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Post by maree on Oct 15, 2010 22:24:14 GMT 1
Congratulations to the folk of Hillswick and the surrounding area on reaching the short-list of the prestigious SURF awards. The awards are given to communities who are working hard at regenerating their areas. Hillswick Shop is one of four projects to be short-listed in the 'people' category. This is in recognition of all the work the community did to buy the shop and get it up and running again. The judges were up today before their final deliberations, so good luck to the folk of Hillswick  The winners will be announced at a dinner in Glasgow at the beginning of December. Work has also started to reinstate the fuel pumps at Hillswick today, so it's been all go da day!! Hopefully fuel will be on sale again before Christmas. The shop will celebrate its' first birthday on 26th November. It's been a great year and huge thanks to everyone who supports it. |
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Post by maree on Dec 9, 2010 12:13:08 GMT 1
National award for Hillswick
The people of Hillswick have just celebrated the first anniversary of their community-owned shop and received a 'highly commended' award from a national organisation that recognises best practice in community regeneration projects.
The community-led, Northmavine Community Development Company (NCDC), bought the shop last July and set up a trading subsidiary, led by local people, to run and manage the shop. The time, effort and commitment put in by such a large proportion of the community to refurbish the building and get the shop up and running again was recently recognised by Scotland’s independent regeneration network, SURF. Out of the original 85 project applications, just eight were selected by the judges for this prestigious award.
NCDC Community Project Officer battled through the snow last week and travelled to Glasgow for the awards ceremony to accept the honour on behalf of the NCDC and the community. Vice Chairman of the Hillswick Shop, Peter Sinclair, said, 'We are delighted that the shop project was chosen to receive this award. Everyone worked so hard to get the shop up and running again and it's splendid that the effort everyone put in has been recognised nationally'.
The shop project received the highly commended award in the 'People' category. Comments from the judging panel on why they judged the project so highly were, 'This project was embarked on by members of the community against a background of formidable constraints that might have seen others give up. Instead, this shop now provides not just a means to purchase goods, but acts as a community hub and is now seen as a stepping stone to other regeneration activities.
'The judges were particularly impressed by the tenacity and enthusiasm of this community and their willingness and ability to carry out most of the work themselves rather than buy in external expertise. Their ambition and determination encouraged the judging panel to award this project highly commended status in the People category'.
The Uigg shop in Lewis won the 'Place' category in the awards. John Watt of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, who was present at the awards, said, 'Uigg community in Lewis and Hillswick Shop in Shetland have provided a heart for their communities. They provide services and a community focus which would otherwise have been lost. HIE is proud to have supported their initial buy outs'.
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Post by georgeg1 on Dec 10, 2010 8:56:50 GMT 1
Congradulations, and well done for all the hard work you all have given..
george..
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Post by maree on Aug 13, 2011 15:23:52 GMT 1
Just thought I'd give folk a peerie update on the shop. It's almost two years since the Hillswick Shop reopened - November 2009. Folk are still supporting the community owned business really well and this has allowed the range of stock and services to increase. Fuel sales were reinstated earlier this year after the management board had a new petrol/diesel pump installed. Sheila Tulloch is now the manager and she is assisted by a pool of six part time staff, so the board has been able to employ far more local people than they ever envisaged. Here's a piccie of Vice-Chairman, Peter Sinclair, fuelling up at the new pumps. (Fuel is the same price as the garages in Lerwick by the way!)  |
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Post by aitch on Aug 13, 2011 18:08:10 GMT 1
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Post by maree on Aug 13, 2011 20:01:58 GMT 1
Great stuff aitch! I was just thinking da day that it won't be long till you're up.......hope the weather improves a bit  We'll need to arrange a day and time to meet up when you're here. I think I'm away the weekend you get here, but I'll check My brother was down staying with Kathrine last weekend - Jenny and Sarah were home for a visit. |
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Post by aitch on Aug 14, 2011 10:07:40 GMT 1
Will look forward to meeting you if it is at all possible, have arranged to go to Yell and Unst on the Tuesday, I think, of that week but sincerely hope we can find the time to say hello to each other.
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