8th August, 2011

Woops - a whole month has gone by with no blog - sorry. So let's catch up... Amaia has arrived and is settled into Pitlochry. She's made friends with the young students who have joined us as housekeepers over the summer and has enjoyed chatting to (very surprised) Spanish guests when they came to stay. She also helped out when the People's Bible came to Pitlochry and is currently helping with the children's holiday club at the church. Nothing like getting stuck in!

B&B is in full swing and although it started out slow it has picked up nicely. We've actually had a couple of groups coming for B&B this year - a Korean school group and a hen party from Morningside Baptist Church. We also had a group from L'Arche - a charity for adults with learning difficulties. They really enjoyed their couple of days away and part of what made their holiday a success was the accessibility of the Centre accommodation and the welcome they received here. Last night a group of scouts staying at the scout hut popped in for showers as well and a family of one of their leaders stayed in the flat overnight. They were so pleased at the contrast between what we have here and the hard wooden floor and tiny kitchen of the scout hut.

As mentioned earlier the church next door is running their annual children's holiday club called "Rockstar". To see how it's going, go to www.pitlochrybaptistchurch.co.uk. For us it means the photocopier is in constant use, their IT man is busy putting their daily news sheet and video summary together in the reception lounge and some of our helpers are busy helping out next door as well.

At the same time the Atholl Craft Fair is on. They have an impressive array of pictures and crafts for sale, displayed in the dining room and on the reception walls, with a constant stream of visitors having a wee wander up and down the stalls.

Our latest news is that we have now registered with Paypal for email invoicing. This means that people now have the option of paying by card. You book by phone in the usual way, and if you prefer to pay by card the office will send you a Paypal invoice by email and you just click the pay button on the email. So simple! This should make paying deposits easier for a lot of people, and more accessible for those who have never heard of cheques!