From KDP
The Wee Gaitherin Festival – which began in 2021, when its local Chairperson, Neil Young, hosted it on the weekend the pandemic lockdown ended – is now a popular fixture in the poetry calendar, drawing in poets locally, from across Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales – and beyond – to read and perform their work on an equal footing (no matter who they may be) in English, Scots and Gaelic.
Since that uncertain start, for each of the last three years we’ve hosted a near legion of poets and kept them ‘fed and watered’ in one of Scotland’s bonniest coastal towns. The Wee Gaitherin is now a registered charity, run by 7 directors and backed up by a small army of wonderful volunteers who turn their talents to everything from fundraising to publicity, to touring The WG Heritage Exhibition – which has now reached hundreds of people over 20 Northeast and highland venues – that grew out of our community engagement program and owes its existence to the enormous amount of work generously volunteered by Gloria Potter who curated and organised all the other local writers/artists and local history enthusiasts involved in its creation. It celebrates the work of acclaimed writers living and dead over 300 years!
Our democratic and freewheeling motto ‘Turn up, tune in, take part’ holds as true as ever as we run our free poetry workshops in local schools and the community to ensure local engagement and benefit, and invite poets of every background and stage of their writing – from beginners to the renowned. We especially encourage the participation of younger poets, poets on low incomes and from disadvantaged groups, and will be doing our best – as funding permits – to support them.
We’re immensely grateful to all our funders, including KDP and Aberdeenshire Council who have helped us to cover essential costs of staging the festival – and its associated activities – and to subsidise poets’ expenses. In doing so they’ve allowed us to ensure that the festival remains free to attend for all audiences, whilst poets are supported financially. They’re helping us make this wee Aberdeenshire town the poetry capital of Scotland . . . for three days in August, at least.
Aberdeenshire Council are updating their Town Centre Health Check and this time they’re also working with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Community Safety Network to look at how safe and welcoming our places feel.
They would love to hear your thoughts – both surveys can be found here. It only takes a few minutes and your views really help!
Please be aware that the surveys close on 10th October.
The Holiday Grants Programme from the Henry Smith Foundation offers one-off grants for schools, youth groups and non-profit organisations to take children aged 13 and under on recreational day trips or short residential trips.
They know that memorable experiences can have a lasting impact, boosting wellbeing, building confidence, and offering a break from daily pressures. This programme helps provide these opportunities for children who face financial hardship, systemic inequity or disability.
They prioritise groups supporting disabled children and those with limited access to funds to go on holiday.
Grants of £500 – £2,750 per trip are available, and the closing date is Wednesday 19 November.
More information can be found on the website.
Home Energy Scotland are offering a free webinar on energy efficiency and renewables solutions for older and traditional homes. These will be held on Tuesday 14 October at 1pm or 7pm.
The 30 minute webinar which will explore energy efficiency measures and renewables and how they can help you have suitable options installed at your property.
As well as finding out more about the measures and how Home Energy Scotland can help (including grants and funding), you’ll also have the chance to put your questions to their specialist advisors.
Click here to book and see further information.
Applications are open to Our Local Nature Grant Scheme for projects that help young people lead initiatives promoting local biodiversity awareness or improving access to nature and local green spaces. Past projects supported have ranged from school festivals and biodiversity murals to community gardens and guided nature walks.
Awards of up to £1,000 are available to cover costs such as materials, room hire, publicity, speakers, training, transport and project-specific staff. The scheme is aimed at benefiting groups of young people, typically aged 16 or under, with proposals expected to be youth-led and supported by schools, home educators, community organisations, small charities or student groups.
The closing date for applications is midnight on the 25th October 2025.
More here.
Challenge Poverty Week kicks off today, Monday 6th October.
The Poverty Alliance wanted to highlight the injustice of poverty in Scotland, and to show that collective action based on justice and compassion can create solutions.
The week is an opportunity for you to raise your voice against poverty and unite with others in calling for a just and equal Scotland.
Each year, hundreds of organisations in Scotland do just that, including elected representative, charities and NGOs, local authorities, faith groups, businesses, schools and colleges, trade unions, professional bodies and more.
Take a look at their website to get involved.
NESCAN Hub has a small pot of funding for community climate action and biodiversity projects within Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire.
The Seed Fund is designed for small community projects. Any local not-for-profit community-led organisation, with an annual income under £50,000 that is based in Aberdeen City or Aberdeenshire can apply. In some cases, we can accept applications from individuals on behalf of informal groups.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, grants are now a maximum of £500 per organisation to allow them to fund as many organisations and projects as possible.
Applications will close on Monday, 1st December 2025 or until funds remain.
Apply here.
The autumn equinox is the official start of The Tree Council’s Seed Gathering Season.
Seed gathering is fun, free and easy. Wherever you live, whatever your age, you can get involved. You don’t need to be a tree expert or have any special equipment – just a love of trees and nature and lots of enthusiasm!
Check out all the resources available on the Tree Council website.
The SUEZ Communities Fund supports projects that improve public amenities, repair religious or historic buildings, or support biodiversity.
Projects need to be located in a funding zone surrounding a qualifying site owned by SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK. Funding typically covers materials, equipment, and contractors for improvement work
The maximum grant amount is £20,000, and the next closing date is 19th November.
Visit the website for more information.
Click here for the last Kincardine & Mearns Community Planning E-Bulletin for Autumn 2025.
You can find information on:
- Local News and Events
- Support and Advice
- Grants & Funding
- Employment & Training Opportunities
Warburtons Community Grants provide small grants to support charitable organisations towards broader activities which improve Health, Place or Skills for families in their community.
Grants can be used for something specific that will benefit the cause e.g. buying equipment to support an employability project etc.
Funds are allocated to Warburtons local bakeries and depots. This helps their Community Champions to make the best decisions for their local communities. Warburtons will use your postcode to understand which of their sites is closest to you, and that site will then receive the application and make a decision.
Find out more and apply here.
The Community Energy Launchpad helps communities interested in learning about community energy and exploring the options available to them. It can help your community group to take your first steps into renewable energy and shared ownership projects by providing support, such as:
- Local advice and support from technical officers from Community Energy Scotland, Development Trusts Association Scotland and Local Energy Scotland.
- Help to identify renewable energy opportunities in your community.
- Mentoring from experienced community energy mentors, who can share their experience and insights.
- Workshops with practical guidance on early-stage project development.
- Support with costs like childcare and travel so you can attend workshops.
More here.
The Way Forward for Families Partnership (Way Forward) Fund is open to applications.
Way Forward is focused on improving the lives and outcomes for children, young people and families in Scotland who are affected by drugs and alcohol.
Young people with lived experience of drugs and alcohol affecting their lives are at the heart of decision making. Their expertise helps ensure the money is spent on what will make a difference to the lives of families.
Applications are invited from partnerships – with a third sector organisation as the lead applicant and one or more partners, one of which must be a public sector body. Partnerships can apply for funding of up to £250,000 over three years and must be match funded by a public sector partner.
Organisations interested in applying to the fund should contact us, by emailing wayforward@corra.scot, to arrange an initial discussion about your project. The closing date for applications is 2pm on Thursday 27thNovember 2025, and the final date for initial enquiries is 5pm Friday 7th November 2025.
More here.
This year, the Aberdeenshire Integration Joint Board agreed a review of Aberdeenshire Community Hospitals, to enable the creation of a strategic delivery plan for how community-based health services are delivered for our population over the coming years.
The first stage of the review process is an information gathering one, and as part of that, they need to hear from communities to understand how people use Community Hospitals and what their experiences are.
To do that they will be holding drop-in sessions in several towns, and they would encourage as many people as possible to attend.
If you can, please go along to Stonehaven Community Centre on Thursday 6th November between 3pm and 7pm to chat to the team. If you cannot make the event please fill in the survey here.
As the K&M population is rural and spread over a large geographic area they would also like to hear from people who do not live in one of the towns which has a Community Hospital.
The survey is open from 6th October until 16th November.