Category: Rural Wisdom Scotland

Older person looking at a mobile phone

Rural Wisdom: How older people in rural communities are responding to the pandemic
By Categories: Burghead, Hopeman and Cummingston, Eaglesham and Waterfoot, Highland Perthshire, Holywell, Leeswood and Pontblyddyn, Living well, Milford Haven, National policies, North Angus, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Rural Wisdom Wales, Scottish Borders, The Dale Peninsula

Rural Wisdom is a joint project between Outside the Box, Volunteering Matters Cymru and the National Development Team for inclusion. It is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. It began in 2017 now operates in nine different communities across Scotland and Wales. We work with older people in rural communities to support community action…

Rural Housing Conference 2020 at Birnam Arts and Conference Centre
By Categories: Burghead, Hopeman and Cummingston, Highland Perthshire, Housing & fuel poverty, Older people having a voice & leading change, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Shared learning

by Fi Thomson, Rural Wisdom Community Worker, Moray Housing in Rural Scotland is a complex problem. Key issues such as land ownership, demographics and depopulation, holiday houses and tourism, rural enterprise and affordability were all discussed at this conference in the lovely surroundings in Birnam.   The attendees included journalist and broadcaster, Lesley Riddoch whose talk was aptly named ‘Not Doomed…

Change is coming… Scottish Rural Action Conference
By Categories: Burghead, Hopeman and Cummingston, Older people having a voice & leading change, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Shared learning

By: Joan Megson, Community Activist Change is coming. How should Scotland’s rural communities, businesses, organisations and people respond? I went to the Scottish Rural Action Conference to find out more. The location of the conference, the Lanark World Heritage Centre set the tone of what we were to focus on well. The questions posed were;…

Exploring alternative energy and fuel poverty in Moray
By Categories: Burghead, Hopeman and Cummingston, Housing & fuel poverty, National policies, Rural Wisdom Scotland

by Fi Thomson, community worker in Moray One of the first community meetings I went to was a get together to discuss Burghead, Cummingston and Hopeman becoming less reliant on oil and electricity and maybe even producing their own energy. There was interest in renewable and energy and the idea of a development trust to implement it, but it…

Rural Wisdom Evaluation Key findings, January 2020
By Categories: Eaglesham and Waterfoot, Highland Perthshire, Leeswood and Pontblyddyn, Milford Haven, National policies, North Angus, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Rural Wisdom Wales, Shared learning

The National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTI) are the appointed evaluation partners of the Rural Wisdom project. Following their visits and research, they have now published their key findings fo far, along with a number of case studies that highlight the varied and interesting work of the project: Rural Wisdom Evaluation Key findings, January 2020…

Rural Wisdom 2020 News
By Categories: Burghead, Hopeman and Cummingston, Eaglesham and Waterfoot, Highland Perthshire, Holywell, Leeswood and Pontblyddyn, Milford Haven, North Angus, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Rural Wisdom Wales, Scottish Borders, Shared learning, The Dale Peninsula

In this issue, we celebrate some of the initiatives, projects, events and ideas set up with older people in rural communities. Download the PDF version here In October, community members and workers from Scotland and Wales came together to discuss Rural Wisdom. It was a chance to take stock and reflect on all the successes…

Scottish Borders Transport – Transport & Medical Appointments
By Categories: Active & connected, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Scottish Borders, Support that older people want, Transport

The final area we looked at during the event in Duns was issues around transport to and from medical appointments.   Issues raised Travel time and/or access to transport is not taken into account when appointments are being scheduled. It also feels like those who are making the appointments have limited local knowledge of how…

Scottish Borders Transport – Bus Connections & Timetabling
By Categories: Active & connected, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Scottish Borders, Transport

This is the 2nd blog from the Duns Transport event back in November, which looks at the Bus Connections and timetabling issues discussed. Issues raised The group had experienced many issues around bus connections and timetabling.  Below is what we heard. It is common for the buses not to connect for onward journeys to destinations….
Borders Bus

Scottish Borders Transport -Connecting Villages & Towns
By Categories: Active & connected, Older people having a voice & leading change, Rural Wisdom Scotland, Scottish Borders, Transport

Last month we were in Duns to talk about transport issues in the area. The Royal Voluntary Service and Living Streets came along to talk about the work they have been doing in the Borders. Four main themes came through from the discussions: Issues around connecting villages & towns through public transport Issues around pavements…