Europe Direct Information Centre Outer Hebrides January 2014 Issue 7

In this issue: TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE HARRIS TWEED INDUSTRY Page 1 As demand for Harris Tweed continues to grow, a new Harris Tweed Skills training programme has been developed to ensure EUROQUIZ 2014 traditional skills are maintained within the industry. The training opportunities, focused on the Page 2 sustainable growth of the industry, are funded by the European Elections European Social Fund, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, HIE 2014 Local EDIC Promoted and the Harris Tweed Industry. Hebridean Way An opportunity has arisen for existing or recently trained weavers to undertake training in Loom Maintenance skills, a course on general maintenance of the Double Width Griffiths THE €UROZONE loom. Trainees will learn how the loom is set up, how to maintain the loom, and advice on the most common mechanical problems faced by weavers. €1= £0.82 The course will be delivered over a period of 6 weeks with flexible options. €1= $1.36 If you are interested in attending the course or require further information, please Source: contact Jen Ellis, Training Officer, St. Lennan’s Youth Services Centre, 22 – 24 Point European Central Bank, Street, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, HS1 2XF. ( 01851 822715, or e-mail as at 31/1/14 [email protected] no later than 21 February 2014.

EUROQUIZ 2014 — BRINGING EUROPE TO LIFE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Contact us at As partner to the Europe Direct network, the Scottish European Educa- Europe Direct Information tional Trust runs an annual EUROQUIZ for Primary 6 pupils in Scot- Centre – Outer Hebrides land. This competition sees teams of four pupils working together to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar broaden their knowledge of Europe. Subjects covered include history, Sandwick Road Stornoway geography, sport, culture, languages and the European Union. Region- Isle of Lewis al heats take place from January to March each year, with the winning HS1 2BW team from each area competing in the national final, held in May in the

Phone: 0845 600 7090 Scottish Parliament Chamber. Island Schools have done well in this Internal: 211010 prestigious competition in the past and last year’s local winners, Stornoway Primary E-mail and Website: europedirect@cne- School, reached the Quarter Finals. siar.gov.uk http://www.cne- Registration is now open for Euroquiz 2014 — please see http://www.seet.org.uk/ siar.gov.uk/ activities/euroquiz.php for more details, and resources for training your team. EDIC on Facebook /EDICOuterHebrides The Scottish European Educational Trust was established in 1993 and aims to promote and encourage education about Europe to students at Schools, Colleges and Universi- EDIC on Twitter ties across Scotland. It works closely with the European Parliament, the European @EDICOuterHeb Commission, the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government, Education Scotland, Opening hours— from 9am Europe Direct, the British Council, the Scottish Centre for Information on Language to 1pm, Monday to Friday. Teaching & Research and Radio Lingua.

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS 2014 LOCAL EDIC PROMOTED Elections to the EUROPE DIRECT Information Centre - Outer European Hebrides was heavily featured in the 2013 issue Parliament take of the popular ‘Yours Directly’ newsletter, the place between 22 official newsletter of the Europe Direct Network. and 25 MAY An extract from the article reads: “Europe Direct 2014. This will is all about bringing the EU closer to citizens. be the eighth Europe wide Election to the European Nowhere is this more important than at Europe’s Parliament since the first direct Elections in 1979. extremities, where information centres such as Since the last European Elections, more power has been EDIC Outer Hebrides (UK) and EDIC Madeira given to the European Parliament to set the political (Portugal) have just opened. direction of Europe and to influence our daily lives. A more “The quality of the natural environment in the powerful European Parliament means more influence for Outer Hebrides is special, and the people have a everyone and more ability to deal with our problems. strong cultural identity directly related to the Participation in these Elections is therefore important. indigenous Gaelic language,” says EDIC manager Linda Cunningham. “The region has SCOTTISH CANDIDATES FOR 2014 benefited greatly from EU funding for more than CONSERVATIVE Ian Duncan, Belinda Don, Nosheena 20 years, primarily through the Structural and Mobarik, Jamie Gardiner, Iain McGill, Stuart Mcintyre Rural Development Funds,” says Linda. “EU LABOUR David Martin, Catherine Stihler, Derek Munn, funding support has really helped to improve Katrina Murray, Asim Khan, Kirsty O’Brien inter-island connectivity through better roads, SNP Ian Hudghton, Alyn Smith, Tasmina Amhed-Sheikh, bridges and causeways.” Stephen Gethis, Toni Giugliano, Chris Stephens “The economy, however, is still regarded as SCOTTISH GREEN Maggie Chapman, Chas Booth, Alis fragile due to depopulation, geography, and Balance, Alastair Whitelaw, Grace Murray, Steen Parish higher energy and transport costs. UKIP David Coburn, Mike Scott-Hayward, Christopher “The main challenge for a new information Monckton, Otto Inglis, Paul Henke, Malcolm Macaskill, centre is a lack of community engagement with Ross Durance, Steven McKeane, Kevin Newton Europe, due to the perception of the EU being We will have more to follow on these candidates as we get quite remote from local citizens,” says Linda. “To closer to the Election on the 22 May 2014 . encourage citizen participation, we are planning to promote the European Parliament elections More information at: http://www.elections2014.eu/en this year by encouraging first-time voters And, EDIC Outer Hebrides has invited Mr Bjorn Kjellstrom, through a series of local engagement events.” Head of the European Parliament Information Office in the “The EDIC also hopes to host an Election UK, to visit the islands during March 2014 to share with us information event for the general public and the importance of participation in these Elections. information on who can vote, and registering can be found at the following link”: HEBRIDEAN WAY UNDERWAY http://www.europarl.org.uk/en/your_meps/ Work on the £1.4m ’Hebridean european_elections/can_i_vote.html Way’ longdistance walk / cycle routs has commenced supported by EC CALENDARS ISSUED TO LIBRARIES European Regional Development European Commission Fund, the Comhairle and SNH. Representation in the UK Phase 1 runs from Vatersay to Stor- calendars, 2014 have noway with plans for a Phase 2 ex- been issued to Libraries tension from Stornoway to the Butt across the Outer Hebri- of Lewis. des. Sustrans have approved the Cycle Route to become Route Available free of charge, 780 of the National Cycle Network, scheduled for comple- these desktop calendars tion in mid 2014 with the Walk Route opening in March feature key EU scenes and events across the 2015. More information at http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ UK. http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom