Trust’s team goal to help Kintyre grow

South Kintyre Development Trust (SKDT) is keeping up the drive to work ‘in the community, for the community’ with the appointment of three new team members.

 

Sharyn Lock, based in East Kintyre and also the owner of low-waste food store Kintyre Weigh in Campbeltown’s Main Street, joins the trust as its climate action development officer, aiming to develop partnerships which promote climate change awareness and highlight the smaller-scale but real-world changes which individual citizens can make to positively impact the place where they live.

 

Hannah Jones, a Bellochantuy farmer who has been appointed community growing coordinator, brings a wealth of experience in growing and cultivating at a local level.

 

Hannah will work to show people from every generation how to ‘grow their own’, be that from tending window boxes to managing individual allotments, or on a larger scale, helping suitable community spaces blossom for flower and food growing.

 

John McCallum also joins the team in a content creation role, with a brief to bring the work of the trust and the partnerships they create in Campbeltown and the surrounding area, from schools to volunteer groups and more, into the community spotlight.

 

The trio has been recruited on an initial six-month basis, with a host of events and activities in the pipeline, albeit at a nascent stage so far.

 

Working in tandem with Inspiralba, a fellow Campbeltown-based social enterprise and business support service, it is hoped that with buy-in from across the town and beyond, valuable work can be done to improve living standards in the area.

 

This will focus on sustainability and climate awareness, part of SKDT’s Community Action Plan, current to 2027, which aims to make Campbeltown a more healthy, enjoyable and attractive place to live, addressing challenges such as relative poverty and population decline.

 

Eric Spence, trust manager at SKDT, said: “I would like to thank the Community Led Local Development Fund at Argyll and Bute Council for supporting this project which will contribute to improving the local environment as well as raising awareness of the potential impacts of climate change in this area and how they might be mitigated.

 

“Both climate action and community growing were identified in our Community Action Plan as being critical to the people who live here so we are delighted to welcome Sharyn, Hannah and John to their new posts and look forward to progressing these activities in the coming months.”