We have to shift our attitude of ownership of nature to relationship with nature. The moment you change from ownership to relationship, you create a sense of the sacred.” Satish Kumar   


Here is the list of the dates up to June 2023 for Climate Cafes, Repair Cafes and Community Action Plan Theme 5 Environment & Sustainability Group should anyone be interested in the Community Renewable Energy Project or any other action from this group as I lead this group too. 


They will all continue to be either virtual or in person. The venue for both meet-ups is now the Pitlochry Library, 26 Atholl Rd, Pitlochry PH16 5BX.


Climate Cafes (Tuesday 1pm and Thursday 7pm) - Tuesday 5th February & Thursday 7th February, Tuesday 7th March & Thursday 9th March, Tuesday 11th April & Thursday 13th April, Tuesday 9th May & Thursday 11th May, Tuesday 13th June & Thursday 15th June.   


Theme 5 Environment & Sustainability (All Thursdays, 7pm) - 16th February, 16th March, 20th April, 18th May and 22nd June.  For more information please contact: Carol Aitken [email protected]


Repair Cafe in Pitlochry in 2023: There won't be a Repair Cafe in January, July or August to give volunteers a break! But here are the rest. 2023 Dates - All Sundays. 5th March, 2nd April, 7th May, 4th June, 3rd September, 1st October, 5th November and 3rd December. Times - 12pm to 3pm. Venue - Moulin Hall. For more information, please contact Julia Harriman [email protected]

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CAP ( Community Action Plan) Theme 5
Carol updated us re what has been going on with the CAP Theme 5 (Environment and Sustainability). A Community Renewable Energy Scheme is being discussed.

1. The first step will be to insulate homes and improve energy efficiency.

There was an “Insulate Pitlochry” stall at the entrance to the Co-Op on Saturday 21st January from 9am till 2 pm. Martin Mathers and Nathan Jamieson from the Heat Project was there to give advice and hand out leaflets, and several others from both Climate Café and CAP Theme 5 Environment and Sustainability group volunteered on the day. There was advice on insulation, draught exclusion and how in general to reduce energy use in the home.
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Update - Insulate Pitlochry Event went really well with many people stopping to chat to us about all things sustainable regarding our homes. 
Some information for you. If you're struggling to heat your home and want to reduce your carbon footprint, free help is available.
The Heat Project provides a free professional energy advice service to all households and small and medium businesses. Tel: 0783 4962 361 or [email protected]. 
Home owners can apply for grants of up to £9,000 from Home Energy Scotland.  Tel: 0808 808 2282. 
For private sector tenants, check your landlord complies with legal requirements (EPC of E or better for tenancies beginning from Oct 2020, D from 31/3/22) then apply to Home Energy Scotland. 
For Local authority tenants should call 07342 924 787, Paul Stewart. Or  http://www.pridejoyhomeservices.co.uk/ 
For landlords, a 0% (plus admin. fee) loan may be available. Business owners can get up to 50% of the cost of EV chargers. Energy Saving Trust. Email:[email protected]

1. The second step is to develop a renewable energy scheme.

A Template is being developed setting out how to go about this.
In the mean-time advice will be taken from other organisations such as Local Energy Scotland. Also from other areas/organisations who have tried similar things, to try to learn from any mistakes. Eg Linlith-Go-Solar.
It was mentioned that some individuals in Victorian houses in the Conservation Area are having problems getting planning permission etc for renewables such as solar panels on their homes. 
Land for community garden/orchard/allotments
Things are still at an early stage, but this is looking more and more likely. The landowner is very keen for the community to use some land of her land and has already been deer-fenced. Planning permission may be needed for access/parking etc.
There may also be tree planting opportunities in Black Spout wood, according to “O” Omungandr Melchizedik. Some of the small beech trees that have self planted will also be removed.


Community Garden Share
Doing very well. There are now 3 gardens in the share, and volunteers who help generally with the scheme, have come on board. The “open Kitchen” has also developed linked to this. Anna is going to give us an update soon. 


Sprout – The Community Eco-Hub and the Burnside Toilets Update
Kaja and I started to investigate the toilets as a permanent venue for Climate Café and a new community eco hub early in 2021. 
After the Men's shed began in August 2021 we were approached by Andrew, and being a member of the Men's Shed, he mentioned they were also looking for a premises and about us sharing the toilets. Kaja, Pete (as Chair of Men’s Shed) and I spoke about this and it seemed like a good solution for both the Climate Café and Men’s Shed to share. That was before the Men’s Shed were offered in November last year, the old Handam shop as a permanent space for them to use and hopefully set up a tool library too. As they now have that space, and as we are still looking at the permanent space so the main group to take on the building would be Sprout to provide an advice and information hub on energy, transport, food etc, including Climate Cafes, workshops and monthly Repair Cafes, workshops, meeting space, swap shop, a remakery (Crieff Remake) etc. We would be using most of the space in the building with the Men’s Shed some workshop space for the Men’s Shed. And we would be able to include some publicly accessible toilets too.  Outside the building would be an outdoor workspace and social space.  


Sprout will be formed by the end of February, and it will be Company Limited By Guarantee (CLG) and we are still hoping to interest more members to take the project forward. 


However, there are now 2 commercial businesses who are interested in the building, so it is now on sale on the open market. So we are also in the process of writing the application for a Community Asset Transfer to be submitted asap.

​Carol Aitken