Volunteers move forward with Castletown community café project

Volunteers looking to establish a café as a community hub in Castletown say they intend to "start small and grow big".

A public meeting took place in the village's Drill Hall this week with the aim of taking the project to the next stage and seven people stepped forward to serve on a committee.

The initiative is being led by Castletown and Community Free Church. The need for such a facility was among the issues highlighted at a two-day community consultation event in February, run as part of a 12-month project paid for by the Scottish Government’s Aspiring Communities Fund and designed to identify inequalities across Caithness.

At Monday's well-attended meeting, minister the Rev Howard Stone went through details of the draft constitution and explained what is involved in becoming a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO).

It would be a community café, spearheaded by the church, he said.

His wife Christine, the steering group member with responsibility for publicity, explained afterwards: "We needed to have consultation days, we needed to have a feasibility study and we need a constitution. That constitution at the moment is only in draft form so it needs to be approved.

"There will now be an opportunity for the community to come back and say ‘actually I don’t like this, can we change that’ or whatever, to firm it up, and only then can we move on to look at funding possibilities and how best to move ahead with the café.

“Potential funders require that initial, documented structure to be in place. We are indebted to those who were present at the meeting from Caithness Voluntary Group for their invaluable advice regarding these matters.

"Although it looks like jumping through hoops, they are very important hoops. The structure has to be there, and we actually want that safeguard to be in place moving forward."

A preferred location for the café has still to be confirmed.

“The location is still something that is under discussion because from the community we’re hearing different plans and different ideas about what they would like to see happening," Mrs Stone said.

“As opposed to just a café where you come and have a cup of tea or coffee and a scone, there would be other things available for the community – and by that we mean every generation of the community.

“Our aim would be a holistic approach – we would be there to serve the community and any individual within it. We want to be able to foster an inclusive, Christian, caring environment that seeks to meet everybody and be there at their point of need, whatever that might be.

"That could include things like offering to help with filling in forms, or being available for someone to share with on a confidential basis, providing a base for folk to just pop in for tea, coffee and a blether with their friends, creating a hub for anyone wanting to meet up due to loneliness or isolation... the list is endless!

"It’s the holistic approach – an opportunity afforded for the whole person to have needs fulfilled, as far as we are able."

Mrs Stone said they were grateful for the amount of practical support being offered locally.

“Tonight somebody said as they were leaving, ‘As soon as you have a place, I’m willing to do the painting.’ Someone else in the village has said, ‘As soon as you have a place, I’ll give my plumbing services for free.’

"So the people are behind us, and are full of ideas – and that’s hugely encouraging to us all.

“Next steps are to firm up the draft constitution, have further conversations with the community in terms of the preferred location, and then start getting the wheels in motion. Our aim would be to start small and grow big.”

The public meeting to approve the constitution is planned for Monday, May 13, at 7pm in the Drill Hall.

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