community

Everyone has something to share….

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Many people in our communities struggle to feel included and appreciated as an individual.  Shared Lives offers people the chance to contribute to real friendships and become active, valued citizens with a sense of belonging and  confidence in themselves.   caring

Throughout Aberdeenshire we have Shared Lives Carers who share their home and  community with someone with a disability.  This could be for a few hours or a few days as a  short break.  Shared Lives is a flexible, personal partnership between two families.

Shared Lives Carers and those they support are carefully matched for compatibility and shared interests.  For the relationship to be successful and valued, time needs to be taken to make an appropriate match. Read the rest of this entry »

Shared Lives – Fiona’s story……

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Shared Lives

 

 

 

I read about Shared Lives a few years ago and Sue came out and spoke to my parents and I about it.   She told us that I would get 1-1 support from a Shared Lives Carer in the carer’s home.  I like the idea that the Shared Lives team would get to know me and match me with a Shared Lives Carer who shares my interests.  This means that we got on from the start and can share things we both enjoy.

I am matched with two Shared Lives Carers.  My Shared Lives Carer, Dot, offers day support.  Dot has given me the opportunity to be part a different community which I really appreciate.  Dot and I go to the local library.  Sometimes we go swimming which I feel gives me a chance to relax and I get to try out and feel comfortable in a different pool.  We have been to Castle Fraser and Drum Castle.  I like going for a walk in the castle grounds and we went to the plant sales.  This began my interest in gardening.  We now visit garden centres together and choose plants for the garden. Read the rest of this entry »

Small grants available to improve the local environment

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Keep Scotland Beautiful has announced that its Community Grants scheme is open for applications. Tesco-pictures

 Using proceeds from the single use carrier bag charge collected by Tesco, local community  groups can apply for grants of £250 to make small improvements to their local  environment. The type of organisations eligible to apply include:

• Local neighbourhood/ friendship groups
• Local volunteer groups
• Not for profit organisations and groups.

The funding can be used for items that help improve the local environment. This can include:
• Litter picking equipment
• Timber to create fencing
• Compost
• Bulbs
• Refreshments to celebrate a community project
• Fruit trees
• Pond material
• Through to paying volunteer expenses; etc.     

You can apply online and the closing date for applications is the 15th December 2015.

caring/ˈkɛːrɪŋ/

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 Do You Care???

adjective – displaying kindness and concern for others.

noun – the work or practice of looking after those unable to care for themselves, especially on account of age or illness.

December in K & M Communities is Caring month.

We’ve all had to care at some point in in our lives, haven’t we?sick dog

Babies, children, grandparents or even the family dog!       

Caring is such an important part of life. It’s simply part of being human. Carers are holding families together, enabling loved ones to get the most out of life, making an enormous contribution to society and saving the economy billions of pounds.

Yet many of us are stretched to the limit – juggling care with work and family life, or even struggling with poor health ourselves. We often find it difficult to make ends meet if we’re unable to work or if we’ve reduced our working hours to care.

December in K & M Communities is Caring month. Read the rest of this entry »

Memories from Local Councillors – Alison Evison

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With our focus on reminiscing this month what better way to introduce you to some of the people work hard in our area than by asking them about their memories of childhood . In the second installment, we asked Councillor Alison Evison for some of her childhood memories.

AlisonChild

Who taught you to cook? What are your memories of this?

My mother had a very large “Good Housekeeping” cookery book which she had received as a wedding present – that book was consulted regularly by all of us as a “fount of cookery knowledge.” Read the rest of this entry »

Memories of Another Befriender . . .

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Like yesterday, today we have some reflections from one of Kincardine & Deeside Befriending’s befrienders.  Read Marilyn’s thoughts about reminiscing and sharing memories as we get older . . .

Childhood MemoriesHands  Read the rest of this entry »

Not Everyone’s Cup Of Tea…….

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Trish Hughes, Volunteer Befriender with Kincardine & Deeside Befriender spends time with Margaret. Going for walks, shopping or visiting the garden centre.  However, weather-permitting, one thing loved by both is visiting local cemeteries!

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Always Learning – Milltown Community

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Milltown Community – set in the historic village of Arbuthnott, amid the rolling countryside of the Mearns in South Aberdeenshire  is a busy and vibrant place, five residents live in Milltown House, a big old farmhouse and two tenants live in Peesie’s Knapp, a new wooden kit house . Twenty-two more clients come in every week to the Day Workshop.  Read the rest of this entry »

Do good buildings make for better educated children?

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Do good buildings make for better educated children?

Buildings can’t get children through Highers, or enthuse them with literature in the style of Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. They can’t galvanise a school football team to achieve unimagined success. But they can make a huge difference to teachers’ abilities to bring such things about.

o-ABANDONED-PLACES-facebook It’s relatively easy to show how much harm bad buildings can do. The wrong kinds of      corridors can create havens for bullying. Tatty, dysfunctional structures can demotivate  and demoralise. A leaking roof, undersized classrooms, or poor heating put direct  obstacles in the way of a school’s success. Physical environment that shows no sign of  care or pride can communicate the same lack to the people who use it. Read the rest of this entry »

Go for Gold, Dance with Me and Take the Challenge

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Eva three step, tap dancing and line dancing – do you have experience in any of these dances?  Join the Dance With Me Challenge 2014 to give them a go! If you don’t know them you can just make up your own dance!

Go for Gold Challenge – what is it all about?

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More opportunities for SPORT in Portlethen

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Guest blog by Sandy McLaughlin, Chairman/Coach for Portlethen Sports Club Sandy McLaughlin

Portlethen & District Sports Trust are a newly formed group within Portlethen & the Districts which will hopefully serve the community with sporting facilities to cover the community’s needs. The trust is already in talks with Aberdeenshire council regarding looking after an area of land in the Hillside area of Portlethen which will cater for a wide range of sports and give the people in the community a sporting area to be proud of.

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