Badger gates, goat warnings and exciting raffle prizes

Welcome to the latest Wester Ross Round-up. This week the round-up is landing in a record 760 inboxes. If this is your first newsletter, welcome 👋.

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🎫 The Gairloch High School annual bring and buy sale takes place this Saturday from 10am. Some excellent raffle prizes have been confirmed to tempt you in. They include: vouchers for The Screen Machine , Landmark Forest Adventure Park, The Doll's House Hairdresser (Gairloch), Black Pearl Creole Kitchen and Kenneth Morrison Butchers, plus a hamper from Links Cafe and Salmon courtesy of Loch Torridon Smokehouse.

🚾 After a well attended public meeting this week, Wester Loch Ewe Trust have reportedly agreed to take on the somwhat limited funding available from Highland Council to re-open the Poolewe public toilets. The cash is unlikely to cover the full operating costs and Wester Loch Ewe Community Council say the Trust will have to rely on volunteers to run the toilets - which will include cleaning, maintenance and fundraising for any cash shortfall.

👗 The Lochbroom and Ullapool Community Trust have announced the date of their next "Re-love Clothing Fair." It will take place on March 14 and 15 in Ullapool Village Hall. More details here.

🏷️ The organisers of the Torridon Thursday Markets have announced their dates for 2025 in a social media flyer.

🎁 Gairloch Pharmacy have said they are interested in stocking more local products. If you can supply something they might want to sell a Facebook post invites you to either visit the pharmacy or give them a call on 01445 712840.

🧹 Turning to local jobs - Gairloch High School is looking to hire a part-time cleaner, and there is also a cleaning job available at Poolewe Primary School too.

🍲 GALE is advertising for a Kitchen Porter and a General Assistant.

🚁 The Torridon Partnership is advertising for a drone surveying trainer.

🌲 And Kinder Croft has a part time job opening for a group support worker as well.

🐐 The wild goats around Dundonnell make an appearance in Issue 4 of the Gairloch and District Times (out in the shops today!). Video of their new born kids has also been posted to local social media - with a warning to drivers to be on the look out for them, as they are often close to the roadside.

🚗 Drivers will also want to note that there is extensive resurfacing work planned on the A835 between Loch Glascarnoch and Loch Droma starting on Monday 3 March. Details on the BEAR website. BT may also be digging up the B8021 in Gairloch between the A832 Junction to the Glebe Park Junction. The BT works are set to start on March 4 and last up to three days.

📜 UHI North West and Highlands have teamed up with Gairloch Museum to offer a short course called: Discovering the past: introduction to genealogy and local history Gairloch. It kicks off on April 24 and places can be booked here.

💷 Highlands and Islands Enterprise are looking for small and medium sized food busineses interested in getting help to cut their carbon emissions. More details on their website.

🏃‍♀️ A 29-year-old woman from Edinburgh has announced plans to become the first documented woman to run the entire length of the NC500, and she plans to beat the current record time (that was set by a man) to boot. To do it, she plans to run nearly 100 miles per day for six days. You can read more on the Edinburgh Live website and sponsor her here.

🐑 Scottish farmers are being urged to be on the look out for new livestock viruses that have never been seen in the country before. They include the Schmallenberg virus, and a new strain of Blue Tongue. According to a BBC report the changing climate means Scotland is becoming more exposed to diseases previously reserved to warmer areas.

🪶 High Life Highland rangers have written a two part blog looking at the plight of the Starling. Once very common - the birds are now surprisingly rare. The second part of the blog looks at what action you can take to help.

🦡 Speaking of helping wildlife, local fencing firm Wotherspoon Fencing are credited by Applecross Community Company with the creation of these "cute" badger gates, designed to let badgers get through deer fences. Now that the deer fence is up a community tree planting day is planned on March 8.

🏠 Scottish Government Housing minister Paul McLennan has launched a Highland tenants’ rights campaign, with a press release claiming that the 8702 private tenants in the Highlands have "some of the strongest rights in the UK." The Inverness Courier covers it here. Cynics may note that McLennan's new campaign is timed just a few weeks before March 31, when Scottish Government measures that restrict landlord rent rises are also due to come to an end. The latter move was described by the Scottish Landlord Association as "a surprising and very welcome announcement."

🏘️ Whilst we're on the subject of affordable housing, community group members with an interest in developing more rural housing may be interested in a webinar being put on by the Scottish Land Commission on March 19. The event Land for rural housing: Supporting the delivery of new rural homes is free to attend but you need to register.

🔌 If rural energy policy is more your thing, then you might be interested to join this free webinar being put on by the Royal Society of Edinburgh on March 13.

And lastly, a video has appeared of people playing the Gamelan at Poolewe Hall in April last year.

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