TDCA Newsletter: 1st August 2025

Historically we have always waited until our AGM in November to update members on what we have been working on during the year, although we did issue interim updates when the heating failed last year. It has been suggested that a year is a long time without hearing very much so these ‘newsletters’ are intended to come out roughly bi-monthly to keep everyone updated about what is going on.

This first one is probably a bit longer than future ones – to help bring members up to date quickly. It is not designed to go into minute detail, just give an overview. If anyone thinks it’s worthwhile having a Q&A session – either in person or via Zoom – we could arrange that, or if only a few people have questions, we could just have one to one chats.

Vacancies for board of Directors:

The current Directors of TDCA are:

Mat Webster Zoe Hudson

Chris Davies Stewart MacPherson

Chris Johnson Lynn Henni

We have space for 2 more Directors, including someone to be our Treasurer. It is a crucial role for any organisation so ideally we are looking for someone with an accounting, finance, or business background to work alongside our Finance Officer (Karen). The activities listed in this newsletter give an overview of the type of work which we do, for which Directors need to be familiar with spreadsheets, budgets, etc and be able to review sometimes complex documents. But it is a team effort and each person brings something slightly different to the board, so you don’t necessarily need to be a lawyer or banker, in fact it is good to have a broad spectrum of people - sometimes being a Postie will do! Please get in touch if you would like to get involved. All Directors are volunteers.

If becoming a Director might be too much to take on, we also need people to help as part of our sub groups. Our sub groups are voluntary positions which report to the Board and are currently themed around:

• Development Plan

• Operations and Finance

• Celtman

• Kitchen Refurbishment

• Playpark

Alternatively extra pairs of hands are often needed for our ad hoc paid positions, such as running the bar at events, or for occasional cover of the Gallery desk. Full training is provided. Additionally, we often need help with cleaning, which is also a paid position. Thanks to those who already help cover on a casual basis.

Please get in touch if any of these opportunities to support the centre are of interest to you.

Let’s now look at some of the things which we have been doing during the first half of the year:

• Strategy review Last September, staff and Directors got together for what is best described as a feedback and ideas day. Many different things were brought up in the sessions. Numerous topics which came up were complex and involved lengthy pieces of work over several months. We are working through the recommendations of the review. This type of work not only helps to show good governance to external partners and potential funders, but helps to put processes and structures in place, so we are a better organisation. We are much more than a village hall and as a result we have to operate on a more complex level than before.

• Staff hand book Staff policies and procedures have been created/ reviewed by directors and staff and the handbook is now live. There are several other policies which we need to review/put in place to ensure we are a fully compliant organisation – these are at an organisation level, rather than a staff level.

• Staff contracts Out of date contracts are being replaced with modern versions which are compliant with current laws. This is almost completed.

• Draft budget The 2025/6 Budget for running the Centre has been finalised. This is the first time we have had a detailed, trackable budget. We are on target to break even, but that does not include any repairs and refurbishments of the Centre, which are budgeted separately from the day to day running costs of the Centre. We will be tracking the actual figures as we go through the year to monitor how we are doing.

• Monthly reporting We have tidied up the information we need to record and review each month to effectively manage the business. It is important we treat the center as a business – one which works for the community.

Now let us look at what is at the top of the Board’s in tray right now. Some will take months to complete, in fact some will always be ongoing:

• IT report There are several shortcomings in our IT systems and infrastructure. Chris Oswald has an IT background and provided a comprehensive report, and the priorities identified are being implemented by Paul Henni and Chris. This includes ensuring we have wifi throughout the centre but also looks at things like data storage, data security and file sharing.

• Sustainability It is very important that we reduce our electricity bills to get our annual running costs down. But the improvements often cost a lot of money. We were not successful in getting a grant from Highland Council to install solar panels and replace damaged doors/windows. We have now applied for SSE Powering Communities to Net Zero Fund and CARES grants – totalling £65k. We are also obtaining quotes for changing all our lighting to LED, and installing motion sensors in some areas. We counted over 150 light bulbs in the centre, with many of them on all day. Once we know how much it will cost to make the improvements, we will take a decision on grant applications and the use of our own resources.

  
  

• Gallery Hannah left in May, so we are now reviewing our Gallery Manager role, with a view to advertising the position towards the end of the year, with a start date of roughly 1st Feb 2026. In the meantime, we are delighted that Fiona Rose has joined the team as gallery assistant, working 1-5pm on Sundays. Fiona will support Wilma with some of the gallery admin but Wilma will ‘officially’ continue to cover the Gallery Manager role until we recruit a replacement for Hannah in time for the main 2026 season.

• Celtman The 2025 event was a success, bringing in vital income for the Community Centre, but it wasn’t without difficulty. After getting feedback from volunteers and staff a full report of the events has been produced and circulated amongst those who are involved in Celtman. We are working on implementing the recommendations. We were light on volunteers this year, and only just got the event over the line, so to be able to continue with Celtman in its current form we need extra people to come forward to help in 2026. Without Celtman income the Centre would currently be unsustainable.

Please save the dates for the 2026 events – 13th & 20th June

• Repairs and refurbishments We currently have £27k ringfenced for repairs and refurbishments, but this won’t go very far. The windows and doors we need to replace will cost around £15k. Kitchen refurbishment considerably more. And it looks like we may need a new stairlift. There are also areas which urgently need decorating. The list keeps growing. Hopefully we will be able to apply for grants to cover some of these costs. In the next update we will focus on what needs doing, plus why and when it needs to be done and how we are going to pay for it.

• Fundraising More details next time but our Go fund Me online appeal is still live (https://www.gofundme.com/f/loch-torridon-community-centre-repairs-and-refurbishments). To date we have raised £4600 of our £25k target via this platform.

• Finally lets look at our current projects in the wider area. These projects are fully grant funded at this stage but also bring in vital income for the Centre, in the form of project management fees.

• Campsite We have full funding for a feasibility study to look at possibly taking on the campsite. The idea being that a) it would provide an enhanced modern campsite for visitors to use, and b) it would provide an additional income stream for TDCA. An architect has started work on the design and technical work looking at the site drainage. During August / early September there will be drop-in sessions so people can find out more.

• Torridon Primary School We are actively looking for partners to help with the cost of refurbishments before we commit to taking on the site.

• Recycling Hub The hub is fully in use, with many people dropping off items which would otherwise potentially end up in landfill. Katie will be sending out an update on the Hub shortly.

• Playpark An application for a Community Asset Transfer has been submitted to Highland Council. This would allow us to take on ownership and running of a revitalised playpark, with the potential for some parts of the land to be used in other ways, so that all age groups benefit from community ownership. There would need to be fundraising for playpark equipment but we are some way off that just now.

• Royal Countryside fund This is an exciting project based on community resilience planning. We have some news but we are not allowed to tell anyone yet, so it will have to wait until next time!

I hope you have found this update useful and informative, please get in touch if you would like to ask questions or discuss any of the contents. Please note our AGM is on Thursday 6th November at 7pm.

Mat Webster

Chair

On behalf of TDCA Board of Directors

chair@lochtorridoncentre.co.uk