Ceilidh lined up to celebrate sustainable group Transition Black Isle's decade of achievements
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A CELEBRATION of a decade of achievements by a Black Isle group keen to encourage sustainable lifestyles will be celebrated with a ceilidh this week.
Ten years ago, a group of environmentally-concerned locals got together at the Glachbeg Croft Education Centre near Munlochy to form a new group taking action on climate change and resource depletion.
The group which became Transition Black Isle, or TBI for short, now runs a wide range of food- and growing-related activities, including three of the Black Isle’s community markets, the Grow North programme of practical gardening and craft workshops, and the hugely popular Potato Day held each spring in North Kessock.
In recent years the group has added a seed swap, encouraging local growers to save seed from their produce, and spreading some more unusual heritage varieties, many of which are no longer commercially available. It also has a community apple press which is just coming out of its summer storage – and last year produced over 1000 litres of juice from fruit that would otherwise have gone to waste.
In addition to all this food and growing activity, TBI also ran the three-year “Million Miles” project between 2012 and 2015, with the object of reducing Black Isle residents’ car use by one per cent - or a million miles per year.
The legacy from that project includes an Active Travel map of the Black Isle, recommended cycle routes in the area, and a bike hire business now operated by the Cheese House in Cromarty.
The Highland Liftshare website set up by the Million Miles team has now been adopted by Hitrans, and rebranded Hitravel. Sticking with the low-carbon travel theme, TBI is currently investigating the possibility of a cycle route between Avoch and Munlochy, to avoid the busy main road.
Over the years there has also been a range of events focussing on energy issues, including the “Greening Homes and Gardens” open days which were later adopted across Scotland by the Energy Saving Trust.
And from time to time there have been film shows and talks, with a new programme of films with an environmental theme running at the Muir Hub over the coming winter.
The voluntary group is now taking time out to celebrate some of those achievements as it looks to the future.
Martin Sherring, one of the directors, said: " “Birthdays are a great time to look back on previous glories, but also to look forward to all the things still to be done. It’s also good to realise that we aren’t acting on our own here – and ours is just one of a host of events all over Europe celebrating the European Day of Sustainable Communities. We’d love to invite anyone to come and join us at the ceilidh”.
It takes place at Resolis Memorial Hall on Friday evening.
Tickets are £12 for adults, £8 for concessions and children, and include a buffet and dancing to the Astar Youth Ceilidh Band. The fun will start at 7pm.
Contact Martin at martin@pennyandmartin.co.uk to reserve tickets.
