to the Tiny Tim Fund to raise money for the Centre's proposed improvements to our disabled facilities, so that we can make a difference to the Tiny Tims of this world. He has also just published his first novel, " Dancer at the Feast" and all proceeds of that sale are also going to the Centre. Thank you Ian. You can  see Ian's performance on DVD, available here. We appreciate all the efforts people are making to raise money to improve our facilities so we can help change people's lives. If you would like a fundraising pack please phone or email us. Have a very happy Christmas and every blessing for the New Year.

23rd November, 2011

Well, we had great fun with the Tamil  youth group, who were here while Iain was away at the Assembly handing out  fundraising packs. (Have you got yours?) They sang lustily, made wonderful curries which they invited us to share, and had lots of fun & games. There was a serious side too, with talks from a guest speaker and one of the young people became a Christian. The leader asked if he could be baptised here, as it is their custom to baptise people as soon as possible. Hasty attempts were made to arrange it, almost foiled by poor mobile reception, and finally he was baptised in the church baptistry on Saturday morning. Pitlochry Baptist Pastor David shared their lunchtime curry in celebration.

The church has been keeping the Centre busy recently with some big occasions: yesterday was a Tearfund supper with Daudi, an inspired individual from Uganda, last Friday was a lunch club meal for about 40 with Caroline as a speaker who's been doing literacy work in Chad, before that there was the shoebox appeal evening when the church got together to eat and then pack the shoeboxes.

Our usual community groups  have continued to meet this month, with Highway (adults with learning difficulties) coming twice for craft evenings to make products to sell for Christmas. They're also preparing to make a programme for Heartland, our local radio station.

As November nears its end the weather is getting cold now but the Centre is nice and cosy when the heating's on - in fact someotimes we even have to turn it down, as the radiators get warmer quicker now & blast out heat much better than before. Now I whinge about the draught from the front door when I'm in the outer office, but that's going to be solved soon too as a new double glazed front door is going to be fitted in January. I recently wrote a post installation report on the boiler project and discovered when the figures were calculated that we're saving an incredible amount of energy compared with before (better insulation, a more efficient system and some energy is free solar energy - although not a huge amount this year with the overcast summer we've had), and the wood pellets are cheaper than gas was, so we're making substantial financial savings too.  This is really good news as we try to make sure the Centre is paying its way and a solid investment for people giving money to our 40th anniversary appeal.

We linked up recently with a group called ROCK UK who do fundraising adventure challenges, some just a physical challenge in amazing locations, others are linked with charity projects where you spend time helping children, communities or the environment abroad. Go to our fundraising page to find out more. Pitlochry is a great place for adventure challenges too. You know how you're always looking for something different to give young (or young at heart) adults for Christmas - something better than a mobile phone or new computer game, so how about giving a  fundraising adventure challenge in Pitlochry as a Christmas gift. See here for more.

27th October, 2011

The autumn colours have been wonderful inspite of a largely wet but warmer than ususal autumn. The Enchanted Forest is nearly finished and Perthshire Amber just about to start. There is also a wildlife festival this autumn with lots of fascinating guided walks (2 on funghi recently!) and help seeing the local birds and beasts. It's great living here. We don't need to travel to benefit from all these events. I really enjoyed this year's enchanted forest, in a different venue this time with the twist of being able to view the whole thing from a high viewpoint as well as walk through it. Actually Pitlochry's not that far from most places in Scotland (1h30 - 2h by car) and we're on the main London to Inverness train line and bus route, so it's easy to get here.You should come and visit.

We're feeling very international just now as a couple of weekends ago we had mostly African ladies from the 7th day Adventist church (the folks in the flat really loved their singing) and today a group from the Tamil (South India & Sri Lanka) church in Glasgow is arriving.

Last week I was at a fundraising training event. It was really good to meet professional fundraisers & see how committed they wre to their causes ranging from Historic Scotland to the Archie Foundation (sick kids). The main speaker used to work for the Aberlour Trust (Children with Autism) and had a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. Hopefully it will help the Centre as we fundraise for our 40th anniversary project and as we fundraise for our subsidy fund. We're very grateful to the Soutar Trust for their donation of £2000 for our subsidy fund this week, which will help many less able or less advantaged people to have a life-changing conference or holiday here.