Point and Sandwick Trust plan ahead for new offices in Aros An Rubha

Point and Sandwick Trust (PST) celebrated its forthcoming return to its offices at Aros An Rubha with its annual Away Day last week.

 

PST officially moved out of the old School at Knock in March 2021 to make way for the huge renovations that have transformed the building and to allow the privately owned shop to continue operating.

 

The summer has been spent preparing the space for the return to business from the hub and general manager DJ MacSween and office manager Bern Smith welcomed the PST board, community consultants and advisors back to the building for a day of review and planning on Tuesday September 26.

 

Several updates were given on community activities including the Croft Woodland Project, a partnership between PST and Woodland Trust Scotland.

 

Croft Woodland advisor Robin Reid attended and presented the significant work he and colleague Viv Halcrow have been delivering. He revealed there are already 18,000 trees reserved for the 2022/23 planting season on the Western Isles, in addition to the 160,000 native species planted since the project began in 2016.

 

Robin also updated the group on the native tree survey which the project undertook in Lewis and Harris in August, the full results of which will be published soon.

 

PST community consultants Alasdair Nicholson and Tony Robson gave updates on their respective involvement in securing funding and project managing the newest sections of the Point and Sandwick Trail in 2022. This included a new path linking villages of Shulishader and Flesherin and the new 1km stretch connecting existing routes from Stornoway to the Iolaire Memorial at Holm Point.

 

The Iolaire section has been created to include slate memorials to every man lost in the Iolaire disaster of 1919 and wildflowers planted along the route bloomed beautifully in late summer.

 

Commenting on the day, PST manager DJ MacSween said: 'It was great to invite everyone involved in Point and Sandwick Trust to take part in our Away Day and talk about the organisation's future.

 

'The new building is looking fantastic and we congratulate Urras Storras an Rubha for its hard work in fulfilling its vision for a community hub.

 

'PST is looking forward to working from the new offices and turning our attention to how we best continue support for our community with the income generated by the wind turbines at Beinn Grideag during these challenging times of fuel poverty and the cost of living crisis.'

 

PST thank Cala Hotels for providing catering on the day and Murdo Macdonald of Office 21 for his help in furnishing the new office.

 

Photograph: PST staff and board members with consultants and advisors outside Aros An Rubha in Knock. NO_T41_PointAndSandwickTrust_NewOffice