Tuesday, 18 July 2023

First up we have Steven Watson, our Community Liaison Officer who has worked with SFCT for 8 years now!  Let's find out a bit more about him and what he does for our Community.

Hello Steven – tell me a little about you ……..

Oh well Jillian, I am the Trust’s oldest employee at 64.  I’m old in the sense that I was the first employee too.  I’ve have been employed by the Trust for eight years.  I live in Munlochy and do not travel much at all now. 

It was a very different Trust when I started, with Zoe Iliffe as Chair and Frank Ellam in charge of the cash.  I enjoyed building up the activity of the Trust, attending every board meeting, writing and setting the old style Stratherrick and Foyers NEWS every three months and progressing projects such as the purchase of the Units at Lower Foyers.  I hope many of the LED lightbulbs I delivered to almost every household are still doing their energy efficient job as well! 

I got to know as many folk in the Strath and Foyers as I could.  Reading Alan Lawson’s book ‘A Country Called Stratherrick’ certainly helped.  If you are new to the area it will give you a good historical background, like the South Loch Heritage Group website will.  I loved my role in the first summer event we held at Dell Farm with the Elvis tribute act and the dances in the Hall too.  Laura and I have worked together for a good few years now.

Yes, but what do you get up to nowadays?

Nowadays I work from home, two days a week.  I start at 9am on a Monday and finish at 5pm on a Tuesday.  I use email but still use the old-fashioned telephone too.  I have a wide knowledge of the Trust’s past activities and a good range of contacts to share.  I mainly undertake defined tasks given to me by Tony, or action points from the Comms Team meetings and occasionally the Board.  

So what have I done recently?

Life with the Trust is never dull as you’ll know.  There are so many things that need done and they are so varied.  A lot of the stuff is back office functions such as the Trust’s insurances.  I also apply for entertainment licences and deal with things such as non-domestic rates.  I write articles for the website and newsletters – and even submit recipes with photos.  I produce papers on all sorts of topics from fire risk to grant assessments.  Just recently I’ve been writing up the Asset Transfer Request and Plan for the Inverfarigaig Forest building. 

For the Gathering, I found the marquee to hire when all other tent suppliers were fully booked.  I ordered and cancelled the burger rolls!  I linked up with Inverness Outlanders and hope they’ll be along in a future summer, and it was my name on the Liquor Licence.   Oh and I made up the ‘drive-by’ verge signs in my shed that are waiting for the next event at the Wildside Centre.

Last winter I set up the Community Firewood project at Ault na Goire with Alex Sutherland and my contact Kyle Wallace which worked so well, thanks to Matt.  I managed the budget for that too.  Great stuff!

Are there any things about the Trust that you’ll always remember?

Lots of great things have happened.  I have met so many folk in Foyers and the Strath over the years.  The refurbishment of the War Memorial by the Heritage Group was so evocative.  Handing the refurbished Units at Lower Foyers over to Boleskine Community Care was a great moment and seeing the Wildside Centre transformed and in use after decades of neglect.  There was also a special grant project a few years back that really made a difference.

What’s next on your list?

A successful land and building at Inverfarigaig will be good, supporting some of our local groups make their ideas come to life there, and helping my colleagues, I hope too.  

Strengths and Weaknesses?

I’m interested in everything really and always fall down rabbit holes.  That is a big weakness and a little strength at  the same time. I am not good with ‘Track Changes’. I love powerpoint for everything and a cheeky spreadsheet to help me count up correctly and also to make changes easy.

Finally, what personal interest have you that cross-over with your work for the Trust?

People, social history, nature, and don’t get me started on monkey puzzle trees.  If I ever make it on to a quiz show, monkey puzzles would be my specialist subject.  Oh and boats, land ownership, community energy projects, agriculture, maps, bus services, Australian Jelly Beans and traditional music history.

Thanks Steven and have you a recent photo you’d like to share?

Steven's working hours are Monday and Tuesday's - 9am-5pm.

You can contact Steven at clo@sfctrust.org.uk or by phone on 07525 120966 (please leave a message if he does not answer).

2025

February (12 stories)

22 February 📣 ** TODAY ** 📣 - Forest School Meeting

Interested in the future of the Forest School building? From 2pm   Come and speak to us about your thoughts for the Forest School and wider opportunities fo...

21 February Congratulations to Whitebridge Hotel

Whitebridge Hotel are finalists in the National Hotels of the Year - Scotland awards!   The ceremony takes place in Glasgow on the 26th February at The Cr...

19 February 📣 Youth Club returns this Thursday 📣

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19 February Communications 2025!

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13 February Mailing List Update

We hope you received your copy of the February newsletter and enjoyed reading through it. The team are busy updating our mailing list and we understand that there may ...

12 February Next Sat 22nd February

Next Sat 22nd February   Inverfarigaig Forest School, Farigaig Forestry Carpark IV2 6XR - From 2pm   Come and speak to us about your thoughts fo...

11 February ⚠️ Update regarding the upcoming works taking place at The Wildside Centre ⚠️

We can now confirm that the scheduled works on upgrading the toilet facilities in the Wildside Centre is starting this Thursday – 13th February.   The Wi...

11 February 🙌 JOIN OUR TEAM 🙌

We are currently recruiting a part-time (30 hours per week) Community Action Plan Project Officer to join our small team, based in the Wildside Centre in Whitebridge, on ...

8 February 📢 THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE 📢

Later today the Pathways Group are hosting their Community Engagement event at the Wildside Centre from 13.30pm.   For the past year, the Pathways Group has be...

6 February Errogie Church Statement

As you will be aware, an announcement was made by the Trust in mid December 2024 that we were unfortunately unable to host three events that were due to take place at Err...

6 February Wildside Wednesday Success!

🙌THANK YOU 🙌 We want to say a big thank you to those of you who popped along to our first Wildside Wednesday event yesterday! It was great to see you all 😃  ...

5 February !! WILDSIDE WEDNESDAY - TODAY !!

Join us TODAY at the Wildside Centre, between 9.30am – 12.30pm where the first Wildside Wednesday of 2025 will take place.  You can shop local, with local p...

January (22 stories)

31 January !! Next Saturday !!

On the 8th Feb The Pathways Group host their Community Engagement Day at the Wildside Centre from 13.30pm.   The group have setup a dedicated Facebook event pa...

30 January Refurbishments to toilets in The Wildside Centre

Following many months of work behind the scenes we are pleased to be able to share with you that work on upgrading the ladies toilets and creating a larger disabled toile...

30 January Fancy a sing song with Monadhliath?

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29 January February Newsletter

We are pleased to share that our Feb newsletter should be making its way through your door next week! 🙌   Please look out for the white envelope addressed to ...

25 January Do you use Instagram?

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24 January Foyers Community Fire Station

🚒 Foyers Community Fire Station 🚒   Foyers Community Fire station has a competent crew of 7 personnel, but we are in real need of new recruits, to keep the s...

23 January Wildside Wednesday is returning!

Join us on the 5th February at the Wildside Centre, between 9.30am – 12.30pm.   Here is your chance to shop local, with local produce from Lyne Mhor Crof...

22 January Loch Ness Luvvies - Traditional Burns Supper

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22 January Timings have been announced!

As you may have recently seen, The Pathways Group are running a Community Engagement event on the 8th February from 1pm at The Wildside Centre. In our previous post, t...

21 January ** Mobile Library Update **

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20 January Invitation to tender - Health & Safety Consultant required

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19 January Send in your dates for the Community Calendar!

Did you know we have an online Community Calendar? If not, you can find it here: https://www.stratherrickcommunity.org.uk/calendar/   We would love to inclu...

18 January What's the next step?

For the past year, the Pathways Group has been working hard to promote the local path network, paths that lead through rich landscapes, historical sites, and biodiversity...

15 January Community Engagement Day - 8th Feb

Over the last month you may have noticed that the Pathways Group are holding a Community Engagement Day on the 8th February. You can find out all about the event by follo...

14 January Mobile Library Update

Below you will find a list of updated Dates/Times where you can visit the Mobile Library at The Wildside Centre.   We will add these dates to the Online Commu...

14 January Indoor Carpet Bowls makes it return as of today!

** TODAY ** Indoor Carpet Bowls makes it return as of today! The group return to their weekly session after the Xmas break. Please note: The group will now ...

10 January Community Engagement Event - 8th Feb

The Pathways Group invites you to a community event that explores the potential development of a pathways based app. This is your opportunity to help shape an app which w...

9 January Deadline for Jan/Feb Newsletter Content!

The deadline to send in any content for the Jan/Feb Newsletter is Friday the 17th of January 2025. Please email marketingofficer@sfctrust.org.uk with your articles inclu...

9 January Send us in your photos from the Winter Festival

A HUGE thank you to those of you who have already uploaded photos to our shared community photo gallery during the festival.   If you have any wintery snaps th...

8 January Reverse Advent Calendar Success!

Santa's little helpers would like to thank everyone who contributed in any way to the overwhelming success of this project. The generosity shown by our community was ...

8 January ** MOBILE LIBRARY VISIT TODAY CANCELLED **

Sadly, due to the current road conditions, Mark who drives the local ‘Mobile Library’ will NOT be stopping at Wildside today. All books will be renewed, and h...

7 January Welcome Back

Hello, we hope you had a relaxing time during the festivities. As it’s now time to get back to work, we thought it would be a good idea to update our online communi...