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.

23rd September, 2011

It's definitely getting colder now and some of the trees are beginning to turn, although scientists say it's a false autumn and the real one has yet to come... The Centre is cosy though, with the wood pellet boiler proving its worth as the temperature drops. We've just had our electricity and gas meters read, so it will be interesting to compare costs with last year when they come in. The other energy saving measure we have planned for this year is to get our single glazing double glazed. Plans are well underway and hopefully it will be done by the end of October. We recently introduced recycling bins in our public areas and they are proving a success, so the process of making the Centre a greener place is well underway.

For the past 2 weeks we've had Graham & Aggie staying with us. Aggie is in a wheelchair so for a 2 week holiday Iain has given them 2 rooms in the chalet (one to sleep and one for a living room) and a fridge, so it can serve as more of an apartment for them. We have a self-catering apartment upstairs, but Aggie can't manage the stairs and now needs disabled washing facilities, so upstairs is no longer suitable for them. This flexibility means that not only can we cater for Aggie's needs, but also effectively we have had 2 apartments being used throughout the 2 weeks as well as residential groups in at both weekends. During the week community groups continue to meet regularly with the new computer training classes already started. It's really good to see the place so well used.

I went to a funding clinic this week to think about how we can raise the money for all the alterations we are planning. While we wait for the results from a funding search they're doing for us, we are having a visit from disability access specialists to make sure we include as many features as we can to make the rennovations as accessible as possible by today's standards. It will be really good when the chalet is properly converted to a disabled self-catering apartment, but at least we're flexible enough at present to be able to offer a half-way measure while we wait.

5th September, 2011

September already. Just been to a wonderful baptism in the loch yesterday, where the sun shone brilliantly.  To see the pictures just go to www.pitlochrybaptistchurch.co.uk. Glynnis our secretary is away on holiday & we're missing her. B&B has stopped officially til the October holidays. Amaia returned safely to Bilbao and sends her love and all the students who have helped us over the summer have returned to school or university - some just starting uni this year, so it will be a great adventure for them. The lunch club visit went well and then we had a quiet week. This week it's ME sufferers. Helen, local therapeutic & sports massage is coming again this year to ease their sore muscles and Allan, a local enthusiast for Scottish clan history re-enactment, is coming to do a show and tell. We're really pleased to get this support from our local community, which helps tailor the ME week to their needs. The Highland games are on this weekend in Pitlochry and we have a young people's pipe band from Eire staying here for the competition. It's great to be part of what's going on in the community and this event is always a big day. My favourite part is when all the pipebands march down the main street together. Well worth seeing. We've got another council of management meeting this week. We're gearing up for a big splash of fundraising in October to be launched at the Baptist Assembly, and it's incredible how much organising needs to be done. We're raising money specifically for the structural improvements over the next few years - better accessibility to better serve - and will hopefully soon be ready to submit the plans for planning permission.

19th August, 2011

Hello again. Just to encourage you to take a look at our facebook site. Just click on the link to the left of this page. I've at last put up pictures of our open day. (I'm afraid the video didn't work out). So much has happened since then, it's hard to believe it was even this year... Coming towards the end of the summer, the schools are back and B&B will stop soon. We've had quite a few French people over the last week - the whole country goes on holiday in August, and some Germans and Italians as well. It was great to see a few of our B&B visitors getting a warm welcome at church on Sunday too, including a Japanese couple on honeymoon. Groups are already due to arrive. We have a lunch club for the elderly next week. It's great they get the chance to go away together and they're already booked for the Scottish night at the town hall - a firm favourite.