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Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust is highly commended award at Calor Scottish Community of the Year Awards

The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust has been highly commended in the Environment and Community Life category of the Calor Scottish Community of the Year Awards 2005.

Representatives of the Trust received the awards from Communities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm MSP, at a ceremony held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), today, Thursday 8 December.
In total twenty-six short-listed communities attended the annual event, which this year attracted more than one hundred entries from communities spanning the length and breadth of Scotland.

Now in their eighth year, the awards encompass every aspect of Scottish life, providing communities with an opportunity to gain recognition and reward for its efforts. Their aim is to stimulate local people to take responsibility for their communities and enhance them for common good.

In determining the outcome of the awards, the judges sought best practices within communities, which could be used as examples to others throughout Scotland.

Commenting on the Isle of Gigha’s success, Hamish Husband, Calor Scottish Community of the Year manager, said, “The Isle of Gigha has once again proved that it is a forward thinking and courageous community.
“Its ‘Dancing Ladies’ is Scotland’s first community-owned, grid-connected wind farm and is a great example of the resilience and can-do approach of its residents.

“Remarkably, the three aptly named windmills, Faith, Hope and Charity, not only harness sustainable and abundantly available energy, providing over 125 percent of the island’s electricity requirements, but they also generate an income for the community and social regeneration.

“As previous finalists of the awards, the Isle of Gigha is a very worth recipient of the highly commended awards.”

Since launching in 1998 the awards, which are supported by Calor Scotland in association with Communities Scotland and backed by The Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC), The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Business in the Community (SBC) and The Robert Gordon University (RGU), have been entered by more than a third of all Scottish communities from the Borders to Shetland, as well as all the country’s major urban areas.

The award’s categories include environment, business, younger people, older people and community life, as well as a stand-alone award for community websites. Judging the awards were representatives of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Business in the Community (SBC), Communities Scotland, the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) and The Robert Gordon University and a Community Council Support Officer for a local authority.

For further information regarding the awards visit www.communityoftheyear.org.uk

December 06 , 2005

Notes to editors:

Full lists of winners, highly commended and commended communities, are available on the Community of the Year website at www.communityoftheyear.org.uk
Photographs are available on request from

Ashley Ross
The PR Partnership
tel 01224 588900
Ashley@prpartnership.co.uk

For further information and pictures contact:
Ashley Ross
Awards Co-ordinator
tel 01224 588900
e-mail ashley@prpartnership.co.uk Ashley@prpartnership.co.uk

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