REPORT TO HEARTLAND WIND FOR FUNDING

May 2025

  1. Background
  1. The Healthiest Town project has been operating for 4 years.  It aims to promote positive health for our local community and for the environment we live in.  We work on 4 areas – eat real food, move every day, connection to people and nature and finding balance.

 

We received funding in March 2023 towards our food project.  The aims and activities as outlined in our proposal are listed below.

 

  1. Project Plan 2024 – 25

Aims:

-support healthy, affordable eating from locally sourced ingredients thereby reducing food miles

-reduce food wastage from shops, restaurants and households

-encourage active participation in growing, cooking and learning in our community with a particular focus on those who are or may become at risk of food poverty

-address climate change through community fruit tree planting scheme

 

Activities:

  1. 12 community participative lunches/ events with a focus on reducing food waste and food miles, lead by local people
  2. 3 educational workshops around techniques for preserving and conserving fresh locally sourced food
  3. 3 demonstrations to promote low-cost cooking using local ingredients and easy growing techniques.
  4. seasonal planting and growing activities around the community
  5. raise awareness of the impacts of food waste

 

  1. Progress on above activities

1.We have continued to hold a series of community lunches which have been associated with other events and activities.  This helps to build community relationships, generate interest in food and sharing of ideas.

  1. We have held 2 educational workshops around preserving and fermenting and these were very poplar. We plan to repeat this in the Autumn.
  2. We held a series of cooking workshops during October and November. These were in conjunction with Ballintaggart and focussed on simple, affordable, healthy, local/ low carbon meals. They were attended by 35 people and were very successful. We plan to repeat these in Autumn 25.
  3. We have developed a broad growing project ‘Let’s Get Growing’ which encourages and supports people to grow more food. There are many aspects to this – more below.
  4. We have developed ‘Too Good to Waste’ which is working with local hospitality establishments to reduce food waste. We ran a campaign, information session with Zero Waste Scotland and film night in March and continue to support businesses in reducing food waste.

 

  1. Wider development

As I said last year, the above list really only shows a fraction of what this grant has enabled us to achieve and the progress that has been made.  It has given us a platform from which to develop a food programme and to bring together the relevant local people to do that.

 

We are really excited about this work and the unique position in which the Healthiest Town sits – working as a facilitating, awareness- raising, inspirational project – works very well in this work.  Having the support of Heartland Wind has enabled us also to pull in further funding, including from NHS Charitable Foundation Trust and positive partnerships such as with Brioregioning Tayside.

 

The projects that are now happening locally as a result of this work are:

  • Partnership with Bioregioning Tayside on a community growing project as part of their work on food and climate. Writing the Tayside Community Growing Charter which will be finalised later this year.  Working with them on the implementation of this Charter.
  • Writing a Local Food plan to summarise and pull together this work and that of others to work alongside the Local Plan Plan and Community Action Plan
  • Open Gate Festival 2025 – our second year
    • Encouraging and supporting local growers and producers to open their farms and gardens to the public
    • Aberfeldy Manifesto launch
    • Workshops and talks
    • Schools involvement
    • Community Feast
    • Plans to develop this in future across Perth and Kinross hopefully
  • Aberfeldy manifesto – written 1974
    • We have revisited and re-drafted the Aberfeldy manifesto that outlines issues around food during a meeting during Open Gate 24. We plan to re-launch this during Open Gate 2025
  • Community growing – ‘Lets Ge Growing’ – working locally with a range of partners to identify ways to support people to grow more food
    • We have set up a growing group for mutual support and ordering
    • We are organising a gardeners coffee time each month
    • We have run 2 stalls to promote growing
    • We have supported 2 local schools in their growing with volunteers, equipment and support
    • Planters in community
    • Supporting volunteering for growing and supporting one new gardening group
    • Two workshops run and more planned in growing skills
    • Plans to develop this further
  • Community Orchard project – celebrating our nonagenarians and babies through planting trees
    • Developing this project for 2025/6
    • Locating sites for community orchard
  • Too Good to Waste – food waste reduction campaign
    • Public campaign March 2025
    • Contacted local business and 11 engaged.
    • Meeting with Zero Waste Scotland with businesses
    • Film and discussion night around food waste
  • Community cooking workshops
    • 8 held October/ November 2024 with Ballintaggart
    • 35 people involved. Very positive.
  • Cooking and food equipment in our evolving tool library
  • Promotion of benefits and importance of local, healthy, carbon-friendly eating
  • Networking through various local climate, food and growing networks.

 

  1. The Future – 2025/26

We have gained a presence in the local area and at Perth and Kinross level for this interesting work.  We want to continue to develop this.  Our focus is

  • Running a successful Open Gate and aiming to develop this across a wider area for 2026 and beyond. We have started conversations with Bioregioning Tayside (BRT) and Great Perthshire food and drink network.
  • Developing our Local Food Plan in conjunction with BRT
  • Re-launching the Aberfeldy manifesto and using this as a focus for a campaign summer 2025
  • Developing our community growing project increasing numbers of volunteers, gardens, training and education sessions etc.
  • Running and developing Too Good to Waste campaign throughout the year and during March 26
  • Promoting the concept of the ‘local meal’ in restaurants and cafes
  • Developing the community orchard project planting stage one of this in Autumn 2025 with an exhibition of photographs of local nonagenarians and babies along with a celebratory tea party.
  • Organising a fruit tree maintenance workshop Autumn 25
  • Running a series of 12 cookery classes focusing on simple, local, healthy, low-carbon cooking

 

We are grateful for this funding.

Emma Burtles

May 25

 

 

Community Fund News 2025 – Healthiest Town Aberfeldy Report