We are delighted to welcome Slains Environmental Action for Change (SEAchange) to the Scottish Civic Trust’s My Place Mentoring programme!
Having secured funding from the Scottish Land Fund, SEAchange recently took ownership of the Old Kirk of Slains and a community woodland in Collieston, Aberdeenshire. Their ambition is to become net carbon neutral as a community by 2045.
The group plans to redevelop the former Slains Kirk into a centre that encourages environmental awareness, promotes their local heritage, and inspires enjoyment of arts and music. This will be complemented by a community woodland where plans are already well underway. In June, the group, along with volunteers and local pupils from Slains primary school, celebrated planting the first trees in the Kirkland Wood.
Their vision is for the category B-listed former Kirk to become a central focus for their community and an example and model of how an old stone-built property could be insulated to the highest specifications, heated with renewable energy (through installation of an air/ground source heat with additionally electricity needs provided by solar / wind) and provide a net input of electricity to the grid.
Scottish Civic Trust is proud to support the SEAchange through our My Place Mentoring programme, which supports community groups across Scotland to develop the skills, knowledge and capacity needed to get their heritage projects off the ground. Our My Place Mentoring Officer will be helping SEAchange to develop skills in project planning, governance and fundraising.
Keep up with the group’s progress by following them on Facebook.