Active Travel Forres is delighted and excited that the Berry Burn Community Fund has been able to fund the start of what we hope will be a dramatic improvement to the St Leonards Road access to the popular Grant Park in Forres. This is a vital and necessary small step towards this ambitious goal.
Charlotte Boyd completed the Singing Mamas’ Leadership Training – bringing women’s spaces for group singing sessions for pregnancy and motherhood. Singing Mamas is an incredible CIC that has a growing movement for singing for wellbeing in society and in the NHS.
Charlotte is excited to bring this to Moray in Summer 2025.
Grantown-on-Spey Medical Practice is very grateful to the Berry Burn Community Fund for their financial support towards the purchase of equipment for the new extension at the health centre. Five new rooms have been equipped for immediate use by NHS Highland employed primary care staff and the various trainees that work in the practice.
We are a small Forres based target shooting club, open to all in the area.
The funding received from the Berry Burn Community Fund has allowed us to install new “hi-tech” plug and play electronic target systems for both our air and smallbore shooters. This is great leap forward for a grass roots club, allowing anyone in the area that wants to try target shooting to do so, using the latest technology as used in national, international and Olympic competitions. The air systems also have a training mode allowing younger members to hone their shooting skills with interactive games. Thank you Berry Burn Community Fund.
Fiona’s Wholefoods and Refills is a small business in Grantown on Spey. We aim
to promote waste reduction, sustainability and healthy living. Fiona’s is a warm
and vibrant community hub where people can feel safe, relax, and buy
sustainable products.
Thanks to the funding from the Berry Burn Community Fund, we’ve been able to
hire a Project Officer and run a successful series of events. We’ve started a
Climate Cafe and an environmental book group, an LGBT group called Evenings
for Everyone, a group for parents called Nappy Natters and other events such as
pop up shops and swap shops.
The 5th biennial Findhorn Bay Festival took place over ten days, between the 20th and 29th of September 2024, radiating from the town of Forres and the communities around the bay of Findhorn.
We welcomed the world to Moray to celebrate the very best of local, national and international cultural experiences in music, theatre, dance, circus, exhibitions and family events for all to enjoy.
The 2024 festival attracted total audiences of 8,986 – 3,871 at ticketed events and 5,115 across open-access and free events with around 58% of the audience coming from Moray, 34% from the rest of Scotland, 5% from elsewhere in the UK, 2% international audiences and 1% unknown.
An estimated £687,202 was brought back into the local economy – £515,355 through a combination of estimated visitor spend (calculated using the Visit Scotland Economic Calculator) and £171,847 from the allocation and local spending of the festival and associated project budgets.
“There is a feeling that everyone feels invested in what is going on… the artists, the organisers, the
audience and the local community. It is exhilarating to be a part of it all.”
Thank you to the Berry Burn Community Fund for the grant of £5,000 towards our mileage costs. In March 2024 we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Scheme and with financial support such as this and our very willing volunteers, we were able to help our members make 3,786 journeys covering 54,964 miles over the last year. We have fulfilled medical and social needs which may have otherwise led to deteriorating physical and mental health and helped our members to live more independent lives.
The Berry Burn Community Fund has supported our role of the development officer over the last four years. The support we have had has allowed the role to continue and the club to grow over the years. We have been able to offer the sport of shinty to more people in the local area, in particular children, and as a result membership has more then doubled over the last few years. Huge thank you to the Berry Burn Community Fund for their support.
The Sacred Circle Sisters Retreat, run by Tessa Brock, at Marcassie Farm, provided local women a powerful day of connection and self-care. All of the participants reported feeling safe and supported throughout the retreat, more connected to other women, and would also recommend this experience to other women. Many shared that they felt “relaxed and uplifted,” with one woman expressing it “would be nice for other women to feel this way too!” Another attendee noted how “it’s hugely needed, particularly in a remote community and post COVID-19”. The day included yoga, art, and nature connection which left each woman feeling supported, reconnected, and empowered. Heartfelt thanks to the Berry Burn Community Fund for enabling this transformative experience, which has positively impacted these women and our wider community!
The Forres&District-Vienenburg&Goslar Twinning Association hosted 60 visitors from their twin-towns (Goslar and Vienenburg) in the Harz Mountains in Lower Saxony for a week to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the partnership. The formal highlight of the visit took place in the Forres Tolbooth courtroom where a Charter of Reaffirmation was signed by representatives of Goslar Council, Moray Council, the chair of the Vienenburg Twinning Association and the chair of the Forres Twinning Association. A variety of cultural, historical and sporting events were included in the week-long programme. It was the first time we had received an official visit from Goslar which had incorporated Vienenburg in 2014 and the Lord Mayor was there to celebrate the occasion.
