TIUMPANHEAD COMMUNITY ASOCIATION

 

SCOTTISH CHARITY SCO35666

 

ANNUAL REPORT 2005 / 2006

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Introduction

 

The 2005/06 Executive Committee was elected at an Extraordinary General Meeting held at Aird Primary School on 22nd November 2005. At the time of their election there was still a significant amount of redevelopment works to be completed at the Community Centre and the committee immediately focussed their attention on getting building works finished and arranging to equip the centre in order that it could be opened and made available for community use at the earliest possible opportunity.

During December and early January work progressed rapidly and the opening date was arranged for Friday 20th January 2006.

The newly refurbished and extended centre was duly opened by local resident and committee member Donald Wilson during a ceremony that saw the local community turn out in large numbers to see the new facility.

 

Centre Usage

 

The centre has proved very popular and is in regular use as a venue for birthday parties and meetings of the local grazing committees as well as ‘one off’ meetings for organisations such as local newspaper ‘The Rudhach’, youth organisation ‘Rudhach Voice’, local BBC staff and for constituency surgeries run by Angus B Macneil MP. It has also been used for forums run by the ‘Child Care Partnership’, ‘Community Education’ and ‘Community Workers’.

The centre has been used for larger scale events such as the annual dinner/dance for Point Boys Club, a Music evening organised by the Bridge Centre as well as fund raising events for ‘Aeglais na H-aoidhe’.

 

The centre is regularly used by a number of groups and organisations such as;

 

  • The Training section of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, who have entered into a rental agreement with the Association which began on 13th March 2006 and runs to 1st December, excluding school holidays. The rental income from this agreement has proved a valuable and secure source of funding particularly in the first year of operating the new centre.
  • The ‘Young at Heart’ Club which is an activities club for the over 60’s that meets fortnightly in the centre.
  • ‘Rionnagan’ a Gaelic medium Youth club which meets in the centre on Friday evenings. 
  • ‘Point Power’, a community based company who are pursuing the establishment of a community owned Wind Farm, use the centre as their base and for monthly meetings.
  • ‘Point to Life’, A recently formed local group, have recently started to use the centre on a regular basis.  
  • It is hoped that the Tiumpanhead Youth club will soon be re-established and that they to will become regular users of the centre
  • Community Education evening classes are run in the School hall and the community centre in 2 x 10week blocks during the Spring and Autumn

 

In addition to the above the community centre has hosted three annual events this year;

 

  • The Point Agricultural Show was, as in previous years, a resounding success in 2006 and the newly refurbished centre proved to be a major boon for this year’s event.
  • ‘Feis An Rudha’ newly established for 2006 ran a very successful Feis in the centre during the week of 7th – 14th August and it is hoped that this event will go from strength to strength and become an annual fixture in the community centre calendar. 
  • CNAG ran a Gaelic playgroup during the week of 17 th July.

 

Association Activities

 

  • A main focus of the Association in 2006 has been the completion of the hall and although there are still some minor works outstanding this task can be considered to be complete.
  • There has also been a considerable amount of effort spent on managing hall lets and establishing a regular flow of rental income
  • The community garden was largely replanted with assistance from the Point Agricultural show Committee.
  • The ‘Art Competition’ organised by the previous committee under the chairmanship of  Callum Macleod was brought to a close at a function in the centre on 26th May where a number of pieces were selected to be displayed in the café area for a period of 12 months.
  • A Family Barbecue was organised as a joint venture with the Point Agricultural Show Committee for Friday 30th June. This proved to be a very successful event and it is hoped that it will become a regular fixture in the future.

 

The Future

 

The popularity of the Hall in its first year of operation is extremely encouraging and it is incumbent on future committees of the Association to do everything in their power to ensure that this high level of activity is maintained and it is suggested that this will only be achieved by maintaining rental levels at such a reasonable level that both encourages the hirer and is sufficient to meet running costs, which will be substantial over a 12 month period.

The question of renewable energy provision is one that should remain a target of the next and future committees. Valuable research has already been undertaken for this project and given the uncertainty of fossil fuel supply it would be prudent to pursue this idea in the short term.

Note of Thanks

 

The Community Association would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the redevelopment of the community centre and in particular we would like to express our gratitude to the two individuals who made the project happen by their sheer hard work and determination, namely Callum Macleod (chairperson 2004/05) and local councillor Donald John Macsween.

We also wish to express our gratitude to the under noted organisations for their kind monetary donations without which the redevelopment would have remained a community dream;

DWT Cargill Fund; Garfield Weston Foundation; The Hugh Fraser Foundation; Upper Aird Common Grazings; Broker Portnaguran & Newlands Common Grazings; The JTH Foundation; Cruden Foundation; Point Agricultural Show Committee; Comhairle nan Eilean Siar; Western Isles Enterprise, Better Neighbourhood Services Fund; The Scottish Executive; Shulishader Common Grazings; BP Fuels Marketing Ltd.

 

 

Norman Mackenzie

Chairperson

Tiumpanhead Community Association

c/o 14a Portnaguran Point,

Isle of Lewis

HS2 0HD

Telephone 01851870534