SECURING a brand new playpark was anything but child's play for a determined group of campaigners on the Black Isle.
It took three years of hard fundraising and single-minded determination to jump through all the necessary hoops until the mission was accomplished. That's why the opening of a new kids' play area in Avoch is something worth celebrating and, perhaps, an example worth studying by communities which find themselves in a similar predicament.
Despite much official hand-wringing over the need for children to become more active to stave off the growing obesity epidemic, it often remains remarkably difficult to get the most apparently straightforward, non-controversial schemes off the drawing board. Securing a funding package in these austere times is seldom a walk in the park. Some groups become so despondent over their prospects that they give up before they've really got started. However the Avoch case proves once again that it IS there for the taking if those seeking it out are sufficiently determined and suitably painstaking in applying for it.
Ross-shire communities have pulled off countless impressive voluntary fundraising efforts when the going gets tough. Ullapool and its cherished, if somewhat ill-fated, community swimming pool comes to mind. Seldom is this enough when the eyes are on big (expensive) prizes. As observed in our report this week, these efforts invariably need a steely individual to drive them forward across all the obstacles. Astute form fillers aware of some of the bureaucratic pitfalls to avoid and the boxes which need ticked are also a pretty handy asset.
The big plus for Avoch is that the effort has brought together people who share a common goal and engendered a real sense of community ownership for the park. Campaigners pressing for play facilities in an area of Tain have already been urged to band together to help make it happen. They might also do well to make contact with their Black Isle counterparts for some invaluable pointers.
A £12 driving lesson with a difference could be well worth the investment this weekend if energy campaigners flying the flag for a new initiative have got their sums right.
The Energy Saving Trust reckons a motorist could save a whopping £300 a year on fuel simply by following some fairly straightforward driving tips. Sure, we all know that driving slower uses less fuel. That doesn't prevent many of us breaking the speed limit on a daily basis to get somewhere many of us would rather not be travelling to in the first place work! Truly we are creatures of habit.
Some of the other tips outlined in the Journal today are perhaps less obvious though just as simple. If it's true that the average household also wastes £400 worth of perfectly good food each year another issue being put under the spotlight this weekend then the numbers do seriously start to stack up. Those of us untroubled by the 50p top rate of income tax currently being agonised over in political circles could doubtless find more productive ways to spend the £700 a year that could be freed up by changing our ways. Food for thought anyway!
