Ewan Young of Ullapool Community Trust got in touch with the SCA to offer support and to suggest that we individually complete a Broadband Questionnaire. This might in time lead to improved internet services for the residents on the peninsula.
Download the questionnaire as a word file here.UCT Broadband Survey and send your completed return to UCT.
Scoraig Community Association
Members Meeting 25.11.12
Present: Directors: Laurence Glass, Cathy Dagg, Hugh Piggott, Jytte Piggott, Aggie Brudenell, Nigel Rushforth, Malcolm Alston Members: Estha Cutler, Bill Burstall
Apologies: Susan McSweeney
1. SCA Finances
The SCA has £600 in the bank and is owed £900 by HC. There is still £2000 to be spent on roadwork this financial year. Hugh has been adding the 10% administrative surcharge to HC invoices.
2. Fireworks for Bonfire Night
The STG approached Laurence to ask if the SCA would share the costs. Laurence then paid the 50% himself. It was agreed to reimburse Laurence and that it was good to support this community event
3. Fundraising
The question was raised as to whether we need to carry out a fundraising event. The ideas of a summer agricultural show or vintage tractor show were raised. It was agreed to organise the usual Burns Supper in January.
4. Pier Shed: Badluarach
The question of who actually owns the pier shed has not yet been answered. It does not belong to Highland Council and is probably on Estate land. This may be investigated further but it is more likely we will just go ahead with repairs. Bill has costed as follows: top rail for the sliding door £160, the door itself can be patched up, runner at the bottom of the door would be £100 or it could be given a groove during raising of the floor. It seems it will be a relatively easy job to cut a space for a cheap window, using the existing lintel. The birds nests and lime deposits will be pressure washed out and the leak on the back wall fixed. Total costs of materials and work £300.
5. Pier Shed: Scoraig
The broken windows have been fixed and some painting done. Bill may finish the painting soon if the weather is good. The 30m of replacement cladding will be bought next week. Topher is pleased with the work so far. There is an issue with the guttering on the east side, which drips onto the notice board, but this is because the corrugated roofing is too short. The guttering could be taken off altogether, but the water barrel on the downpipe is useful. There is now no electricity in the shed after the wind turbine fell down and it was agreed a minimum 12v supply would be good. Some of the batteries may be good enough and it may be possible to install a cheap solar panel. It was suggested lights be put on a timer.
6. Trailers in the Badluarach car park.
There are several boat trailers and a couple of ordinary trailers, some of unknown ownership, many probably redundant and taking up space. It was suggested it may be possible to convert some of these to a road menders trailer. It was agreed to put a note out to find owners and set a deadline for claiming ownership. Bill is prepared to try a conversion.
7. Road Job
This is being held back by the lack of a suitable trailer. Stock trailers aren’t up to the job. It was agreed to investigate cost and availability of tougher trailers
Aggregate from Chris Latham. This has worked well on its trial section, compacting well. The SCA is willing to order more, maybe 5 trailer loads before the end of the financial year, but this is held back by how quickly Chris can produce the material.
There was a discussion on at what stage potholes should be filled. If they are left until they are deep enough, they can be filled with large stones which will last longer.
Cathy requested that cleaning out the ditches along the Badrallach footpath be prioritised, as the recent wet weather has demonstrated the damage being done by running water on the path. It was agreed that this was valid work for the road menders, although our remit is only as far as the Cathair gate. Agreed after a vote that payment should cover time spent walking from the Ruigh’riabhach gate. Cathy will monitor work and sign off time sheets.
8. Pier improvements
No developments. The Nitrox is due to come soon with primary school fuel, which may be an opportunity for dredging.
9. Boats at Scoraig Pier Area
The foreshore east of the pier is crowded, but not all boats there are in frequent use. It was suggested some infrequently used boats could be moved to the west side of the pier. Bill agreed the Dolly Parton, which is due to go into the shed for repairs in January, can go west afterwards. The Paint Tray can also go west after the big animal feed ferry. The Serena can go up to the bracken when the mooring boat goes back in the water. The Red Rose is left by Malcolm at Scoraig so that other people can use it as required through the winter and he expressed concern it would be harder to launch from the west side, also more vulnerable to storms. It was agreed to leave it to the east at present. Hugh made the suggestion a clear route be left from the shore, through the parked boats to the bracken.
Jytte mentioned that boats pulled up to the west during the last pier tidy up now obscure Alan and Kath’s view of the pier. It was agreed it would be good to move these.
10. Role of the SCA
Cathy suggested one of the most pressing issues on Scoraig was the declining population and falling school roll, together with the increasing number of empty houses and the failure of houses put on the market to sell. There are at present fewer opportunities for interested people to have a trial period at little cost and commitment. The SCA could play an important role in arranging and managing short term stays, if the various house owners were agreeable and contactable. The internet could be used to advertise availability.
Next meeting 20.1.13 at 2.30 in SSS Cathy
Download minutes of SCA meetings here
Reach page under the lighthouse photo above, and click SCA> Document Downloads.
LAURENCE GLASS (CHAIR)
CATHY DAGG (SECRETARY)
HUGH PIGGOTT (TREASURER)
JYTTE PIGGOTT
AGGIE BRUDENELL
MALCOLM ALSTON
NIGEL RUSHFORTH
AGM
Held on 26.8.12
Present: Laurence Glass, Hugh Piggott, Cathy Dagg, Malcolm Alston, Susan McSweeney, Aggie Brudenell, Estha Cutler, Joany McGuire, Nigel Rushforth, Chris Latham, Bev Beavitt
Apologies: Andy Cox. Bill Burstall
1. Chairperson’s Report
Laurence read out a definition of the SCA and its assets , and gave a report on its activities during the short year since the last AGM (also circulated as a paper report)
2. Treasurers and Trustees Report
Hugh circulated a copy of this report.
3. Re-election of Office Bearers
Malcolm proposed that the three office bearers be re-elected, if they were happy to continue. This was carried
The other directors agreed they were also happy to continue. Nick Lancaster was not present (but was later clarified as not wishing to continue). Jytte Piggott was elected director.
4. Administration fees
Those present were reminded that it had been agreed at previous meetings that a 10% admin fee should be charged on events organised through the SCA. This could now be waived as recent fundraising has been successful, but the general policy is that it should continue . The exception to this is the £30 First responder money, which it was agreed would be held by the SCA for First Responder equipment as required. Malcolm suggested a distinction should be made between money-earning projects, like the art course, which should pay the 10%, and non money earning events. It should be at the discretion of the treasurer, but fundraisers should be made aware of the need to add this 10% to their figures. It was felt that small sums left over from projects should go back into the SCA pot
5. Road Job
Volunteer day: last one only had 2 vehicles although plenty of volunteers. Malcolm feels that more vehicles would come out if fuel costs were paid.
Some points on the road need a better quality of aggregate than bagged pebbles, and it was agreed that Chris’ chippings would be suitable. Chris is offering these for sale at £45 per cubic metre. But Bev pointed out places like the bend at the bottom of the hill needs stabilising with set stones to hold the aggregate in place.
It was agreed to approach Kevin to give an estimate for these bits of work. Hugh pointed out the council’s agreement is £10 per hour for skilled work, although nobody has as yet claimed this rate and that there is no need to set an upper limit
6. Scrap metal pile at Badluarach jetty
It was noted that although the SCA is owed part of the money by the scrappie for what he has already taken, it is unlikely they will be able to recover this, and unlikely he will come back to take the rest. The treasurer is happy with the amount we have already received. Options for getting rid of the remainder were discussed, including accepting that we might have to pay for its removal. It was agreed Chris latham would look into the options.
7. Pier Shed (Topher’s)
Repairs and painting are required. The paint and rollers are ready and a shed painting day will be called. Laurence will measure the windows and replacement glass costed
8. Directors Meeting
The next directors meeting will be on Sunday 23rd September at 2.30pm.
Directors previously listed at companies house according to the trustees report :
M Alston (appointed 4 December 2011)
A Brudenell
L Glass
N Lancaster (appointed 4 December 2011)
H Piggott (appointed 4 December 2011)
N Rushforth
Secretary C Dagg
Cathy and Jytte not (yet) listed as directors
Cathy, secretary to SCA, 8.9.12
The AGM of the Community Association took place on Sunday 26th August at 2.30 pm. Below are links to are some of the documents that were generated before the event. The above Minutes of the event are in pdf form here SCA AGM ’12.
SCA AGM ’11 Last year’s minutes
SCA accounts 31 March 2012 The formal report for financial year to 2012
SCA AGM chairman’s REPORT Laurence’s speech to the meeting
treasurer’s report + Bill’s report August 2012 Hugh’s report on money plus Bill’s report on scrap and road work.
1/ Laurence read out the minutes of the previous meeting which were approved by all at the meeting.
2/LIGHTHOUSE;
All the works proposed at the last meeting have been carried out, the exterior has been painted, and the sign writing has been completed (thank you Joany). Three new exhibitions are now in place and the donations box mounted inside, ( it was commented on that it wasn’t very obvious, but it has already accrued £5.63).
Aggie proposed a rota for cleaning the Lighthouse and surrounding area, Aggie,Nick Esther and Malcolm volunteered
Joany said that the S.T.G. had paid her for doing the sign writing and the S.C.A. thank them very much for that.
Hugh pointed out that contents insurance for the property was costing us £40 p.a. for £3k of cover. It was agreed that this was excessive and that we no longer required this cover, though the building itself should continue to be insured and carry 3rd party liability. Hugh to organise.
Bill offered to source more white paint for the future.
3/FIRST RESPONDERS;
The first course happened, and the equipment is in place. Those who had attended it felt that it had gone well and had been valuable. More courses are to follow to complete the training.
4/ TREASURERS REPORT;
Hugh suggested that the Directors ought to be signatories on the main account, and it was agreed that these should be Hugh, Laurence Malcolm and Aggie.
The Mooring boat has 2 accounts, a Barclays/Standard Life Deposit account for which Aggie, Morag and possibly Chris L are the operators, though Morag has retired from this position and Chris does not recall receiving the recent new paperwork from the bank that would enable him to do the telephone banking so he might not be one after all. The signatories on the current account are supposed to be Aggie and Joanie. Aggie is to contact the bank and clear this up.
LG is doing the annual returns online and will try to find out why Nigel not Malcolm is on the Banks list of Directors.
The accountant has requested that the incomes and expenditures for the Mooring boat be included in the .S.C.A. accounts and tax return. Aggie is to provide Hugh with all the receipts and figures for payments and incomes.
Highland council Harbours has invoiced the Mooring boat for pier dues for the year. Aggie to arrange payment.
There is at present £3000 approx in the SCA account, of which £1000 is designated for the Defribulator, £130 for insurances, £250 for the accountant and £600 is still unspent on the road job. This leaves a little over £1,000 in the account.
5/ ROADS;
Hugh has contacted Ian Hay who requested a breakdown of how the money has been spent over the past year, this has been done and Hugh will now send a Pro Forma invoice for the next set of works and chase Ian Hay up.
Chris is still unable to commit to supplying large quantities of chippings from his crusher, but it was suggested that a coarser grade of crushed rock might be equally suitable and we would experiment with that as soon as Chris could supply.
It was agreed that the hourly rate for skilled labour (culverts) should be increased to £10 p.h., the base rate remaining at £7.50 for filling potholes.
Laurence has spoken to Peter Young about the continued use of the motorcycle on the footpath out and the damage it is doing. He reported that Peter’s argument is that the footpath is in fact a byeway and that he therefore is within his rights to use his motorcycle and expect the council to keep the track in a good state of repair to enable him to keep on doing so. Laurence is to contact the council to try and get clarification on this issue, though the meeting felt that it was the responsibility of the Highland council and the police to enforce any restrictions on vehicular use, and not the responsibility of the SCA.
Nick offered to survey the footpath as far as the Cadha gate, and is to invite Kevin along for his opinion.
In the absence of a proper commitment from anyone to take on the contract for doing the road job it was agreed that we should call a voluntary work day from the community for Saturday 9th June. Bill to organise flyers for internal post.
6/ MOORING BOAT;
We are waiting on Bev to prepare the ‘Serena’ so that the wooden boat can come out of the water for her summer paint up. Bill hasn’t managed to source a new diaphragm for the bilge pump, nor a prop guard. Pat R has requested a new magneto for the old engine, Bill will look into that too.
7/RUBBISH &RECYCLING BINS
Malcolm expressed the view that having the bins locked at Baduarach was counter productive and likely to lead to an increase in litter and fly tipping. It was pointed out that whilst the current situation was not perfect it was a good step in the right direction and that people would get used to it particularly if there were to be better communication between the interested parties of the Council, residents and Rona. Bill will contact Katrina Taylor of the council waste collection and request some litter facilities for tourist/ non residents at Badluarach.
Bill and Martha have already had a few meetings with Katrina T and she has offered to arrange a one off collection of non domestic rubbish from around the piers and pier sheds. A voluntary pier clean up for both sides of the loch, and to include both pier sheds is to be called for Sat 26 May , with this rubbish being stored temporarily in the concrete bunker for the council to collect, whilst scrap of value is to be stored in the space between the turning bay and the car park for Big Douglas the Scrappie to come and buy off us. The money from any scrap would be shared between the SCA & STG. Bill to arrange.
A paint and repair of the Scoraig pier shed was proposed for a later date, and this is to be discussed with Topher
Aggie suggested that we should ask Rona for a specific space down at the pier for scrap and rubbish, Hugh agreed this could be good, LG to pursue.
THE NEXT MEETING IS TO BE THE A.G.M. HELD ON AUGUST 26TH
A message from Bill Burstall to Highland Council Katrina Taylor regarding the new refuse bin system in operation at Badluarach Jetty:-
Hello Katrina,
First of all many thanks for supplying the two domestic sized green wheelie bins which are being well used on the Scoraig peninsula (IV23 2RE). I have already had cause to ferry them and empty them into the large bins at Badluarach (IV23 2RA) so there was clearly a need there. The only problem was that all rubbish was going into the green bin and therefore to landfill, where much of it could have gone to recycling. If you were able to deliver two blue bins (240L) I would bring them to Scoraig and that would encourage people to separate their litter at the Jetty area there. I would continue to undertake to deliver the bins to Badluarach by boat when full at no cost to the council as before.
Secondly, and of greater concern, is the reduced service of emptying the green bins (1100L) at Badluarach . Prior to the new arrangement we had four bins emptied once a week, we now have only three being emptied every other week, a reduction in capacity of 62.5% or nearly 2/3rds.
Whilst I appreciate that in an urban domestic environment this capacity would be made up by the emptying of the blue bin on alternate weeks, the situation is different for the residents on the Scoraig peninsula who tend to have proportionately significantly less recyclables in their household waste. Here most paper is either burned or composted, drinks from plastic bottles are not consumed to the extent they are on the mainland due to the logistics of transporting liquids across the loch to the house, and similarly tinned foods are not such a staple of our diet due to their weight compared to dried foods.
We appreciate the introduction of the Blue bin at Badluarach and it has filled up quite well in the two weeks since its introduction ready for emptying this Wednesday. However at the same time the three green bins which would normally have been emptied weekly are already full to capacity, and not due to be emptied until next Wednesday.
I am greatly concerned that when residents of the peninsula make the effort to transport their separated rubbish across the loch and find the green bins full they will have little choice but to place it in the wrong bin ( thus contaminating the recycled bin and condemning it to landfill once again) or leave it beside the bins at the top of the jetty where the weather and vermin will scatter it to the four corners of the coast.
I would suggest therefore that you consider increasing the number of green bins at Badluarach to at least 6 in the expectation that this will significantly reduce future flytipping and littering. This would still represent an overall reduction in capacity, leaving us with 7 bins in total being emptied a fortnight instead of 8 as before the introduction of the new scheme.
Sincerely, Bill Burstall, Scoraig Sea Taxi, (the ferry service between the Scoraig peninsula and Badluarach Jetty). Tel; 07747630249
First Responders do not replace the emergency services, but do increase the chances of a patients survival.
In an emergency you would still dail 999 and the ambulance service would contact the first responders on call ( there are usually a minimum of 6 trained responders who work on a rota ) at the same time an ambulance/ helicopter would be dispatched. The First Responders would be able to reach the emergency quickly and ensure the patients survival until the paramedics arrive.
First Responders will receive 2 days of training, including Respiratory and Airway Management, Basic Life Support, Defibrillation and other medical related emergencies.
The Scottish Ambulance Service are very supportive of setting up a scheme on Scoraig and would fund all the training and subsequent refresher courses, plus most of the Responder Kit. The community of Scoraig needs only to buy the defibrillator which costs £1000. £500 is hopefully going to come from a Highland Council Grant, the remaining £500 we need to raise as a community, this will easily be achieved if every household contributes £20 or however much people feel they can contribute. (Note: Please make cheques out to “Scoraig Community Association Ltd.’ and pass them to Susan.)
First Responders can save lives.
Information leaflet here (PDF)
“If you have some free time and want to participate in providing a valuable service to your community or assist in establishing a Community First Responder Scheme please contact: Susan McSweeney – Scoraig“
Abridged minutes (if you want to read the full minutes and don’t already get them sent to you by e-mail or post, get in touch with Cathy)
Present: Directors Laurence Glass (chair) Cathy Dagg (secretary) Hugh Piggott (Treasurer) Nick Lancaster, Malcolm Alston, Aggie Brudenell
Members: Alan Beavitt, Chris Latham, Andrew Cox, Nigel Rushforth, Bill Burstall, Estha Cutler, Jill Beavitt, Ewan Bush, Joany McGuire
Apologies from Morag Hepburn
Cathy wished it to be noted that the Badrallach footpath is in a very bad state
It was agreed at the SCA meeting yesterday that email account holders should be asked to pay £10 per annum toward the SCA charity funds, and that a full page advertisement costs the same. Simple links to web pages are to be free of charge, and we hope they will be reciprocated.
If anyone would like a new email address or advertisement then please contact us and we’ll provide.
Payment can be by cheque made out to Scoraig Community Association or by BACS transfer, or standing order to the bank. Again contact us for bank details.
This is a community website so it’s open for all to contribute and express views, make comments etc. If you have an item of news or information or opinion to express then you can send it to admin@scoraig.com for publication here or apply to be able to log in and use the site yourself.
The simplest way to write something is just to hit “leave a reply” below one of these posts and make a comment.