Hello again everyone. Here is the latest news from Step It Up Highland.
I am sorry to say that Lynne is still off sick. Thank you so much for all your kind messages of support which we have passed on.
It is so pleasing to hear all the great news from around the groups. Everyone seems to be getting out and enjoying themselves not just on the walks but on day trips and outings as well.
A new STEP OUT group has started in Ballachulish thanks to Paul and Pauline Selby. It’s great to see new people joining our walks.
The Tain group had an enjoyable Jubilee outing. You can read about this on our website. The Fort William group were on their travels with an outing to Skye.
If you have any news stories about your groups please let us know and we can add this to our website.
Thank you all for submitting your walk registers. It is important that we get these on time as it allows us to pay your expenses and it allows us to report to our funders about our work. We are still waiting on some registers being submitted so please get them to us. The great news about the walks however is that during June there were 85 walks and 1138 walkers taking part. In July, the registers returned so far, show that there were 56 walks and 738 walkers. What a great effort. These figures just show what a positive difference you are making to people’s lives.
SIUH have been invited to hold some taster walks at the NHS Highland AGM at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness on 5th September 2012. Thanks to the Inverness group and Strathpeffer Strollers for supporting us with this. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to show the people attending the AGM the benefits you deliver with your walks. Hopefully, this will be a spur to increasing our profile across the NHS.
Thank you all as well for your nominations for the Paths for All Volunteer Awards in Glasgow on 27th September 2012. We submitted four nominations from our walk leaders; Joe Barker from Inverness, Chris Langford from Tain and sisters, Janette McGarry and Anne Ramsay from Fort William. It’s great to recognise long service and good work so hopefully I will be able to let you know later this year some good news about the results of the awards.
Work has also been progressing on our proposal to employ Area Development officers in Skye and Lochalsh and Caithness and Sutherland. Sue Wood has been appointed to the Skye and Lochalsh post and will start with us on 17th September 2012. Unfortunately, nobody applied for the Caithness post, however we are exploring an idea with another Caithness based charity to get this proposal up and walking! More news about this later this year I hope.
There will be a few changes in the PfW office taking place. Joanne McCoy will be joining us as Business Administrator. Joanne, who has extensive experience of working in the voluntary sector, has been working for us for some time now but her current project is ending so she will take over administration duties as well as helping out with the Step It Up Highland project and other office work. Nicola Dunnet will be leaving us in November when she starts maternity leave. Best Wishes to Nicola and we look forward to seeing her back with us later in 2013.
Look out for news about the Charity’s AGM. This will be taking place later this year in Inverness. If you are interested you are welcome to attend.
Lastly……once again a big thank you for all your efforts running the walking groups. Keep up the good work.
Regards
Ian Arnott,
Manager
Funders
