Local Blog
www.aberdeenshirecommunitysafety.org.uk
An EGM of the Kincardine and Mearns Community Safety Group will be held on Thursday 25th June 2015 at Invercarron Resource Centre, Stonehaven
A G E N D A
- Welcome and Introduction
- Apologies
- Minutes of AGM
- Matters Arising/Correspondence
- Open Discussion on the future of K&MCSG
- Possible formation of committee and election of office bearers.
- Financial Report & Applications for funding
- O.C.B.
- In the event of failure of Item 5 – Dissolution of Group
Ron Sharp
Interim Chair/Vice Chair/Acting Secretary (but I refuse to make the tea)
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN HELPING YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY TO BECOME MORE ACTIVE?
A Volunteer Walk Leaders Training Courses is being held in Portlethen on Thursday 2 July 2015. The course is designed to establish a group of local people (aged over 18 years) who are trained to promote and lead Health Walks on an ongoing basis. 
Only one day of training is necessary but information will be provided to support development of local walks in Kincardine and Mearns for walk leaders attending the training through Paths for All and through local contacts.
A Health Walk is a short, local, low level walk which seeks to encourage and support people to become more active. A typical health walk usually lasts between 10 minutes and 1 hour.
| Date: | Thursday 2 July 2015 |
| Time: | 9.30am to 3.45pmRegistration from 9.15am onwards |
| Venue: | Jubilee HallCookston RoadPortlethen
AB12 4PT |
| Cost: | FREE including resource materials(Lunch provided) |
For booking and more information please contact:
Shiona Watson, Administrator, NHS Grampian
Tel: 01569 792053
Email: shiona.watson@nhs.net
The Big Fit Walk
Be active, get healthy, have fun!
The big fit walk is free, easy and lots of fun – especially when you bring a friend. Young, old, fast, slow – it doesn’t matter.
It’s not a race, it’s about having fun and staying healthy. Fresh air, a walk, and a chat. Hey, it could become a regular thing.
And the best bit? Everyone – absolutely everyone – is welcome.
See you there! 
Our Big Fit Walk will be led by Laurie Fallon and it’s free for everyone.
We’ll start from Portlethen Medical Centre at 10am on Wednesday 17th June 2015, Stonehaven Town Hall at 10am on Thursday 18th June 2015 and Laurencekirk Medical Centre at 10am on Friday 19th June. The walk should last for 30 minutes.
Reader’s Day
Love reading, love tea, love cakes
Meet the authors and enjoy home bakes 
Join us in Mearns Community Library on Saturday 27th June, 1.00pm – 4.30pm, for afternoon tea, cakes and authors and share your love of reading with like-minded others.
Supported by Scottish Book Trust, we are delighted to welcome 3 Scottish authors who will talk to you about their work.
The afternoon will be very informal with tea and ‘fine pieces’ on offer and during three 40 minute sessions, you will have the opportunity to meet all our authors and mingle with other readers.
Take part in our quiz, buy books by the authors. Bring along a book you have read that you think others would enjoy and add it to the BookSwap table. Read the rest of this entry »
Volunteer this Summer
Now the long summer holidays are approaching you may be looking for something to do or something for the kids to do. Have you ever considered volunteering?
Maybe you’re just looking for something to do for a few hours a week or possibly you have more time to spare and are looking for something to do with the family and kids over the school holidays. Then perhaps volunteering is something to consider.
Whether it’s helping out at the local youth club over the summer holidays, or at the local animal shelter or just helping the old lady next door with her shopping, the benefits of volunteering are many.
Volunteering is something a person does in their own time, without pay or compulsion, and which is for the benefit of the community, the environment or other people outside their immediate family. Read the rest of this entry »
Awards for Volunteering
Continuing to focus on Volunteers, find out more about an inspirational programme for young volunteers…
This award is available for young people from Primary School up to the age of 15 years. Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action’s role is to support schools in the local development of the award, and they will provide administrative support to facilitate the recording of pupil’s achievements and issuing certificates. 
The Saltire Award is a national programme for young people between 12 and 25 years old designed to recognise achievements in volunteering and has been administered by Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action since early 2012.
There are 4 sections to the awards, Challenge, Approach, Ascent and Summit
The Award is designed to give young people an experience of volunteering as part of a team and is the ideal introduction to volunteering for young volunteers and is about discovering more about themselves, others and the community. It is designed to encourage a regular commitment to volunteering but in realistic, bit sized chunks. Read the rest of this entry »
How Can I Volunteer ?
Do you want to help the world or your community? Do you want to build your own skills, make new friends, and learn? Do you love what you do? Do you want to share your gifts with others or give something back? Examining these sorts of questions can help you to choose the right direction for your volunteer work. 
Every day there are thousands of people making a difference in all sorts of ways, but they don’t get paid. They are benefiting their communities and also themselves. They are volunteers!
No-one will ask you to sign a contract or commit yourself to work or time that doesn’t suit you and you are free to stop volunteering if you wish to. On the other hand organisations will be very grateful for whatever help you are able to give. It is your community and we all contribute to it in whichever way we want. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you Volunteer Friendly?
Continuing our to focus on Volunteer week, we find out a bit about The Volunteer Friendly Award…
The Volunteer Friendly Award is a simple, user-friendly quality standard designed to support, recognise and reward groups who are good at involving volunteers.
There are several groups in the Kincardine and Mearns area working towards the award and the Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action is encouraging other groups to get involved in achieving Volunteer Friendly status
Many essential services in Scotland’s communities are enhanced by volunteers. Volunteering also has a significant social value as it is increasingly being used to give excluded individuals the chance to build their confidence and skills through helping others. It has never been more important for groups to be able to show how good they are at involving and managing their volunteers.
Volunteer Friendly helps you to take a systematic look at what your organisation does and how you do it. It offers a flexible approach which allows your group to work at its own pace, with full support from the Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action. Read the rest of this entry »
Volunteers Week 2015
Volunteers Week is an annual event that takes place between 1st and 7th June.. Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action are planning events all over the area and are encouraging volunteers and voluntary groups to get involved. Make this year special and show your volunteers how valuable they are to your service and do something special for them.
Here are some ideas to think about. Read the rest of this entry »
Raising the bar on safety and security in Aberdeenshire
Entries are now being sought for the 2015 Aberdeenshire Best Bar None awards, a Scottish initiative aimed at combating alcohol related crime.
All licensed premises in the area are encouraged to take part in the scheme to help Aberdeenshire’s night-time economy flourish and keep the public safe whilst enjoying the area’s pubs, bars and clubs.
Administered nationally by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre but run locally, Best Bar None Aberdeenshire is a joint partnership between Aberdeenshire Council, the Scottish Government, Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Belhaven Pubs and the Scottish Licensing Trade Association.
The scheme is helping to create a safer drinking environment across Scotland for everyone involved – the wider community, customers, owners, licensees and bar staff, as well as police, fire and other partner agencies.
It focuses on safety and customer care and gives each licensed venue the opportunity to prove it meets the standard of safety and service set by the government and alcohol industry.
Jenny Wylie, Community Safety Officer, said: “Aberdeenshire has been involved in the Best Bar None scheme since 2007 and we are delighted that it is going ahead again this year.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for premises to demonstrate their dedication in running establishments in a professional, safe and caring manner and for those premises to receive accolade for this.
“The invitations for this year’s scheme have just been distributed and I would urge all premises to get involved so we can continue to make Aberdeenshire a safe place for all.”
K&M Communities 