New Articles of Association

Our new Articles of Association were unanimously approved at the EGM on 21/12/2016 - they can be read in full here

The next management meeting will be held on January 12th - if anybody would like to get involved, please let us know (either email us gifford.woodseh41@gmail.com or contact one of the team directly).

Cheers

Kevin

More Press Coverage

Following the previous Edinburgh Evening News piece (see link below), another interview with Chairman John Wrinn is featured in this week's East Lothian Courier, and is available at the link below - including a nice picture of some members of the local community.

>£290,000 cash boost for bid for community to buy woods near Gifford

Press Coverage

There's a nice piece about our grant award in today's Edinburgh Evening News, including a brief interview with our Chairman John Wrinn

> East Lothian group wins £300k grant for woodland purchase

Revised Articles of Association

Our EGM on the 21st (19:30, village hall) will be to discuss and formally agree changes to our Articles of Association. These are as required to achieve charitable status following guidance from OSCR.

The new Articles will be circulated to our full email list shortly - they can be accessed and read here.

For those who would like to compare the new and the old, the old articles can be accessed here.

Any comments can be emailed to us in advance of the EGM, otherwise we look forward to answering any questions on the night.

Great News!

We are delighted to announce that the Scottish Land Fund has agreed to conditionally grant the Gifford Community Land Company £291,520 to support our attempted purchase of (and the ongoing upkeep of) Speedy & Fawn woods. This grant award is conditional on successful price negotiation with the vendor and our ability to raise the additional funds we will require.

We have already received significant pledges of financial support from within the community and have had a number of successful fund-raising events.  We have now applied for charitable status and will only be asking people to honour their pledges once this is in place and we have completed our negotiations.

Clearly the Scottish Land Fund grant award is a huge step forwards for us. We are optimistic that negotiations will be completed - and the additional funds required raised - before the end of March. To ensure we will be able to hit the ground running if the purchase is completed, we have already started the process of recruiting a Woodlands Project Manager (as proposed in our feasibility study).

We are a community led project and are open to any offers of support or assistance (be that financial support, people volunteering their time/expertise or able to help recruit the Project Manager). All are welcome to join us for our next public meeting (our EGM at Gifford Village Hall on 21/12 at 19:30) where any questions can be asked and (hopefully!) answered.

For those not able to attend the EGM, we can be contacted by email directly at gifford.woodseh41@gmail.com - or alternatively feel free to contact any of the management team directly (Meet the Team)

Meet The Team

The following members of the Gifford Community are currently actively involved with this project. If you are unable to attend any of our public meetings, please feel free to contact any of us directly. Alternatively we can be reached by email at gifford.woodseh41@gmail.com

Chairman
Adam White

Board / Management Team
Graeme Davies
Jane Duncan
Rosemary Everett
Kevin Hague
Ian Johnston
Chelsea Knight
Alan Laidlaw
Roo Hardy
Jane Steven
David Thursz
John Wrinn

Special thanks are due to many other enthusiastic fundraisers, volunteers and supporters - too numerous to mention!

Christmas Teas Fund-Raiser

We're delighted to be able to report that Saturday's Christmas Teas in Gifford Village Hall raised an impressive £1,200 towards the Gifford Community Woodlands project. Huge thanks are due to all of the organising team and of course all of you who came along and supported us.

EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting)

Wednesday 21st December, 7:30pm Gifford Village Hall

This meeting is being called to vote on an amendment to the constitution of Gifford Community Land Company Ltd. In order to officially register the company for charitable status, we need to bring the constitution inline with OSCR (The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator) requirements.

Please join us to find out more, and hopefully give your approval.

Many thanks!

Christmas Tea Fundraiser

Saturday 10th December 2:30-5:00 pm

Gifford Village Hall 

• Toys & Children’s Books
• Santa
• Bring & Buy
• Tombola  
• Nearly New Clothing
• Knitted Goods

Complimentary glass of Fizz for adults!

Adults:            £4
Children:         £1

Contributions and Donations please call 01620 - 811058

Successful Quiz Night

The Quiz night was a resounding success, raising £770 towards the Gifford Community Woodland Project.

An impressive fourteen teams of four took part with the end result being a tie between reigning champions the Bridge Club and "Team Sumo" (representing the Golf Club).

Huge thanks are due to all who volunteered to make the event a success and who ensured we were sustained through the evening with drink and nibbles.

Special thanks must go to quiz compiler and quiz-master on the night Joe without whom the evening would not have been possible.

News of further events coming soon.

Quiz Night Fund Raiser: November 4th

For those who don't already know, we're having a quiz night on Friday 4th November at the village hall to raise further funds for the Gifford Community Woodland Project.

As with previous quiz nights, teams of four from local clubs/societies are invited to enter (entry fee £20) and Joe Clark is co-ordinating.

If anybody wants to get a team in and doesn't know Joe, please just email us here > giffordwoodseh41@gmail.com

Scottish Land Fund Submission is in

Huge thanks to all involved and everyone who has pledged their support. Special thanks have to go to Roo who has performed heroics to co-ordinate all of the various inputs and put together a very professional grant applications.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed

Unanimous Approval at Public Meeting

At a well attended public meeting on 13 October, unanimous support was given for the proposal to be submitted to the Scottish Land Fund (based on the feasibility study).

The minutes of the meeting can be read in full here > 13 October Public Meeting: Minutes

Fly Tipping

This is what greeted people walking in the woods this morning: sometimes it's hard not to despair

Whoever is responsible for this fly-tipping this should hang their heads in shame; it's lazy, inconsiderate, disrespectful to the community ... oh, and it's illegal too.

This incident has been reported to East Lothian Council.

Macmerry Recycling Centre is open 7 days a week and is just 20 minutes drive away.

Public Meeting: 13th October, 7:30pm, Gifford Village Hall

Drawing Inspiration from Dunbar Woods

Took the chance to visit Lochend Woods in Dunbar today as they were having a community open day.

It was nice to see a community owned woodland in action and thought sharing a few photos might offer a little inspiration for those interested in the Gifford Community Woodland Project.

For a little more background on ths particular project visit dunbarwoods.org

Please Pledge Your Support

As you may already be aware, the woods at the end of Station Road in Gifford (areas 1, 2 & 3 on the map below) have been offered for sale to the community ahead of being put on the open market. If we aren't able to take advantage of this opportunity, their is future at risk and we could lose something of huge value to the village.

[click to see larger image]

Whether as a place for your children to explore, for you to walk the dog or simply enjoy some peace, the woods offer a great deal to us, not to mention the environmental role they play to the wildlife that lives there.

Since news was first released about the sale a great deal has already been achieved by a group of volunteers.  The Gifford Community Land Company (a not-for-profit company that we hope will soon be granted charitable status) is well on the way to making an offer for the woods. If accepted by the current owner, this will mean that Speedy and Fawn Woods would be owned by the local community, safe from development or felling, and remain a place where we – and future generations – can explore and enjoy.

But the woods now need YOUR help. Of the expected purchase price of around £250,000 (being independently valued), we believe that up to 98% could be funded through a variety of public applications, so the village needs to raise £5,000; if 350 households in Gifford each gave just £15 we should meet our target.

If you don’t feel able to offer financial support, DON’T WORRY – if you support the idea, simply by completing the form on the right of this page* you will be helping with our fundraising. If you do feel able to offer a financial pledge, we don’t want your money now but we’ll be back in touch if our funding applications are successful and our offer accepted. In return for any financial support, once we own the woods you will receive a certificate to show that you played your part in saving Gifford’s woodland.

Either way, by completing the form [or if you prefer simply emailing us: gifford.woodseh41@gmail.com] you will help our other funding applications by showing we have community backing to protect this woodland.

Please, pledge your support now and we can save this valuable village asset – and ensure that the woods can continue to be available to all who enjoy them.

Thank you.

*not available on mobile devices: click "view web version" at the foot of the page if you wish to fill in form from a mobile device

Draft Feasibility Study

The document below is the first draft feasibility study [click to see pdf]. This is shared as a work-in-progress in the spirit of openness and to invite comment and perhaps spark debate.