Initiatives are vital lifeline for communities

Community-owned enterprises in rural Stirling have been helping their local communities during the Covid-19 crisis.

The Black Bull pub in Gartmore was bought by the local village last year, whilst the Post Office in Killin is also community-owned.

The Black Bull, which took on a manager and chef just days before the lockdown, has switched from serving up meals for customers to providing a take-away service for the village and the surrounding area.

The hot food has proved to be a lifeline for some of the community who are self isolating.

Peter Sunderland, chair, Black Bull Pub and Hub, said:“The takeaway service is delivering 150 meals a week at the moment.

“We have a weekly menu and customers phone in their orders and are given a time-slot for collecting them.

“The service is just one of the ways in which the community has come together and we are grateful to the Scottish Land Fund, which helped us to buy the pub, has now given us an emergency grant of £5,000 to pay for the staff who we had just recruited.”

In Killin, the local development trust has received £3,570 to cover additional staff costs, PPE equipment and volunteers’expenses.

Theresa Elliot, project manager, Killin & Ardeonaig Community Development Trust, said: “The shop is doing deliveries to people who are self-isolating and the Post Office has proved to be essential so that residents can get cash on the days when no other banking services in the village are available. It is also kept very busy because people are buying things on-line.

“The shop too has been much busier than usual because people are finding it hard to get delivery slots from supermarkets locally and don’t want to travel 30 miles to access a supermarket.

“At the moment wholesalers cannot guarantee to supply everything that’s been ordered, so the staff are working hard to find what customers need from other sources and just linked up to a new initiative called Killin Neighbourhood Market which is making up online orders on a Friday afternoon to distribute out of the Post Office.

“This was going to be launched in Killin in a few weeks with the suppliers coming to the village but the coronavirus crisis has brought it forward.”

In 2018, the Trust was given £110,213 by the Scottish Land Fund to help with the cost of buying the shop and the Post Office for the community.

The current emergency funding is part of a package of £70,000 that has been allocated to a total of 12 shops, food banks and other SLF-funded enterprises across Scotland to allow them to respond to additional demand for their services during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Cabinet Secretary for Land Reform, Roseanna Cunningham, said: “Through the Scottish Land Fund, the Scottish Government has supported a number of communities, particularly in rural areas, who have wanted to save their local shop.

“Some of these shops are now playing an important role in distributing food and other essentials to people in need who are not eligible for other support measures

“This volunteer-led activity is especially valuable at this point in time.”

John Watt, SLF committee chair, said: “This crisis has highlighted the need for strong communities and the response of local groups has been outstanding.

“Some of these shops would not exist if it wasn’t for the support of the SLF yet during this time they have become a lifeline for many people who would otherwise struggle to access the food and other services that they need.”