Oakwood Centre Strontian: 2022 – the year to October

Oakwood reopened in April with a new Coordinator, Karyn Simpkinson, to begin a very busy year. With the lifting of CV19 restrictions, we opened at the beginning of the season and welcomed locals, visitors and many, many ‘Lochs & Glens’ bus tours through its doors! Our team of Producers and local businesses grew with the addition of:

• Sheep Thrills – exceptional quality handbags and large tote bags in both tweed and Harris Tweed, made here in Strontian. Heritage craftsmanship with a modern twist!
• Jennifer Guest – a new local artist who creates greeting cards and limited edition prints featuring hand drawn images in ink. Wildlife, Wild Swimming and the Ardnamurchan landscapes

We also welcomed some new Volunteers to our wonderful team, which allowed Oakwood to operate longer hours in the summer. Currently open 10 – 4 every day, it is anticipated that these will reduce to 11 – 3 in the coming weeks. Even so, we remain keen to hear from anyone interested in volunteering a few hours to help. 

While things may be getting a little quieter as we head into Autumn, Oakwood is already preparing for the annual Christmas Market on Saturday 26 November – save the date!

Christmas Auction:

Our Annual Online Christmas Auction will be launching and open for bids from the end of November!  Prizes include accommodation, luxury meals, and beautiful local gift ideas all donated by local businesses. Keep your eyes peeled on our social media and website for more information, to be in with a chance of snapping up a bargain and support our charity in the process. 

We are very grateful for the support of local businesses who donated prizes last year, and hope that you will consider donating again. If you haven’t donated before, and would like to promote your business by donating an auction prize, please email us (becky@sunartcommunitycompany.co.uk)

Volunteer Vacancies:

Directors – We have vacancies for new committee members – please get in touch!. The committee meets for one hour, every 6 weeks to work on community initiatives and help manage our local projects.

Awarding Grants – can you spare FIVE HOURS PER YEAR? Yes  – that is all the commitment we are asking for to help sit on the Sunart Community Benefit Fund Panel. All you need to do is read a brief summary of applications and come along twice a year to a meeting to help decide how much money to give to community groups from the cash donated by the Sunart Community Hydro.

If you would like to make a positive different to our area and support projects that will help our community to thrive, please do consider joining us. Email enquiries@sunartcommunitycompany.co.uk for more information.