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Auchenblae Community Fund Annual Report 2023

ACF Report 2023

Following length review process and a 1 year hiatus, we’re delighted to say that the fund reopened in 2023 and received 15 applications. The fund had accumulated to over £75,000 due historic underspend and the 2022 accrual. Applications were assessed in September for eligibility, presented to the panel in October with decisions made in November and funding paid out in December 2023.

The panel consisted of a total of 5 people – all 3 members of the community who applied and the ACF sub-committee from ADCA. The decision-making process was straightforward and unanimous and we propose to continue with this format (pending annual review) if agreed at the AGM.

All applicants received funding although not all projects were funded fully. Following discussion with applicants, those who received partial funding were happy with the decision-making process and outcome. Excitingly, as a result of these conversations, new opportunities for collaboration between community groups have been identified and we look forward to seeing the results of those discussions.

See table for funding awards. We look forward to seeing completed projects over the next few months with completion sign offs due in November 2024.

The coming funding allocation will be more interesting as the amount of money available is significantly less. The fund stands at an estimated £43,000 for 2024, we will be able to confirm this figure once the RPI for January 2024 is published. 2024 applications will open during gala week with a closing date of August 31st 2024.

The sub-committee intend to further revise the forms to make the fund more accessible to our community. In terms of advertising and improving communication with the community, we will promote the fund on theblae.org, the physical noticeboards around the village, via the Messenger and on our facebook page and Auchenblae Noticeboard.


AGM 6/2/2024 Auchenblae Village Hall 7.30pm


Our Community Association needs a Chair Person. We also need help with fundraising / events organising and managing hall bookings.

Could you commit to a 2hr meeting on the 1st tuesday of every month? Could you step up to chair our committee and help make sure we’re meeting our responsibilities as trustees and caretakers of our village hall?

Without your support, there will be no hall, no Auchenblae Pre-School Group, no Zumba, no Kickboxing, no community cafe, no windfarm fund, no gala, no quiz nights, no bingo to name a few….

It’s your hall and your community, come and show your support on Tuesday 6th.

Film for December the 2nd

This months film is Barbie the hugely successful highly acclaimed cultural phenomenon.

 It’s a riotously entertaining candy-coloured feminist fable that manages simultaneously to celebrate, satirise and deconstruct its happy-plastic subject.

Come and see it in its full glory with our now upgraded surround sound and 4K projection system.

The Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race 2023

The Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race is to be held on Sat May 27th 2023 during Auchenblae’s annual Gala Day . It is open to all entrants young and old, family teams etc and we hope it will add to the great family fun day that is Auchenblae Gala Day.

This year, the value of the prizes has risen to £200 in total and the entrance fee has dropped to £1.

The race will  be run on the burn between the pavilion and the footbridge a course length of 90 metres. Races will be in heats of 5 boats with the winner going through to the next heat.

The number of entries is limited to 100. Please book in advance to ensure your place.

Boats are to be made of paper or card and can be a traditional folded paper boat or a sophisticated paper paddle steamer just as long as they meet the required build and size restriction outlined in the race rules.

Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race rules

If you wish to enter please fill out the entrance form

Entrance Form

Gala 2023

Events for this years gala. Please visit the gala page for more info and to book tickets for the band click here. To enter your boat in the Great Auchenblae Boat Race visit the race page.

Cinema Club

We are very pleased to announce that the Cinema Club will start film Screenings again from the 29th of April. We are starting with the Empire of Light a wonderful film by Sam Mendes about the power of human connection during turbulent times, set in a cinema

Emergency Community Fund Applications

Auchenblae & District Community Association (ADCA) has received a request from the Parks Committee requesting that we consider an emergency application to the windfarm fund. A vital piece of equipment requires substantial repairs, without it the Golf Course cannot be maintained to an acceptable standard and without the income from the golf course, the Parks Committee will be forced to cease operations. Our community faces losing community amenities including our golf course, den, playgrounds, bowling green, tennis courts, pavilion, exercise equipment, football pitch and pump track.

ADCA still have a number of tasks to complete before we can re-open the normal Auchenblae Community Fund process to applications. We are making good progress with our review and with community support over the next few months, we intend to announce the re-opening the fund at the Auchenblae Gala 2023. We do not yet have a panel in place so cannot open the normal fund process quickly enough to help the Parks Committee now. Indeed, Auchenblae Community Fund Panel could not meet to consider one application without being grossly unfair to other eligible groups.

The panel was only set up to create arms-length decision making from ADCA so that ADCA could apply to the fund as well. The Mid Hill contract requires ADCA to consider all proposals submitted and to present all proposals to MHWL/Fred Olsen, specifying those we recommend for approval.

Please remember that the purpose of the fund is to benefit the residents of the area of Auchenblae – the best way to ensure that the benefit reaches our community as widely as possible is by supporting all our volunteer-led community groups, whilst respecting their autonomy and accepting that they know best what their group needs. The point is to say yes to as many projects as possible.

In the short time remaining until the fund re-opens, our committee has agreed to consider emergency applications from eligible groups who face closure in the short term (risking subsequent loss of community amenities). Please contact ADCA if your group wants to consider submitting an emergency application.

We have contacted MHWL/Fred Olsen to discuss our fund review progress and our interim plan and they are happy for us to proceed on this basis. We will directly contact known eligible groups to notify them of the situation.

In a process to be considered entirely separate from ‘Auchenblae Community Fund’, ADCA proposes to submit the Parks Committee emergency application to MHWL/Fred Olsen for approval. If you wish to comment or provide feedback on our proposal, please do so by 16/2/2023 via letter or email to auchenblaecommunityassociation@gmail.com

Yours Sincerely,

ADCA Committee

This years gala

It will be 4 years since the Gala Day was last held in the Den. But we hope that this year everything will be back to normal and we can have a fantastic fun filled day in the Den once more. The Auchenblae Community Association will be meeting on Jan 13th to finalise the arrangements for this year. We intend to have all the regular events and hopefully make this an extra special one. Also we will get to try out our new marquee that we bought at the start of covid due to a grant from the Tullo wind farm fund.

If you want to get involved or have any ideas you would like to be considered please contact the ACA at auchenblaecommunityassociation@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Auchenblae Cinema to Reopen Doors

The Auchenblae cinema is to have its first film showing since 2020 on the last Saturday of Jan 2023
It is nearly 3 years since we had to shut our doors due to covid and it will be great to start showing films once again. The Cinema Group will be meeting at the start of the year to put together a program of films for the next 6 months. We also intend to run the children’s matinées once more. These will only be advertised in the hall as licencing requirements prevent us from advertising them outside the hall.

Last Saturday of the Month

Childerens Matinee – doors 2.30 film 3.00pm

Evening Film – doors 7.00pm film 7.30pm

The Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race 2019

The Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race is to be held on Sat May 25th 2019 during Auchenblae’s annual Gala Day following our fantastic inaugural race last year . It is open to all entrants young and old, family teams etc and we hope it will add to the great family fun day that is Auchenblae Gala Day.

The race will  be run on the burn between the pavilion and the footbridge a course length of 90 metres. Races will be in heats of 5 boats with the winner going through to the next heat.

Boats are to be made of paper or card and can be a traditional folded paper boat or a sophisticated paper paddle steamer just as long as they meet the required build and size restriction outlined in the race rules.

Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race rules

If you wish to enter please fill out the entrance form

The Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race

The Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race is to be held on Sat May 25th 2019 during Auchenblae’s annual Gala Day following our fantastic inaugural race last year . It is open to all entrants young and old, family teams etc and we hope it will add to the great family fun day that is Auchenblae Gala Day.

The race will  be run on the burn between the pavilion and the footbridge a course length of 90 metres. Races will be in heats of 5 boats with the winner going through to the next heat.

Boats are to be made of paper or card and can be a traditional folded paper boat or a sophisticated paper paddle steamer just as long as they meet the required build and size restriction outlined in the race rules.

Great Auchenblae Paper Boat Race rules

If you wish to enter please fill out the entrance form


Cinema Screenings for February

Auchenblae Cinema Club Screenings for Sat 20th of Feb

Shaun the Sheep Movie

From Aardman, the creators of Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run, comes the highly anticipated big screen debut of Shaun the Sheep. When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he baa-rgained for! 

Screening time

15:00 – 16:30

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

Based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, X-Men First Class), the film tells the story of a suave, old-school British superspy who recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into his agency’s ultra-competitive training program .

Screening time

19:30 – 21:30

Tickets £5.00 and £3.00 available on the door

New Cinema For Auchenblae Hall

Thanks to a grant from the Midhill Wind Farm Fund , Auchenblae Drama Group has now completed the installation of cinema facilities in the Auchenblae Hall. This was started in 2013 with a grant from Kincardine Mearns Area Partnership; Nexen; and funds raised by the group’s performances, for the installation of the hall sound system. The Hall can now boast a 5 meter wide motorised screen, HD projection system, and 7.1 surround sound, resulting in an amazing real cinema experience .

The cinema will have its first outing on Saturday the 21st of November at 3.00pm (doors 2.30pm) and we will be showing Arthur Christmas by Aardman productions, makers of Wallace and Gromit.

Arthur Christmas at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child’s question: ‘So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?’

Ice cream, Popcorn and Christmas Fare will be available

onesheet

 

The cinema facilities mean that the Auchenblae drama group will now be running a Cinema Club Committee on the second Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm in the hall meeting room to organise film programmes, projection training, special film events, etc.
If you wish to get involved in the Cinema Club, and decide on the films shown and help to show them, please feel free to come along.

Silent Auction demonstrates Versatility of Hall

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A very successful fundraising event took place in the village hall on 2nd May 2015.

A constant flow of eager customers came through the door to help raise funds to restore the church clock faces and have them replaced back on the tower, where they belong.

The main hall was used to capacity to stage the Silent Auction and the many associated stalls, with larger items displayed on the stage.

Money exchanged hands quickly at the 50p, £1.00 and £2.00 stalls. The ‘negotiable stall’ required a bit more discussion, but all done in a very friendly manner!
Complimentary coffees were prepared in the back kitchen and served in the bar area where the book stall was set up. As usual, newcomers were surprised to discover they were actually standing in a room over the burn.
Upstairs in ‘the Mutual’, home to Auchenblae Pre School Group, the recently purchased play equipment had been easily stacked away to allow this area to be set up for the Soup and Sweet Lunches.
The ‘catering staff’, all volunteers ofcourse, used the escape staircase as an easier route to carry dishes and restock the soup kettles etc. With careful planning it was even possible to set up a small table in the kitchen for those less mobile.
So popular were the lunches that there was a queue at times, but this allowed those waiting to view ‘the goings on’ in the main hall from the balcony. Elderly locals were heard reminiscing of their childhood days when they went up into the balcony to watch ‘the pictures’!
All in all it was a most enjoyable day and showed this wonderful hall being used to its full potential.

Jenny Thomson

Launch of Auchenblae Community Fund

Auchenblae Community Association is pleased to announce the launch of Auchenblae Community Fund

At an event in the Village Hall on 22nd March 2015, the launch of the much-anticipated Auchenblae Community Fund was held.

Further details of this fund can be found in the AC Fund section of this site.