Home Facilitator - Highlands & Islands

It would have been really cool to have been able to unfurl a giant dove and hold it aloft as we have seen other Roots & Shoots teams do in celebration of Peace Day; but it wasn’t to be, and as we had already made plans to undertake a Day of Peace event in a local shopping centre on the 25th of September we were still able to raise awareness and collect peace pledges.
         
With upwards of 15,000 people passing through the area we were in, on any given Sunday, we felt it …

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Community
Our team is becoming increasingly recognisable and our new uniforms and vehicle logos have helped establish our identity to the public; we are getting more and more feedback from them with regards what it is they have done either as a direct result of previous contact with us, or because someone they know has spoken to them about us.  Consequently we have also received many requests and offers to either enter into partnership with other groups or undertake an event for them. Whilst this is enormously flattering it also places an enormous strain on a team such as ours with no external resources and extremely limited man power. However, we are slowly evolving a plan whereby …

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Local Wildlife
A number of months ago we staged a series of workshops in and around Inverness raising awareness of Roots & Shoots and advising the public about the need for them to prepare a small portion of their garden with wet mud, as winds and unseasonably dry conditions had resulted in House Martins all over the country being unable to prepare their nests. Action was needed as a lack of successful second broods threatened the survival of the species, and whilst it is difficult to think back to those days following the summer we have just had, it was an important message at the time. Reports have subsequently confirmed that there was a significant increase …

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Environment
Once again the weather has been the dominant force over the summer months, with team ventures being cancelled on a number of occasions as a result of designated work areas being affected by heavy flooding, leaving unsafe conditions under foot. We have consequently failed to carry out research projects on behalf of a number of national organisations, although the information as to why we were unable to do so is of some benefit to them. The weather also caused delays in a number of our own projects with the rockery and sensory garden being shelved until next year. However, we have made contact with a local nursery and it is hoped that we can undertake a joint project …

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Part Three
Community
The greater part of our endeavour over the last few months has undoubtedly been our investment in community issues, highlighting the need for greater endeavour with regards the care of our environment and local wildlife. The team have taken part in public awareness days, carried out workshops with numerous youth organisations and raised the profile of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Programme where ever and whenever we can.

We have fostered closer ties with our American Partner Group Seneca and if it had not been for some unavoidable delays would already …

Read all of Spring Round Up 2011

Part Two
Wildlife
The severe storms which have caused so much havoc to our garden area in recent days has also disrupted much of the work carried out over the last year with regards the establishment of animal habitats and feeding stations. Some of these have been destroyed beyond repair, whilst others have been blown away altogether. We can of course replace all that has been lost but storms such as these do cause irreparable damage such as the loss of two active bee hives near here.

Agents continue to spend time assisting Nick Martin at his Exotic Animal Rescue Centre in Inverness and we have begun to use our experiences with …

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Part One
Environment
The severe storms in recent days have left our Pond destroyed, Green Houses up ended and Plants cast aside like pieces of grass. Many of our bushes and young saplings have been badly scorched by the high winds which battered the region prior to the torrential rain which later fell.

It makes little sense then to now describe all of the hard work and effort which had gone into preparing for our participation in the Gardening Scotland Show due to take place at Edinburgh next week.

However, it is the loss of our food supply to Nick Martin and …

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Things are beginning to pick up a pace and I thought I would spend a few moments catching up with our latest goings on and to write a little something about Ric O’ Barry and the situation in Japan. I have written before about our using local libraries for display purposes and thought that our fellow agents might be interested in actually seeing photos of these.
  

Quite by chance we find ourselves with a subsidiary branch in Buckinghamshire and we are looking forward to engaging with our agents there. They will adhere roughly to the Highland Facilitator Team’s agenda …

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We, like countless groups before us, have benefited immeasurably from the guidance and support of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots administration team many times over and were therefore extremely disappointed to learn of the impending financial situation, which threatens the programmes very existence. As a group we have been very lucky to be nominated for a number of local and national awards as a consequence of our association with Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Programme and we have found that the publicity generated on these occasions is an extremely important means of raising awareness not only of our own activities but other issues as well. With that in mind we took the rather bold step of nominating Dr Goodall in …

Read all of Voting for Dr. Goodall and other issues…

One of the really great things about Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Programme is the utter diversity of activities any one group can undertake whilst staying true to its own fundamental principles. This is certainly true for us as, we find ourselves in a situation whereby having just undertaken a huge environmental awareness day in Inverness encouraging individuals to have a “Green Halloween” we are all set to participate in a number of events which will permit youngsters in the region an opportunity to vote on issues which will dictate what it is that the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People tackles over the next four years.

The potential magnitude of this undertaking has just been revealed to us as …

Read all of From Have a Green Halloween to Cast Your Vote Here Please!