High Profile Summit Will Showcase Good Ideas
Representatives of voluntary groups from right across the county will meet Scottish Government Ministers at the Sutherland Summit on Monday 14 September to discuss some of the excellent initiatives taking place in Sutherland.
Ann Keatinge, of Voluntary Groups – East Sutherland, one of the organisers of next week’s event thinks Ministers will be impressed. “Sutherland is really fortunate in having a large pool of talented and dedicated people committed to making things happen in the county. We’ve highlighted just a few of the great projects underway in Sutherland to give a flavour of what is possible when voluntary groups, individuals and public sector bodies work together.”
Among the groups to be presented to Government Ministers are the Melness Community Wind Energy Project, which is at an advanced stage in the development and construction of a 2.7Mw community-owned windfarm; the Dornoch Allsorts After School club, a social enterprise with 60 children registered for after school and holiday activities and Kinlocbervie High School, whose pupils undertook a range of innovative fund-raising events to fund a new mini-bus.
Also appearing are the TYKES project for young carers in East Sutherland, providing a vital service for the community; Farr Woodcraft from Farr High School, whose woodcraft business and youth-led adult evening classes saw them become Scottish Young Enterprise Team winners 2009; the Lairg and District Community Initiatives who are working on an Eco-croft project for Lairg and provided a community café over the summer and New Futures Sutherland who for10 years have supported and assisted over 300 unemployed people in the county, with more than 50% of these going into training or employment.
Ann Keatinge added: “With representatives of these and many other excellent initiatives present at the event next week, we’re sure that the drive and energy shown in getting these projects off the ground will be really evident to Ministers.”
The organisers of the Summit hope that discussions at the event in Lairg will be a catalyst for new innovative projects coming forward. William Sutherland, manager of the Sutherland Partnership, thinks the event is pretty unique in bringing together such a wide range of people to discuss the future development of Sutherland.
More than 180 people are set to attend the summit.