Meeting held on December 4th 2011

Connor, David, Jane, Helen Ann, Stephanie, Georgina, Marie, Anne and Mary attended.

Meeting in Stornoway cancelled.

We reported that, due to the storms over the weekend of November 25th, we had reluctantly taken the decision to cancel the trip. This was probably a sensible decision, since the afternoon ferry back on Saturday was also cancelled, which would have left us stranded in Leverburgh! Sensible but disappointing as we were so looking forward to the event!

Christmas Fayre.

This turned out to have been a much greater success than we dared hope for. Many more people attended than we probably expected, and it appears that we have raised more than £900. Tremendous thanks need to go to everyone who contributed so generously. There was a real buzz about the building and  there was an excellent variety of stalls and the musicians and mince-pies / mulled drinks contributed greatly to the ambience.  Restore did a brisk trade with their brilliant decorations, newly-designed planters and recycled furniture. Face-painting, toy and book sales,together with the teddy tombola  catered imaginatively for the younger ones. Plants and fresh vegetables were snapped up and the baking stall was a knock out.  The learners’ hand made gifts and the cards were very attractive and sold successfully. The proceeds were to be split three ways; 50% to the Adult Learners, 25% to Restore and 25% to Cothrom Og. Jane and Georgina were indefatigable on the day as terrific helpers. During the event , they were in charge of the ‘Guess then number of sweets in the Jar’ and managed this in a highly professional way. Our special thanks and appreciation go to them.

Christmas Party

This would be held on Monday December 12th.

AOB

Various requests were made for trips out by the learners. The Screen Machine, Lunch at Kildonan Museum, Stornoway were mentioned.

Meeting on November 7th

Connor, David, Georgina,Helen Ann, Stephanie, Jane, Anne and Mary were present. Marie Klapetkova from Barra sent apologies.

The meeting centred round discussion of the preparations for the Adult Learners Christmas Fayre on December 2nd. Everyone was encouraged to come with friends and family, where possible, and to distribute posters/spread the word, although some were uncertain, either because of transport difficulties or school/work placements. Jane and Georgina kindly offered to come and help with the setting up all day and with the Fayre itself- a generous offer which was gratefully received. Contributions to the raffle were encouraged from work placements.

Next we discussed the contributions learners felt they could make.

Helen Ann; designing and printing out stick on gift tags to go with small packs of tie-on recycled tags, helping with pot pourri bags.

Connor and David to visit Restore and help with small wooden decorations, hearts bells and trees.

Georgina, Stephanie and Jane ; pot pourri  and lavender bags, other decorations

There was a suggestion that we might ask the Cothrom Og children for drawings to go on Cothrom’s own  Nollaig Chrideil and Bliadhna Mhath Ur cards

 

Trip to Stornoway for the Learning Shop’s tenth anniversary party on November 25th.

Jane MacDonald and Marie Klaptekova were to attend, with Mary. Questions about local employment opportunities were emailed in advance to Graeme Miller for Alasdair Allan, MSP,  and poems for their publication on Anniversaries were sent from the Poetry Workshop as a contribution from Cothrom.

AOB

The learners requested a half-hour ‘common room’ facility to be made available to them after lunch, so they might play music and chat. Mary explained that with the part-time resiting of the Howmore Post Office facility at Cothrom, as well as the extra Community Workers’ posts, rooming was becoming very tight, but it was agreed that the request should remain on the agenda.

Minutes of Second Meeting

Meeting held on October 4th

At our meeting yesterday the discussion first centred round the making of the video. Progress here was slower than we had hoped and, as usual, we had encountered some setbacks, notably, weather interfering with sound quality and unavailability of some learners at arranged times. We recognised these setbacks were all part of the process and that the video would probably take us more time! The sound on Ali’s interview was interrupted by the wind, but the visuals were excellent at Restore! Jane’s filming inside at Craigard had gone well, however Marnie Keltie needs to see it before we can show this more widely.

We then discussed the learner experience and any improvements that Cothrom might be able to make. There was considerable appreciation of every aspect of the provision here on the part of the learners.The only suggestion put forward by some of the younger learners was the notion of a common-room for half an hour after lunch during the lunch-break.  It was difficult to see where this might happen, especially when there might be a Post Office at Cothrom. Everyone agreed that the way staff and students all had tea and toast at 11.00a.m. and ate lunch together was an important feature of Cothrom’s success.

The remaining time was spent discussing The Christmas Fayre as a way of raising money for some Adult Learner trips. Stornoway have already invited us  to represent Cothrom at their tenth birthday celebrations, on November 25th so some of us will try and go over. Learners have been invited to video-conference with Graeme Miller to decide on some questions to put to Alasdair Allen, our local MSP, who will be at the celebration, so we then discussed issues we needed to raise.

We also intend to try and visit Barra in the spring for a CALF meeting with Brendan MacNeil.

So raising funds for such trips, as well as some possible social events, (eg. The Screen Machine), is a real priority for us and we discussed ideas for things we could make at Cothrom for the Christmas Fayre. Afterwards this was discussed by Anne and Mary with Barbara and Agnes. The time and date were fixed for 4.00 till 8.00 p.m. on Friday December 2nd here at Cothrom

Some ideas for what we might all make at Cothrom were computer generated cards, labels and also Christmas decorations, made from recycled materials.

Thanks to everyone who attended for their invaluable support!

Minutes of first meeting

September 5^th- our first blog!

Its aims are:

• to begin to put adult learners in touch with each other
• to alert employers to the needs of those seeking voluntary work and/or paid employment
• to be a voice across the islands for adult learners of whatever age

Meeting, held on September 5^th

At our last meeting, held on September 5^th, planning for the short video about our work placements, including interviews with employers, was our main focus. Aidan was to  be  interviewed before he left for Stornoway by Kirsty and Jane.

Ali would nterview Paul or Chris at Restore, Jane would interview at Craigard, Georgina at Stepping Stones, Sammie’s interview would focus on the benefits of the nursery at Cothrom, Helen Ann would do her interview at Creagorry Co-op, while we would try and visit Paul at the fish farm and Stephanie, once she had her placement.

It was planned to show the video at a future meeting and lunch to which we would try and invite employers to become sponsors of our newsletter.

 Ideas for Fundraising

• Bring and Buy for Christmas
• Sponsored  Walk
• Making Cakes and Regular Sales
• Making Christmas Cards/Decorations
• Out-door Activity Day –in the better weather next year-(pier jumping?)

These ideas will form the basis for discussion at our next meeting on October 3rd at 11.30- thanks to all concerned.