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This blog has had some issues with spam comments and literally thousands of them which were pending have been deleted. If any genuine humans have posted a comment recently that hasn’t appeared on the page, it may have been accidentally deleted along with the spam (sorry!). Feel free to post any lost comments again. Also, you’ll notice there is a captcha phrase to enter now to try and avoid this situation happening again. KVR Technical Support Well, it was a tough decision. The interview panel had to decide between 14 candidates, but in the end all were unanimous in their choice. We are delighted to welcome Isi Nimmo to Kirkmichael Community Shop and Café. Isi comes to us having trained as a chef at Hammersmith and West London College. Thereafter she was employed by the college as a food technician servicing two production kitchens and a training restaurant. She also ran the college shop, selling excess stock from the training kitchens and creating new products for re-sale to students and restaurant customers. This also included creating shop displays, themed and seasonal products. Additionally, she has run events and catered for private parties in London. Now firmly domiciled in Dalrymple, Isi starts with us this week and we are extremely excited to be working with her and looking forward to expanding the café side of our little business KVR Committee … to take charge of running the café in cooperation with the existing shop manager. Cooking and weekend work required. Hours 20 per week. Initial 3-month contract (with possibility of extension). If interested, please contact the shop, 01655 750499, to be put in touch with Eleanor Scobie who will supply you with a job description and further information on how to apply. KVR Committee The village shop and café are shortly to play host to a delegation from Estonia. Around ten Estonians will be visiting on Thursday 19th to see what local rural community efforts can achieve and to hear about our future plans for the village. This is being done under the auspices of Ailsa Horizons. The group will be arriving around 11.30 and will be staying for food, so a busy lunch service for those on duty at the time! This may be the first of many visits, so let’s hope that they feel welcome and that they can take some useful information and inspiration home with them! Can you believe it’s nearly a year since we opened the shop in Jocks? No, we can’t either. Anyway, it’s a reason to celebrate. So, we’re having another public meeting this Friday (March 18th) at 8pm. Yes, we know it’s Red Nose Day, but hopefully you can record it if it really matters to you. We can always pass around a bucket for donations. We will be giving an update on the shop (including the finances) and the hall. We will hopefully be having updates on the pub and the new school from Dorothy Birks and the new headmistress and there will be a rundown on some exciting social occasions in the near future. After that, we plan on partying. Bring a bottle (or three) of your favourite poison and some nibbles if you would like them and lets celebrate that anniversary! KVR Committee Goodness, it’s been a long time since the last post. We, on the KVR committee hope that everyone had a great Christmas and that the New Year is bringing you everything you wanted. As you know, we had hoped to host a Christmas Party for all the shop volunteers on the 29th December. Sadly, the weather and some dodgy pipework put an end to that idea, with the shop ankle-deep in water some of the time and completely waterless the rest of the time. Fortunately, all that is behind us and we would like to invite all the volunteers to a Pudding Night on Friday, Feb 4th at 7.30pm. Eat dinner if you wish beforehand, but leave room to sample a wide range of delectable desserts and maybe a wee glass of something fortifying as well (it’s still cold out there you know!) We’re hoping that this will be a taster (pun intended) evening for the Pudding Club, which is a (remarkably brilliant) idea of Lesley Wilson’s, of which more at a later date. At any rate, if you can make it, slap on the hat and scarf and make your way down to the shop for some unrestrained piggery! We’ll be there! The KVR Committee Hi All – just a reminder about the Halloween Boogie Night taking place this Friday (Oct 29th) in the McCosh Hall, from 8pm – 1am! There is going to be a disco, karaoke and live music in the form of the fantastic Black and Tan (remember them from the BBQ night?) If you saw them then, you won’t want to miss them this time. If you were unlucky enough not to catch them, turn up to see what everyone was raving about. As well as all that, there will be a full bar till after midnight, some nibbles to soak it all up and a raffle (prize donations welcome). Fancy dress is optional, but why not put on an outfit and join in the fun? It is Halloween after all! Tickets cost just £5.00 and can be had from the shop, at the door on the night, or phone Ian on 01655 750415. See you there! Now that the shop/café is successfully up and running (and making a small surplus!), the committee feels that it is time to recognise some of the people/bodies without whose financial assistance this would have been impossible. So…. Firstly, we need to thank all of those in the village who donated sums of money, however large or small, and those who contributed soft loans in order to get us started Secondly, we are grateful to the Rural Panel of South Ayrshire Council which kindly approved a substantial grant to help us with our initial set-up costs
Thirdly, we are profoundly grateful to Ayrshire LEADER, which has not only helped us with a set-up grant of £5,000 (matched by monies raised locally), but has also recently approved a further grant which will cover the cost of half the salaries of two part-time managers for the shop/café for two years. This is a huge bonus for the venture and will really enable us to grow both sides of the business so that it becomes a solidly self-sustaining business in the future Fourthly, the LEADER funding outlined above has been matched by a grant from the Plunkett Foundation and a loan from Cooperative and Community Finance, for which, again, we are extremely grateful
It should be noted that all of the above organisations have visited Kirkmichael to assess the project, the level of public support and check the books! It goes without saying that they were more than happy with what they saw – astonished even at how well we are doing – and they would not be committing their money if this were not the case. Finally, of course, a huge thank you must go to all of those who have contributed their time and talents in any way whatsoever; our volunteers; our customers; and to all those who have wished us well. We could not have achieved what we have achieved without you. Thanks to all who turned out for the public meeting on the 16th – the minutes will appear on the minutes page in due course. It was a very positive meeting supported by two of our local councillors and Julia Whitaker from Ailsa Horizons. KVR now has the go-ahead (unanimous) to proceed with fundraising to finance a feasibility study for the renovation of the McCosh Hall. While we realise that more needs to be done in the village than just the hall, the general consensus was to focus on the hall for the time being. It was also great to get an update on the progress of the Kirkmichael Arms from the new owners Dorothy and Andy Birks, who are hoping to have the place open by Easter 2011 after some pretty extensive reconstruction. For details on this, look at their report in the summer newsletter on the newsletter page. Upcoming:
All for now – thanks for all your support so far, and please keep supporting your village. It’s made such a difference so far – let’s keep it going. The sky’s the limit!! KVR Committee |
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