Snapshot of Turriff Area Summer 2006
“Snapshot of the Turriff Area Summer 2006” is a community project. The
idea for the project came from the TROLs group, a partnership group that
supports the Turriff Learner Advice Centre. The TROLs group has members
from Surestart, Social Work, NHS Grampian, sheltered housing, adult
learning, literacy and the library service.
The Turriff Learner Advice Centre is based in the Turriff Public Library
and hosts drop-in sessions by organisations such as The Pension Service,
Careers Scotland, Turriff Advice Centre.
In
previous years we have run a painting and photography competition to
celebrate the Turriff Learner Advice Centre anniversary week in
September 2006. This competition has been very well supported by local
schools, nurseries and pre-school groups. This year we plan to do
something with a bit of a difference.
The aim of the project is to get a perspective of the Turriff Area as it
is now, and how people would like to see it improved. We will hand out
disposable cameras to local schools and groups and ask them to provide
an A3 display of photos and captions of what their community mean to
them. If schools and groups have access to a digital camera they might
prefer to use it.
The key questions for the two sets of photographs for each A1 poster are
–
What do you like about your local area/school/group?
What would make it even better?
Groups/schools would provide a couple of lines with each photo to expand
on the picture – what is it and why this photo? Each display should try
to capture a day in the life of Turriff from their perspective.
Cameras will be provided.
The posters
will be displayed on the library during anniversary week and other
locations such as Dawson Court and The Gateway Centre. The photographs
will also be displayed electronically on the Formartine Partnership
website at www.formartine.org.uk
Letters to schools and groups inviting entries for the project will go
out in May. Any group which does not receive a letter should contact
Mrs Liz Fraser at the public library on 01888 562539 or Mrs Lynda Bain
at Turriff Academy Library on 01888 563216. We would like as many
schools and groups to take part in this project as possible.
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Ythan
Project Volunteers give away Squirrel Boxes
The
increased reporting of red squirrels in the Ellon area, together with
several sightings of its alien cousin, the grey squirrel, led to a
collaborative effort between Ythan Project Volunteers and Ellon
Biodiversity Action Group to promote the interests of the native
species.
Purpose-built
feeder boxes were ordered from Wood RecyclABility, a local firm that
converts waste timber materials into useful objects, and paid for with
funding from the Formartine Partnership.
On
two consecutive Saturdays in February a hundred of these boxes were
given away in Ellon and Turriff to interested individuals who have seen,
or expected to see, red squirrels in their gardens.
Notes
on positioning, preferred food and squirrel biology, along with a
contact number to report sightings of grey squirrels, were included with
each box. Most recipients were happy to provide their names and
addresses to facilitate a follow-up contact.
Apart
from increasing the squirrel food supply in the Ythan valley this
initiative has publicised the activities of the two groups, possibly
providing a source of new recruits for local conservation efforts as
well as boosting their funds from the donations collected at the
distribution points.
More
importantly, the project has focused attention on the value of the Ythan
valley as a stronghold for red squirrels.
Elsewhere in the
UK
the inexorable march of the grey has displaced our native squirrel,
usually within fifteen years of its appearance in any given area.
Grey
squirrels were inadvisably introduced into
Aberdeen
parks in the 1950s, since when they have moved out along the
valleys of the Dee and the Don.
Recent
sightings at Haddo House and at Ythanbank were almost
certainly of individuals illegally released in those specific locations,
and in both cases they have been removed.
Any
successful campaign to prevent the extinction of the red squirrel in the
UK
will have to concentrate on preventing expansion of the greys’
territory, through habitat management and culling, in addition to
provision of feeder boxes, rope bridges and favourable publicity.
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Community
Garden
Methlick
Community Garden - Garden
volunteer's have taken part in the first training session associated
with the project. Around 11 volunteers attended the session given
by Bob Davis, Local Bio-diversity Officer. To find out more about
the training, click on the above link.
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