COMMUNITY LANDOWNERS CORONAVIRUS RESPONSES

Urras Oighreachd Chàrlabhaigh / Carloway Estate Trust

Photo by Iain Macarthur

1

Carloway Community Centre, Carloway School and Annex will beclosed for the foreseeable future. The Cafe planned for 11th April has been postponed untilfurther notice. The Bazaar will be closed until further notice.There will be no newspapers available on Saturday until furthernotice. The Health Walks (Cuairt & Ceilidh) are cancelled until furthernotice.The Westside Book Group is cancelled until further notice. The Angling Feasibility Study has been postponed; if you wouldlike to find out more please get in touch with Sally.Urras Oighreachd Chàrlabhaigh staff will be working from home,they will be available by email or please phone the usualnumber.

Due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19, some communityevents are no longer going ahead.

Please see the following updates to the newsletter.

This is an uncertain time with advice changing rapidly. Please see NHSInform for up to date health advice. www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus

If you need support such as shopping or collecting prescriptions pleasecontact Chris Schofield on 01851 643297.

Carloway Community Association will endeavour to help.

Newsletter Update

Information correct at time of printing (Tuesday 17 March 2020).

The Carloway Estate comprises of two distinct communities including two Community Associations - these are long-standing, well established organisations that deliver services directly to the community and run community buildings. The Trust owns 11,500 acres and covers 200 crofts – this equates to c.380 occupied houses and a population of a further 825 beyond the estate.

Prior to lockdown (Tuesday 17th March) the Trust in partnership Carloway Community Association distributed a news-letter update explaining which events had been cancelled, which local buildings / offices would be closing, the link to the NHS website for information on coronavirus, and informing residents that UOC staff would be working from home but available via normal channels (phone and e-mail). The update also issued a name and number for residents to call if they needed help with shopping or collecting prescriptions.

The Carloway Estate Trust has responded in a slightly different way to other community landowners we have spoken to so far and is giving vital back office support to other local community groups that are providing frontline support to residents across the estate area. This has been possible due to their established local presence, their relationship with external agencies and the trust within the community they serve.

The Trust is supporting four groups at present that are either already providing or setting up the following services:• Helplines that match required services to volunteers – these are being organised by Carloway Community Association and a joint approach from Breasclete Community Association and Community Council. • Prescription delivery services.• Collecting and delivering shopping including supermarkets, Post Office and Lewis Crofters where required. This is being carried out by volunteers.• “How are you?” telephone calls.• Setting up small food / necessities banks in three places across the estate area. This allows residents to pick up essentials if they run out. The first two have kicked into action and are great set-ups. One is being run as a “pop-up shop” and one on an ‘honesty-shop’ basis.• Emergency Fund to provide help in emergency situations – for example funding (non-repayable) to purchase food.

Thanks to support from the Community Land Scotland outreach grant scheme flyers will be distributed to advertise these services. Photo: Volunteer Millie Morrison collecting pre-

scriptions ready for delivering round Carloway

2

The role of the Trust is very much behind the scenes but supporting other local organisations on the frontline. All of the services described above have been designed by local community groups including Breasclete Community Association, Breasclete Community Council, Carloway Community Association and Tolsta Chaolais Village Association.From an organisational perspective, the Trust quickly established their working from home policy and in the same week contacted all the relevant local community organisations. This was before lockdown came into place on March 24th. Each community within the estate area has set-up their response slightly differently but every resident has a hotline number they can contact, and help will be provided wherever possible. Again, the hotlines were set up in different ways with one being a pay-as-you-go mobile which is split between two volunteers but both set-ups allow residents to always have a reliable and known person to call.

The Trust has also successfully applied to Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for funding support and will be distributing funds directly to organisations in their local area. The Trust will be undertaking all of the administrative elements for the grant, which is predominantly for expenses claims forms from volunteers for their mileage. As with many organisations, trying to persuade folk to actually take this has been very difficult!

In summary, the Trust is providing vital back office support whilst other local organisations can focus on frontline delivery. It also means that payment times are very quick which is important when many people have been furloughed or lost one or both household incomes.

3

Photo by Iain Macarthur

4

The Trust is also providing information to local organisations regarding the funding that is available – just basic information like name of fund, amount available, deadlines, process etc. This is another back-office function they can provide whilst other organisations focus on frontline delivery.

The Trust is also hoping to get vital information out to every household in the area as the local community newsletter is unable to be delivered at the moment. The amount of information received has been overwhelming but Trust staff have been working hard to ensure all residents have and will receive the most relevant information possible.

In terms of internal management, it has been fairly easy to manage working from home arrangements. The availability of online resources such as Zoom and WhatsApp has proved invaluable – the Board have already held a successful meeting via Zoom. It is also reassuring for residents to know that the Trust can continue to operate remotely and is still functioning.

In response to our question of, how have community organisations been able to react so quickly to the crisis, Sally Reynolds from Carloway says, “Trust. There are strong existing bonds and organisations in local communities. These organisations know their local communities and what is needed. Residents know who to ask for what and who to speak to. Our organisations are embedded in the community and have trusted networks which we can call on. In other words, we can just get on with it and are galvanised for action immediately. We are also able to relay information quickly and effectively.”

The future though is uncertain, not only in terms of the financial and economic impact of the crisis but how social iso-lation and the knock-on effect of this on mental health will affect everyone. However, as Sally says, “Communities are strong and able - this crisis has enabled people to realise how resilient their community is as well as giving a renewed appreciation of land, place and pace!”

www.communitylandscotland.org.uk