New Meet and Eat Club and museum exhibition launch

👋 Hello and welcome once again to the latest edition of the Wester Ross Round-up. This free newsletter aims to put all the latest Wester Ross news in one place so you don't need to rake through millions of social media feeds to find out what's happening locally.

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🍲 What's the first rule of Meet and Eat Club? We don't know really know but we imagine it involves soup. At the Loch Torridon Community Centre Meet and Eat Club will run on third Tuesday of every month from 12:oo to 14:30, right through to November. More details in the flyer below.

💷 The Loch Torridon Community Centre is also looking to raise some cash to pay for repairs and upgrades. The management committee say they need £25K and you can pitch in on their GoFundMe page.

🎲 There's going to be sale of board games, lego, toys and children's clothes this weekend on February 15, 11:00 - 15:00pm at the Gairloch Community Hall. Funds raised will got to the Highland Hospice. There's a flyer on Facebook.

🪴 On February 22 artist Mandy McIntosh is holding an open studio day at Clae Studios on Harbour Road, Gairloch. Find out more on her website.

🧑‍🎨 There's a new exhibition opening at Gairloch Museum with art from Wester Ross artist Carol Cocks and Edinburgh-based artist Blake Milteer. They will introduce their work at 12pm on March 1 at the Grand Opening event.

The events listed here are just extra ones that didn't make it into the What's On? listings in Issue 3 of the G&DT. Digital subscribers can download it now, or if you prefer to buy a paper copy it should be availalable from these tremendous local shops today. In other news...

📸 Thanks to everyone who shared their sunny Wester Ross photos on our Facebook Page. Patricia Ellis-Reidie shared the photo at the top of this post, and Jen Pickering and Chloe Hall took these ones. If you've taken any photos that you'd like us to share you can send them to us here.

👨‍🍳 As Strathburn House gears up to re-open, NHS Highland are advertising for a cook to work at the Gairloch care home.

🏘️ The Scottish Land Commission has called for public bodies to take a much more proactive approach to sourcing land for new rural housing in a new report. Local Councillor Liz Kraft described the report as 'good news' on her Facebook page.

🏠 Council tenants will need to budget for an 8% rent rise, the local authority has confirmed.

🎻 Congratulations to traditional music and Gaelic language project Fèis Rois as they were among the first projects awarded funding from SSEN Transmission’s regional community benefit fund. The group received £181,638. Adults who want to learn more about traditional music and song may be interested to learn bookings are open for Fèis Rois nan Inbheach 2025. The residential event is set to take place in Ullapool on May 2nd-5th.

📚 56 lost Gaelic documents of 'major signifcance' containing poetry, sermons, songs and previously unknown works have been found and returned to the National Library of Scotland.

🚗 Highland Council have not backed Scottish Government proposals to cut the national speed limit on single carriageway roads to 50mph for cars, but councillors do support raising the speed limit for lorries to 50mph. In a report by Inverness Courier Journalist Scott MacLennan, Cllr Gowans said: "Considering the significant road network and the geographic spread of the Highland Council area, we felt that these proposals to reduce the national speed limit could have a significant impact on the daily lives of people in terms of journey time."

🐟 According to a press release from Scottish Salmon, the value of UK Salmon exports rose by 45% to £844m last year. Salmon is the most valuable UK food export with most sold to France. Should you be wondering, the UK's second most valuable food export is cheddar cheese, of which £530m was exported.

🧒 If you have a young child born between August 19 2020 and February 28 2023 then today is your last day to register with the council for a funded early learning and childcare place.

🚣 And lastly, here's a video of the Gairloch Coastal Rowing Club taking advantage of the recent sunny weather (which may feature one or two people involved in the Gairloch and District Times).

The Wester Ross Round-up is produced by the Gairloch and District Times. If you found it useful please do consider signing up for digital subscription. The G&DT is a local charity and every single penny we raise from our digital subscribers is spent on keeping the paper going.