Event in Castletown is part of project to make better use of community spaces

AN event was held in Castletown's historic Drill Hall this week as part of an initiative aimed at making better use of community spaces and bringing essential services closer to users.

The function on Tuesday involved making festive wreaths and was arranged through the Caithness Place-Based Demonstrator project. It attracted representatives from local bodies such as The Highland Council’s Employment Services department, Social Security Scotland, NHS Highland, Police Scotland and others providing advice and help for residents while around 40 people, including many parents and children, used their artistic skills to construct the decorative items from the materials provided. Charity groups were also involved.

Bryan Dods, who attended on behalf of Caithness Voluntary Group, said: "This was a great wee trial for making better use of our community spaces. The idea of the Demonstrator Project is to identify improvements for the facilities we have and get them into more regular use. It was fun to take part in and I think everyone that attended got something useful from it."

He added: "In Castletown, the community council’s survey showed a desire for interesting craft and hobby sessions that the whole family can enjoy so if we can find ways of connecting useful and relevant advice sessions with fun activities like this, we can make it worthwhile for people to use fine old buildings like the Drill Hall more often. That in turn makes it easier to get the funding to make improvements."

Penny Gunn, who runs Castletown Youth Club, added: "People across Scotland want services like NHS consultations and vaccinations available locally rather than having to travel while regular pop-up visits by, for example, Department of Work and Pensions and Social Security Scotland allow people to speak to another person directly instead of on a phone. And my five-year-old daughter had a great time making a lovely wreath. Well done to Fiona Webster for organising the session."

The £750,000 project is backed by Scottish Government funding with the aim of helping make communities in the far north more resilient.

The project is covering Caithness but is initially focusing on sites in Castletown, Lybster, Thurso and Wick. They were identified as suitable spaces which could be re-used for community benefit such as the co-location of services or to provide new or additional education and skills support, health, social care and other well-being services.

Initial findings and conclusions from the events will be used for other areas across the county.

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