AUCHENGRAY & IMPROVEMENT FOUNDATION The Warbler IMPROVE • PROMOTE • ATTRACT May 2019 WAT IF? www.watif.scot New Taxibus Service

We are delighted to announce that we are extending the Taxi Service further into West Lothian, with WAT IF? residents being able to use a new service from Saturday 1st June to reach both West Calder and Livingston. Please note the change of service provider – full contact and booking details can be found on the This extension to the service is in response to extensive enclosed leaflet. consultation with the community and reflects the need for demand responsive transport in the area. The new We are also investigating a South service, service will be run by Real Radio Cars, and will follow the however due to the small number of taxi companies in same timetable as before, running Monday to Saturday the local area able to take on a contract of this style, we between 7am and 9.30pm. The service must be pre- are struggling to get enough interest to run a full tender booked at least 1 hour before you want to travel, and can process. We will continue to investigate this service, and only be used by residents of the WAT IF? area, with fares if anyone has a suggestion of a company to contact, please set at £1 for concessions and £2 for adults (one way). get in touch.

Customer: WATIF FCG Ref: 010488 Approved by: ...... Date: ...... Important: Full Circle Graphics will not accept responsibility for any errors found after final Cyan Yellow Reference: Version: 3 Warbler May 2019 QC:...... approval has been signed. Digital artwork will not be dispatched until final written approval is Substrate: 150 gsm silk Artist: AP returned. All colours are pantone matched. Magenta Black QC:...... Client proofs and on screen display are representative only and not Date: 03.05.19 necessarily accurate to final printed colours. ©Full Circle Graphics The Alba Centre , Livingston , We st Lothian EH54 7EG T. 01506 420512 www .fullcirc legraphics.co.u k Approval and/or ordering is your agreement to our Terms & Conditions which are available on request. WAT IF? Annual General Meeting Update Thank you to everyone who attended the WAT IF? A Bigger Board Annual General Meeting at Tarbrax Village Hall on Tuesday 16th April. The meeting offered members, local Members also voted to increase the size of the WAT IF? Board residents and the general public an opportunity to find out from 9 to 11 Trustees. The increase in the size of the more about the work of WAT IF? over the last 12 months. board will support the continued growth and development It also dealt with the election of volunteer trustees to the of WAT IF? and its broad range of community projects. WAT IF? Board. If you would like to find out more about WAT IF’s Trustee Elections activities over the last 12 months, you can download a copy of the Chair’s Report and Signed Accounts WAT IF? members voted to appoint James Bryden (Dec 2017 - Nov 2018) at www.watif.scot/funding. (Auchengray), Patricia Tucker (Falla), Cate Wright (Auchengray Primary School), John Robertson () and Andras Peters (Tarbrax) to the Board of Trustees. James Hewlett (Tarbrax resident and serving Treasurer) stood for re-election and was re-appointed to the board for a further 3 years. Trustee Amanda Neilands (Polkelly), resigned from the board and we thank her for her contribution over the last 12 months. Trustees: Pat Mavor (Chair, Cobbinshaw), Mandy Meikle (Secretary, Woolfords), Marnie Jones (Woolfords), G Hamilton (Crosswoodhill) and Myra Dick (Mosshat); will continue to serve on the WAT IF? board for the duration of their terms of office. WAT IF? is delighted to welcome our new and returning volunteer trustees and recognises the vital contribution you all make to our work. James Bryden

Cate Wright Patricia Tucker

John Robertson Andras Peters Easter Playscheme The Easter Holiday Playscheme was a great success with 79 children’s places filled over the 5 days of the scheme! Activities included a visit from Zoolab, Scavenger Hunts, Science Experiments, a Sports Day and trips out to Leaping Lemurs Soft Play and Vue Cinema to see Missing Link. We also got stuck into lots of other craft activities and have even made some dog poo bag dispensers to be placed around the village common! Thank you to everyone who attended and I hope to see you all again for our Summer Playscheme - keep an eye out for details!

Vue cinema trip Visit from Zoolab

Healthy Living Pupils at Auchengray Primary School have been learning all about the value of healthy eating and keeping active with Tanya from Leisure & Culture and Connor Jamieson, WAT IF? Sports Development Officer. The Healthy Families programme was delivered over a 6-week period and used fun and games to encourage the children to be active together whilst learning about healthy eating. The children covered topics such as: • Portion Sizes • Fizzy Juice • Eatwell Guide • Physical Activity A big thanks to Tanya for delivering the class and for The bouncy castle! bringing the Bouncy Castle. The kids loved it! Project Updates Both Projects funded by MUGA Floodlights We recently completed a partnership project with South minimise disruption to the school, and the final stage will Lanarkshire Council to install lighting at the MUGA be the fitting of the actual lights, which are currently on a (Multi Use Games Area) pitch at Auchengray Primary delayed delivery, but should take place by the end of May. School. The school was rebuilt in 2016 as part of the Schools Modernisation Programme, and a new sports Funding was secured for the MUGA Floodlight project from pitch was installed for both school and community use, two local funders; Levenseat Trust who funded 50% of the however its use was severely restricted in the winter capital works and the Renewable Energy Fund who provided due to dark nights. This was raised as a concern from an additional 37%. WAT IF? funds were used for the design local residents, school pupils and parents, and we started and professional fees and 13% of the capital works cost. discussions with SLC to see what could be done. It has taken many hours of hard work and we are delighted to see the project finally come to fruition. The floodlights will light the pitch to a consistent level to enable its use for a variety of sporting activities; the pitch is currently used by the school, local residents and after school clubs. The lights are low energy LEDs and will be installed on 8m posts at each corner of the pitch, with a lot of work undertaken to ensure no light spillage onto neighbouring properties. The lights will have inbuilt timers ensuring that they cannot be used after 9pm preventing night time light pollution and up until then the lights can be operated by a push button which will give 1 hour of light. This was a key in the design brief to allow anyone to use the pitch without having to pre-book or collect keys etc. The civil engineering works including the installation of the posts was completed during the Easter Holidays to

Tarbrax Bowling Club WAT IF? are delighted to announce 2 funding awards towards a new howf for Tarbrax Bowling Club. We have been awarded £10,000 from South Lanarkshire Council’s Renewable Energy Fund and £10,400 from the Levenseat Trust. Work will start on site from late April (ground works, concrete pad and soak away) with the new howf building due to arrive in June. We hope to get the new facility up and running in time for the second half of the outdoor bowling season. Thanks to Tarbrax Community Council and Cllr. Catherine McClymont for providing letters of support for both funding applications.

Site of the former howf (now demolished) Broadband Update The Broadband Working Group has been very busy over the last couple of months investigating solutions to improve broadband in the WAT IF? area. New Wireless Broadband Service Two Wireless Broadband Drop in Information Sessions were held at Woolfords Village Hall (Wednesday 3 April) and Auchengray Church Centre (Thursday 4 April). Thanks to those residents (and local Councillors) who dropped by to find out more about the proposed wireless broadband service. We were delighted by the positive response we received and are now in talks with Borders Online to develop a service for the local area which we hope to have up and running by late summer. The planned service will provide significantly improved broadband speeds for residents in Woolfords and our outlying areas. Thank you also, to all 63 of you who completed the Broadband Survey circulated with the March Warbler. The information provided will be of great help in planning for the new wireless service. Further information to follow in the July issue of the Warbler…. Update on Progress towards R100 On 25th March, the Broadband Working Group met with Duncan Nisbet, the R100 Stakeholder Director. He shared details about the planned roll out of superfast broadband in our area as part of the national R100 program (the Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver superfast broadband to 100% of premises in by 2021). Negotiations with the service providers are still at the procurement stage with information about which properties will be connected and when, expected to be available towards the end of 2019. Current An example of a wireless feedback is that the 2021 deadline is “challenging” so residents broadband relay may well be in for a longer wait for an improved service.

Broadband Working Group & Duncan Nisbet, R100 Stakeholder (far left). An Update from Auchengray Primary School By Carol Pennock, Head Teacher Throughout this session we have continued to build our knowledge and understanding of the need for healthy partnership with WAT IF? which is helping to ensure living, including the food they eat and the need to have an that all our learners have access to an extended range of active lifestyle. learning pathways through which they are developing skills for learning, work and life. WAT IF? Youth Worker, Kelly Fyfe recently provided all pupils with the opportunity to participate in extra- Thanks to the fulfilment of WAT IF’s Broadband Fibre curricular activities at lunchtime in the school. This Partnership with Openreach, which led to the installation proved popular with those pupils who can’t always of a green fibre-enabled cabinet in Auchengray, we have attend after school clubs due to the other commitments recently been able to upgrade our internet access to FTTC they have. The children enjoyed a range of art activities (fibre to the cabinet). This means we no longer grind to a and the pupils have asked for these and some sporting halt when there are a number of staff and pupils accessing activities to continue this term. the World Wide Web in order to enhance their learning experience or even just get on with the daily work routine. The older pupils have been volunteering on a rotational basis at the monthly Pop-Up café in Tarbrax Hall. This WAT IF? Sports Development Officer, Connor Jamieson, has provided them with a great opportunity to develop helped out with the recent cross-country training run their awareness of citizenship and to participate in the by our parents – this meant that we could transport the world of work in a real context. I have received so many pupils to the Small Bing at Tarbrax and provide the pupils positive comments from the café patrons, complimenting with a real experience of running a substantial distance in the children on their attitude and interactions. The pupils the open air on natural terrain. have been impressed with the responsibility they have Connor also worked with South Lanarkshire Council been given; they have enjoyed interacting with members Health Schools Initiative to provide the school with access of the community and have appreciated everyone being so to a range of lessons aimed at developing the pupils kind to them.

Tarbrax Bing Tarbrax Village Hall – Community Grant Award A big part of the role of WAT IF? Is to work with local groups, and support them in their activities, and we work particularly closely with the groups in the area managing facilities. Assets like our village halls are so important to the community, and we are delighted to be able to provide financial support for the upkeep and improvement of these essential buildings. Recently we awarded £2,000 to Tarbrax Common and Village Hall Trust for the removal and replacement of the hall blinds. This included the removal of the ceiling blinds, which required over 9 metres of scaffolding to be erected in order for the job to be done. This has made a huge difference in the hall, with much more light streaming in and with the wall blinds now being electronically controlled it has made it easier for the committee and users to maintain a good level of lighting for all types of Before After activities.

Timebank Timebank volunteers have been busy in the local community again, this time down on the farm! At the end of March, three Timebank members cleaned out a hen house and picked up branches from a wood for another Timebank member. By the end of the day, the wood was tidy and the hens had a clean comfortable home to enjoy. Coffee, scones and lunch were provided for the hard workers.

“The volunteers have made a big difference to the bottom area of the wood and the water in the ditch can now move more freely. Timebank volunteers at Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a decent the farm photo of the wonderfully clean hen house with the chickens in, but they loved the fresh environment. Many thanks to all the Timebank volunteers who helped with this venture.” Timebank Member

Timebanking is a way of local people using their time and skills to do tasks that others need help with. Timebank members give and receive all sorts of services, such as listening and visiting, gardening, form filling, sharing skills in knitting or computer use etc. Every hour spent helping someone will earn a time credit. Timebanking is an informal way of volunteering and is focused on community spirit. For more information on taking part in the WAT IF? Timebank please contact Jane on 01501 785194 or 07722 130 801, email [email protected], or visit us at The cleaned hen house the WAT IF? Office, Tarbrax Village Hall, EH55 8XE. Seniors Outings Would you like to get out and about and meet other seniors from the local area? If so, you are warmly welcomed to come along on a WAT IF? Seniors outing. We have two trips planned for this summer. A trip to Rejects Department Store in Kirkcaldy on Tuesday 2nd July and a trip to The Kelpies in Falkirk on Tuesday 13th August, setting off at 9.30am and returning at 3pm. Pick ups are available from Tarbrax, Woolfords and Auchengray. Please get in touch if you need help getting to any of these pick up points from other locations in the WAT IF? area. Places are limited, to book contact Jane on: 01501 785194 or 07722 130 801, email [email protected], or visit us at the Seniors on a day out

Save the Date for the Fun Day! We are working with Tarbrax Community Council and other local groups to once again put on a Community Fun Day, on Saturday 8th June on Tarbrax Common. Following on from the success of last year, the Scarecrow competition will be back with the theme for this year set as ‘Heroes and Villains’. There will also be all the usual

races, with live music, food and refreshments available in the marquee! There is also the chance to show off your gardening skills with the recycled planter competition! Last year’s winning Keep an eye on our websites for more info closer to the scarecrow time: www.watif.scot and www.tarbraxcommunitycouncil.co.uk. Coming Soon

Pop Up Community Café Friday 31st May 11am-3pm Tarbrax Village Hall

A great opportunity to catch up with family and friends over a light lunch or tea, coffee and cakes. Weather permitting we will get out the sun umbrellas for some al fresco dining!

Contact us: WAT IF? Staff Team Tarbrax Village Hall, Becky McCauley, Development Manager Tarbrax, EH55 8XE Monday to Thursday Tel: 01501 785 194 Jane Wilson, Seniors Worker 8.30am – 5.00pm Email: [email protected] Fb: watifcommunitytrust Friday www.watif.scot 8.30am – 2.00pm

Extension and Muirhall South), Harburnhead Windfarm, EDF (Pearie Law) and Tormywheel Windfarm. Supported by the Scottish Government and Impact Funding Partners. ”WAT IF? is a registered Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, SC043606