Snow disruption, Biosphere crowdfunder, Kinlochewe school sale

Welcome once again to another Wester Ross Round-up. We hope you are warm and cosy wherever you read this. It's got a bit chilly out hasn't it? This week the newsletter is going out to 1077 subscribers.

As ever, we're grateful to all our readers helping us to spread the word about our community newsletter. If you've just found out about this newsletter you can tap the button below to sign up. It's free!

❄️ The cold snap disrupted events and services this week in Wester Ross. Gairloch schools were closed on Wednesday due to poor road conditions in the area, Poolewe Swimming Pool and the tearoom at Inverasdale Old Schoolhouse were also forced to shut. At about 15:00 the A832 was closed at Kerry Falls after a lorry got into trouble there, completely blocking the single track road for around an hour.

The Met Office yellow weather warning for snow and ice is set to run until 21:00 tonight, so further disruptions may be on the cards. Be careful out there! More: Met Office

It is currently planned that Gairloch Schools will open one hour later than usual for all pupils on Thursday, pending a further weather and roads assessment. At the time of writing, Bualnaluib Primary School is expected to open as usual at the normal time on Thursday, however this too is weather dependant. You can check whether your local school is open or closed at this link: Highland Council

Other events that we know have been affected by the weather:

• Torridon Christmas Market was due to go ahead today, Thursday November 20, but it has been cancelled. New date tbc. More: Facebook
• The author talk with Suzanne Parsons that was also scheduled for today has been rescheduled to 14:00, November 27, at Kinlochewe Village Hall. More: Facebook
• Highland Council say recycling and bin collection may be affected. If your collection has been missed, the advice is to leave your bin out and they'll get to it when they can.

Thanks also to everyone who sent us their snowy Wester Ross photos on Facebook, including Pi Art Photography who took this week's cover photo.

🆘 Away from the weather, Dark Skies Festival organiser Wester Ross Biosphere has launched a £59k crowdfunding campaign. The team there "is at risk," if the organisation can't raise short-term support. More: Crowdfunder.

🏫 The former primary school at Kinlochewe has been put up for sale for offers of around £125,000. More: Highland Council

🌺 Gwynedd and Robert Baxter have thanked everyone who donated to the Gairloch and Kinlochewe Poppy Appeal this year. People in the area donated a total of £582.97, with more still to come in from online donations. A figure that, "already reflects the tremendous generosity and kindness of our area. Thank you."

🐟 Tesco has suspended sales from a Torridon fish farm operated by Bakkafrost after an animal welfare campaign group released footage from the farm showing fish being kept in very poor conditions. RSPCA Assured – who certify welfare standards at fish farms – are said to be investigating too. More: BBC

👗 Ullapool Unpacked CIC have released details of how you can sell your unwanted clothing at their next Re-Love Clothing Fair on December 5 & 6. More: Facebook

🎶 On December 7, from 14:00, Sing Loch Ewe will be performing some Christmas Carols at the Jam Jar in the Aultbea Hotel. More: Facebook

🎄 GALE have put together an ever growing events diary of everything that's happening in The Shieling in the run up to Christmas. More: Facebook

🍗 If you will be home alone on Christmas Day in the Lochcarron area, then you are invited to a special festive gathering in The Lochcarron Centre. More details in the flyer below. Also a "good neighbours" Christmas Party is planned in the Lochcarron Village Hall for people age 65 and older on December 6. More details on that event: Facebook

🦦 On December 13, there is a "tracks and signs" event at Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve, where you can learn how to identify animal tracks and signs from an expert. There's a morning session and an afternoon one. More: Eventbrite (am session) and Eventbrite (pm session)

🏦 With Gairloch about to lose its Bank of Scotland branch in the new year, it may be handy to know that there is a weekly "community banker" service in Ullapool where you can get face to face help from a human being. The service is available on a Wednesday in the MacPhail Centre. More: Bank of Scotland

🎭 Speaking of the MacPhail Centre, Highlife Highland are hiring relief customer service workers for the venue. More: Highlife Highland

💷 Meanwhile, MP Jamie Stone is proposing a change in the law to force banks to maintain access to banking services – currently they must only provide access to cash services – following the latest round of Bank of Scotland closures. He raised the issue with Keir Starmer in Westminster recently. More: Hector MacKenzie | Ross-Shire Journal (£)

💻 Loch Ewe Community Enterprise (LECE) have a new website, and they've posted a progress update to it. A first AGM is planned in the new year. More: LECE

🪨 Jim Buchanan has added a new place to his website, where he posts the results of surveys of "piles of stones in the middle of nowhere" that usually turn out to be of historical interest. The latest addition is an area to the west of Loch Bad an Sgalaig. More: Pile of Stones

📺 BBC Alba has stopped short of confirming for certain that a second series of hit Gaelic crime series An t-Eilean will definitely go ahead, but it certainly sounds like another series is on the cards. More: BBC Alba

🚜 Following criticism that crofters had been ignored during the first awards of the Future Farming Investment Scheme, Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie has announced this week that a further 122 offers of grant are to be made, "mainly to crofting and island" businesses. More: Scottish Government

💉 The NHS recently issued a national alert for this year’s flu season, warning that it could be the most severe in the past ten years. Highlands MSP Maree Todd is urging locals to get their flu jab. She said: “Flu can be serious, especially for older people and those with underlying conditions. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and our NHS." Gairloch Pharmacy can administer flu jabs, with both NHS-funded free ones and paid options. More: John Davidson | Ross-Shire Journal (£)

🐾 First Minister John Swinney may already have ruled it out, but another Highlands MSP, Ariane Burgess, has sought to amend a law passing through Holyrood to enable the legal reintroduction of Lynx in Scotland. More: Kate Fisher | Scottish Farmer

🌳 Her intervention follows the launch of a £3.6m fundraising campaign by Trees for Life, which seeks to reintroduce the "missing species" of lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and modern-day aurochs – to the Scottish Highlands. More: Trees for Life.

⚡Highland People's Power are calling on locals to write their MP to ask them to support an early day motion in Westminster calling for the government to make it easier for community energy groups to sell the power they generate. More: Facebook

✔️ An essential part of the Western Isles HVDC subsea power project that will link the Western Isles to the mainland via Dundonnell got the green light this week. A huge new "energy hub" was given planning permission in principle on Lewis. More: BBC

🚫 And local MP Angus MacDonald has apologised after he used the term "coloured people" in a Channel 4 News interview about proposals to house asylum seekers in Inverness. He has pledged to go on a diversity and inclusion training course and said: "I can't think of anyone less racist than me." More: Kathryn Samson | Channel 4 News

🛤️ And lastly, Network Rail Scotland have released a short film explaining what they got up to when they closed the Kyle Line for three weeks.