Pitlochry Partnership News
Pitlochry Partnership report on the first year’s activities with much more information detailing the achievements and membership benefits.
To down load your Pitlochry Partnership Membership Pack
September 2008
When the Partnership was established, we always aimed to develop our role in supporting community activities. One of the ways we have tried to do this is by providing the services of a paid co-ordinator, Dennys Campbell, and we have had a good record of raising funds from outside to make our members’ subscriptions go further and further.
The committee realised that, to carry out our plans for the future, we needed now to try to raise the bar a bit. We had to find financial support that would allow us to enhance our paid support and extend our services. This wasn’t because the committee was especially trying to do more and more, but because our members and friends in the community were asking us to do more and more!
So, the Partnership applied for funding under the Rural Tayside LEADER scheme to allow us to take the extra step our members and the community were asking for. And we have been successful.
In the middle of August we were told that Pitlochry Partnership has been awarded funding of £21,250, the sum we applied for, for the year starting 1 September. We have to match this sum and plan to do so through in-kind donations of services and facilities by generous supporters and by raising the balance through fees and subscriptions. On the basis of our first years of operation, we are confident of meeting the matching target. This gives us a budget for next year of £42,500 including in-kind support. What a giant step forward for the Partnership and for our support for the whole community of Pitlochry and surrounding area!
- We can now recruit additional part-time staff to work with Dennys, who as many will know has not been well in recent months, but is now returning to his work. We can focus particularly on four strands of activity.
- Already Dennys has been consulting with community members and teams to support potential developments at the Recreation Ground and this work can now be properly taken on.
- Secondly the Partnership, knowing the bad news about the Curling Rink, is now able to work with interested community members to try to develop an upgrade of community leisure facilities, hopefully, if it’s at all possible (which it may not, of course) bringing together curling and other recreational activities in a new community centre.
- Thirdly, we can take forward plans for new training initiatives including a Dragons’ Den (watch this space for more details later) for service providers, both retail and hospitality.
- And we can work with colleagues in other Highland Perthshire tourism associations to co-ordinate appropriate activities across all Highland Perthshire.
We are, of course, very excited by this news and look forward to being able to do even more over the coming year to support the Pitlochry community.
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Programme for visit to Pitlochry and Highland Perthshire by Slovenian Ambassador and Mayor of Bled: 14 and 15 July 2008
The major event in the Partnership programme this month was the visit arranged to Highland
Perthshire by a party of senior figures from Bled in Slovenia. Bled is one of mainland Europe’s major tourist destinations, with a superb website (check it out on Google!) and featured recently in a large spread in the National Geographic Magazine. Set in the Alps, with a focus on outdoor activities, festivals and mountain scenery, Bled looked all over the world and then approached Pitlochry as the most like itself. When the Slovenian Consul in Edinburgh approached the Partnership to see if we could meet to explore possible links and collaboration, we quickly realised that it would be better if all Highland Perthshire, with its different communities, could be included in any discussions.
As a result, on 14 and 15 July the area was visited by a Slovenian party including the Mayor of Bled, Janez Fajfar, Councillor Ales Vukelj and Mrs. Eva Stravs, Head of Bled Tourism. The party also included the Ambassador to Britain, Iztok Mirošič, his wife the Counsellor at the Embassy, Tina Kokalj, the Slovenian Consul to Scotland, Ana Wersun and her husband Alec.
On the Monday, the group started by visiting Dunkeld and meeting representatives of Dunkeld and Birnam Tourism Association, led by Chairman, Ben Notley. They had a walking tour of the old part of town and cathedral. After this they came to Pitlochry where they visited Blair Athol Distillery and had lunch at Pitlochry Festival Theatre with John Durnin, Artistic Director. In the afternoon, they visited Blair Atholl, first viewing Blair Castle and meeting senior staff there, before going to the Watermill and meeting Lin Muirhead, Chairman, Blair Atholl Tourism Association and her colleagues. In the evening there was a reception at Atholl Palace Hotel where John Swinney welcomed the party in the company of members of the Partnership, representatives of the council and community council, local tourist associations and such organisations as Rotary and Pitlochry in Bloom. The next day, the party visited Aberfeldy, seeing the Watermill Bookshop and Art Gallery, the Crannog at Kenmore and visiting the Courtyard for a working lunch.
Of course, it’s still a bit early to know which of the many ideas for links will be taken up most enthusiastically, but the party clearly felt very welcome and a number of people have said what friendly and positive people they are. What is clear is that Bled is not seeking a town twinning in the usual style. Rather it is looking to collaborate in co-operative ways so we can share ideas and maybe develop some in tandem or partnership. Among ideas under consideration are links based round food and drink, outdoor activities of all kinds, Highland Perthshire participation in a choir festival held in Bled and Slovenian friends’ participating in established events like Etape Caledonia. More ideas will come along, of course, but the initial visit has been seen as a success and we hope that as contacts grow so will the opportunities both for businesses and the communities at large to benefit from the new enterprise.
It’s that time of year, by the way, when membership subscriptions are due for renewal. Mark Wood in the Christmas Emporium, our Vice-Chairman, is handling collecting these. Members will have had a membership renewal package, but new members can obtain that either directly from Mark or by an email request either to Mark or me at mew.wood@btinternet.com or ijmbrown@hotmail.com. The major direct and exclusive – membership benefit is, of course, being included on our Google number 1* Pitlochry website. Only members have the right of inclusion there, of course. Other benefits are set out in the package, but include such things as participation in such events as the Slovenian reception and priority for some of the great Pride and Passion events we will be announcing in the next month or two!
