Bridgend Inspiring Growth AGM and Winter Celebration

Hello everyone,

We hope you have all had a fruitful and encouraging year so far and are preparing your hearths for the coming winter.

We apologise to all for the lack of updates we have been able to send out recently, but would like to let you know that behind the scenes we have been continuing to work hard to collaborate with various local groups on developing ideas for the farmhouse renovation, applying for funding, and starting to develop a business plan for the renovation. As always, any extra assistance, support and expertise would be hugely appreciated, however big or small, and would make a significant difference towards the renovation project.

This year we have so far:

• Established ourselves as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (No SCO42769) and got public, volunteer and employers liability and insurance
• Carried out an intergenerational storytelling project with Liberton Primary and Inchview residential carehome. A printed and electronic book of stories produced documenting this and collecting stories told and written is available on request if you would like one. Please email or call to ask for a hard copy, or for a free one online for ipads go to: https://itunes.apple.com/book/id575931767?mt=11 
• Held a workshop led by Development Trust Association Scotland which identified and assessed various uses for the building, looking at their social and financial benefits, and developing an outline for best uses of the farmhouse in the future
• Began developing a business plan and Social Return on Investment audit for the farmhouse
• Written and soon to submit an application for funding to develop an options appraisal to be presented back to all for comment and further participation

Now, we are coming to the end of the year and wanted to host a Winter Celebration to accompany our Annual General Meeting. This will be: Sunday December 9th 2-3.30pm, Bridgend Allotments Barn, 41 Old Dalkeith Road, EH164TE. There will be winter baking and hot drinks available to keep us all warm (but dress in layers too!) We have gone with a Sunday because a lot of people said they could not make the dark evenings, and others are working during the week.

A poster is available if you would like to help us distribute which you can see below.    

All members, organisational partners and non-members are invited to attend this event. If you would like to stand as a trustee or nominate anyone this would be fantastic, and please get in contact and we can send you the appropriate form. Equally, if you cannot make the meeting but would like to cast a vote on the election on trustees then let us know and we can ensure you are able to vote by post. An agenda for the meeting will be available on the day, but if you would like to see in advance or add anything additional then please let us know as well.

We are currently looking for 3 or 4 key partner organisations who would be interested in collaborating on the farmhouse renovation. If you are interested please get in touch

We look forward to seeing some of you there or hearing from you soon, and thankyou for your continued support.