The King George V Community Wind Turbine Fund is now open for applications. The fund was created three years ago to distribute a donation from a local farmer who has two wind turbines. A government renewable energy scheme provides farmers with funding to erect turbines in return they make a donation to community projects. The King George V Community Project Trust formed an award panel comprising of representatives from the seven community councils in the AB31 area. The panel was ably chaired by Karen Clark up until March this year. Over the past two years the panel have awarded £18,000 to local groups. It has contributed to projects in Lumphanan, Drumoak, Torphins, Finzean, Strachan, Inchmarlo and Banchory. A grant up to £1000 is available to groups based in the AB31 area, or to groups with members who live in the AB31 area. The priority is for projects that are supporting people in sport, arts, culture or environment. For more information contact kgvwindturbinefund@gmail.com
The Community Pantry in Banchory continues to hold a twice a week fruit and vegetable stall, on Wednesday and Saturday from 10-2pm. The sale of the produce generates a small profit which is used to pay the costs of running the pantry such as rent and electricity. The fresh produce comes from a wholesaler, Turriffs of Montrose. They also supply vegetable boxes to customers via their online store. The pantry also has a range of local produce for sale. Honey from Glassel, Katy’s eggs from Torphins and our own made jams and chutney. The pantry is part of the Fareshare network which reduces food waste by sharing food that is going out of date in supermarkets and local shops. Food that is about to go out of date or where packaging is damaged is shared or cooked into meals. Over the past year almost 8000kg of food has been shared through the pantry. Keep an eye on pantry opening hours as we may increase them during the summer.
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