Aberdeenshire
Early Years Speed Networking Event
Calling anyone working with or with the remit to work with pre-birth to eight and their families in the Mearns area!
Come along to 
our Speed Dating style Networking Event on Thursday 9th June from 2pm to 3.30pm at Mearns Community Campus.
Speed networking is a fantastic way to meet a lot of people in a short period of time. The speed networking format is similar to ‘speed dating’ but you will get a chance to make contacts with other organisations, find out more about the Early Years Forum, share your story and hear of the successes and challenges from others. Share ideas, support each other and find new ways of working together.
This is a free event. Refreshments are provided.
Please bring along any promotional material you wish to share.
WHEN
Thursday, 9 June 2016 from 14:00 to 15:30
WHERE
Mearns Community Campus, GP3, – Aberdeen Road Laurencekirk AB30 1ZJ
To book your place visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/early-years-speed-networking-event-tickets-20808571999
PORTLETHEN COMMUNITY WOODLAND MANAGEMENT EVENINGS
Over the summer months Portlethen Moss Conservation
Group organise woodland management sessions at the
community woodland. Usually on a Wednesday evening
once a month from May to September. Come along
and join in with a little light exercise, socialise and get
involved in caring for your local wildlife site. 
MEET: at Portlethen Community Woodland
For dates and times and some fabulous photos please
visit the group’s Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/
portlethenmoss
Push The Boat Out
Marketing Volunteer/s Wanted for “Pushing Out the Boat” Literary Magazine
Do you have sales or marketing skills? Do you enjoy literature and art?
If you answered “yes” to BOTH of these questions you might be able to help.“Pushing out the Boat”
– North-East Scotland’s magazine of new writing and visual arts needs to raise its profile and
increase the circulation. To find out more about it, go to
http://www.pushingouttheboat.co.uk
They need short-term marketing assistance as well as more permanent help.
Ideally, tasks could include: identify new ways of raising their profile; update the sales pitch
on the website; issue press releases, improve use of social media; organise events;
securing new sales outlets; and any other ideas.
They have volunteers in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus, all working from home;
and they meet as required and at monthly Committees (usually in Ferryhill, Aberdeen).
To find out more about this volunteering opportunity contact Freda Hasler at:
coordinator@pushingouttheboat.co.uk
Volunteers needed to help blind people get online
RNIB wants those with a couple of spare hours a month to visit a blind person
in their local area to help them use the internet. RNIB is looking to recruit
volunteers for its Online Today project which aims to help 125,000
people with sensory loss across the UK get online.
Volunteers are required to commit a few hours a month to visit blind and partially sighted
people in their own homes and help them develop digital skills like browsing
the internet, sending emails, and using an e-reader.
Since its launch in 2015, Online Today events throughout the UK have helped thousands
of people with sight and hearing loss get online.
For more information about volunteering for Online Today go to: www.rnib.org.uk/onlinevolunteer
Tesco Bags of Help Greenspace Funding
Do you know a greenspace project in Aberdeenshire Council that would benefit from funding? Local authorities, community groups and organisations can all apply for Tesco Bags of Help funding!
The second round of Tesco Bags of Help is open from 18 April. Bags of Help is available to a wide range of community groups, local authorities and organisations across England, Wales and Scotland and they can apply for grants to improve local green spaces. Successful projects will go forward to a public vote in Tesco stores which will decide whether they receive a grant of £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000. Projects that will get the green light as a result of funding will include new pocket parks, sports facilities, schools, woodland walks and community gardens.
Bags of Help is administered by Groundwork, working in Scotland with greenspace scotland, and funded by Tesco customers from the proceeds of the 5p charge for plastic carrier bags. It will fund projects that benefit communities by physically improving open and greenspaces that do not charge for access. Groundwork anticipate grants being awarded to 144 successful groups across Scotland in November 2016
Full eligibility criteria and detailed application guidance is available online here http://bit.ly/bagsofhelp2.
Good luck and get going as this funding round closes on Fri 3 June 2016.
Are a good listener and communicator?
NHS Grampian is looking for two people to
join its Board as non-executive members
If you are a good listener and communicator and can analyse and review complex issues, you could
be one of the people NHS Grampian are looking for. Anyone with the essential skills to make
a contribution to the Board, as detailed in the application pack, is encouraged to apply.
An application pack and full details can be found at:
www.appointed-for-scotland.org and by clicking on “search vacancies” on the left
hand side. Closing date for applications is Friday 15th April 2016.
Special Landscape Areas
Aberdeenshire is renowned for its landscapes and scenic value. Therefore, it is important that we conserve, and where possible enhance landscapes, and to manage landscape
change over time to protect against development which might impact on our landscape, sense of place and quality of life.
In Aberdeenshire ten Special Landscape Areas have been identified. Special Landscape Areas (SLAs) are a local landscapes that exhibit particular qualities and characteristics within them that are valued locally. If you would like to know more about these landscapes – where they are, why they have been chosen, or would like to comment please visit ; https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/ldp
WILD WET AND WONDERFUL
![ranger_logo[1]](https://kandmcommunities.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ranger_logo1.gif?w=705){kind=logo}
Friday 15th April 7.00 – 8.00pm
Join the Ranger for a fun evening finding and recording
the underwater life on the Moss and discover who
finds this wetland the place to be. Children must be
accompanied. Booking essential.
MEET: at the Bruntland Road entrance to Portlethen
Moss
CONTACT: the Kincardine and Mearns Ranger on 01569
768292, kincardineandmearns.ranger@aberdeenshire.
gov.uk
The Land Based Sector – Facing the Future Report
A study detailing the challenges and opportunities facing the NE land based sector has been published. The research was conducted by Peter Cook and supported by Aberdeenshire, Angus and Moray Councils, Forestry Commission Scotland, ScotEnt and HIE. To view the report visit: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/business/support-and-advice/industry-sectors/agriculture-and-rural-development/facing-the-future/
Key recommendations for action by public bodies include; supporting rural trainee development, the creation of an Agri-Food Hub, rejuvenation of KT infrastructure, an agri-tourism/food tourism strategy, building the local food brand and wider rural sector through the City Region Deal and Opportunity North East.
Tesco “Bags of Help”
Applications for the Tesco “Bags of Help” fund open on Monday 18th April. “Bags of Help” is funded by Tesco customers from the proceeds of the 5p carrier bag charge and administered by Groundworks and Greenspace Scotland. The scheme is open to community groups to apply for grants of £8,000, £10,000 and £12,000 to improve local greenspaces, e.g. pocket parks, sports facilities, schools, wildlife areas, seafront improvements and community gardens. Tesco customers will be able to cast their vote on which shortlisted local project they would like to see receive the grant from 1 October 2016. For more info and to submit your project visit: http://www.groundwork.org.uk/Sites/tescocommunityscheme
K&M Communities 