February 2021 monthly update

Sunart Christmas Market & Online Grand Christmas Silent Auction

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

On the 28th November the Sunart Community Christmas Market & Tree Light Switch On took place, in partnership with the Community Council. The event was hailed a great success with the Sunart Café selling out of hot filled rolls, 9 local stall holders doing brisk trade and the community company raffle and home-baking stalls in full swing.

David Barker, Chair of the Company was delighted “We were so pleased to bring some festive cheer and community spirit to the village after such a challenging year. There was a great turnout of eager shoppers who of course also enjoyed a chance to meet each other face to face. Thanks to all our donors and home-bakers we raised over £600 on the night, with a similar amount taken in Oakwood, so were pleased that local businesses were supported too.”

Meanwhile on the same night the Online Silent Auction was launched, with 30 Auction Lots on offer, and a fortnight later when it closed, over £1600 had been donated, although this amount will increase thanks to all those bidders who ticked the “gift Aid” box. Company Treasurer, James Hilder explained “With lockdown leading to the cancellation of the Agricultural Show and Water Festival the charity had missed a couple of key fundraising events in the year, so the amount of support received has helped us fill that gap and keep the charity moving forward. I would particularly like to thank the local businesses and home-bakers who donated prizes, a group of S6 helpers and the Community Council for assisting with the market, and to Julie Traynor at the Highland Council for keeping us on track with the trading licence and CV19 safety protocols.”

Hopefully the Market will run again this year without as many CV19 restrictions and Saturday 4th December looks like the date to aim for – so only 11 months to go!

Rent-A-Gazebo

As part of its preparations for the market and to enable us to run more events outside during the CV19 Restrictions the community company now has two heavy duty Gazebos (3m x 3m) to hire for community events. There are also 4 rechargeable lanterns to hang inside the gazebo if holding an evening event. One gazebo also has sides, a door, windows and weights to hold it down in a breeze.

Anyone wishing to rent one for a donation please get in touch with our Secretary, John Jones.

Oakwood Tourism & Crafts

Jane Mellis, Oakwood Coordinator reports that the Christmas sales gave a last minute boost to sales after a very quiet October and November. The shop is now closed until the end of March for maintenance and stocktaking. Amazingly, despite CV19 we managed to open up in the summer thanks to our band of dedicated volunteers and crafters and we are now stocking an even wider product range from local sources. Over the next two months Jane is working with Tony Gowland to create an online version of the Oakwood shop so that people can buy beautiful products from the comfort of their armchair and have them sent just about anywhere in the world! Watch this space for the shop launch.

Jetty & Green Shed

Winter weather and lockdown has slowed work on the shed although Jeremy has been painting over the rust spots weather permitting and Tim has made some great new doors. New roofing materials will be delivered soon. Eric Shackleton from the Sunart Men’s Shed has made a beautiful set of steps so already the shed is being used as a changing space for the open water swimmers. Roll on the summer!