Kirkmichael Session House annual report 2010

Kirkmichael Session House & Open Learning Centre
(Kirkmichael Straloch & Glenshee Parish Church)

The Session House was officially opened in March 2002 and is now in its ninth year of operation. The centre aims to support the local community by offering training courses for adults, and social and recreational events for both adults and children. The Session House is owned by the Church of Scotland and operated by a management committee comprising representatives from the local Congregational Board, user groups and Friends of the Session House, under the authority of the Congregational Board.

During the last year the Session House has had a total of 49 students working on computer courses (including a Blog Workshop), Elementary Food Hygiene, First Aid and art courses. The ila grants provided by the Government have proved popular with students, with all students on Perth College courses this year using the grants to pay for them. During 2010 we had no specific funding for our employment costs, and used funds held to cover this. In January 2011 we were then successful in gaining £7000 funding from the Gannochy Trust to pay for the employment of our part-time development worker for 2011, and are immensely grateful for this support.

In January 2009 we started a weekly knitting group called Clicking Needles now involving up to 18 ladies who together have produced a phenomenal amount of items for a range of charities using mainly donated wool. One of the latest ventures has involved producing hats, mittens and glove puppets to send out to a Mary’s Meals project in Malawi. The group also sent out 28 shoeboxes via the Blytheswood Appeal, and is continuing their link with Mary’s Meals. A number of items have been sold throughout the year to raise funds for transporting items abroad, and ‘beanie’ hats proved particularly popular at the Strathardle Gathering. A good range of ages come together for what has been described as “the nicest group I’ve ever been involved in” and it has to be said that the tongues are working as fast as the needles when they gather on a Monday afternoon. Clicking Needles joined with folk from our fortnightly Drop-In for a trip to the local pottery at Christmas.

We still have a small art group meeting weekly in the Session House (weather permitting!), and once again we joined in the Perthshire Open Studios with a display of art and craft work. We repeated our venture of running an art competition for older primary age children which was judged by all those visiting the art display over a nine-day period – last year’s winner’s work was shown in the Perthshire Open Studios catalogue. A total of 14 local artists took part in this display together with our Art in the Glen group. We ran four different art courses during the year with the support of the Drumderg Windfarm Energy Fund and also an embroidery workshop with support from the Pitcarmick Personal Enhancement Fund.

The building is used for meetings by a range of different organisations including the Community Council, Strathardle Gathering Committee, Enterprising Eastern Perthshire and the Drumderg Panel and there are regular sessions provided by a chiropodist. A one-off event this year was running a bus to the Antiques Roadshow at Blair Castle, with assistance from a Community Council Drumderg Micro grant.

Our longterm problems with internet access were finally resolved in June 2010 when BT made improvements to the Strathardle exchange, which increased the availability of broadband. We had extremely high telephone costs during the year as the ISDN line ended up costing us around £1000 more in telephone charges than the previous year. The progress in Strathardle has not been matched in the other much smaller local exchanges, who still suffer from very poor access, but where numbers are too low for BT to consider improvements without political pressure.

For any rural community, it can be difficult to publicise facilities and events. The parish covers a large geographical area, and we work hard at keeping people informed of local events to help to maintain a community spirit. Our Development Worker produces the local newsletter, Across the Glens, and also edits the local website, www.the-glens.org.uk, in addition to running an email news information service, now reaching over 177 households. For those who do not have computers, we have linked with a system using text messages to publicise information and events.

The Summer Festival organised by the Session House is one of the main community events. Taking place at the start of the school holidays, it draws in a number of different organisations in the community, including church, youth club, village hall, local crafts people, and village shop. As local people and visitors join together, there is the opportunity to join together with fundraising and to meet old friends.

In 2010 we set up the Pitcarmick Personal Enhancement Fund, which provides funding to help individuals access training in a wide range of areas. The Fund has already subsidised the cost of running a craft course and the local keep fit group, and has helped individuals in training costs. Funds are available to individuals living in the local parish area who wish to undertake training in recreational and work-related areas or to help in charitable work, but cannot be used for courses which should be funded by an employer. This fund, managed by the Scottish Community Foundation, will make funding for training easier to access and anyone who would like to apply should contact the Secretary of the Session House. In addition to the Gannoch Trust, we are grateful to the Mrs. M.A. Lascelles Charitable Trust for its support. The Friends of the Session House continue to give financial and practical support in the running of the Session House.

The Management Committee would like to express our appreciation of the hard work done by our part-time Development Worker, Petrina Menzies and thank the community for their support.

April 2011
Scottish Charity Ref. No. SC008021