Skyecomuseum

THE latest news round up from Staffin – including a key staff appointment at the new gym, a merchandising launch by Feis Trotternish and updates on Staffin Trust projects – are published in the district’s quarterly newsletter which can be read by clicking on this link.  Staffin Autumn/ Winter Newsletter 2015
Hardcopies will also be left with Staffin Post Office, MacKenzie Stories, Staffin Stores, Columba 1400 and Staffin Primary School from Tuesday, December 1. Anybody wishing to read this edition or previous ...

STAFFIN residents have only five days left to have their say on the future management of a roadside site at the Old Man of Storr.
Friday, November 27 is the deadline for responding to Staffin Community Trust’s questionnaire into the potential project at the hugely popular Trotternish landmark. http://staffin-trust.co.uk/staffin-residents-urged-to-support-storr-plans
There has been an encouraging response to the Storr survey so far and SCT would like to thank everybody who has taken the time to offer their thoughts.  SCT’s board of directors, who helped hand ...

CASH can now be withdrawn from a new ATM machine in Staffin, as local businesses gear up for the Christmas season. 
The machine is now operational in Staffin Stores which is open six days a week. It is the nearest machine for 17 miles so is very handy for the community. Each transaction cost £1.25 but the feedback from the shop’s customers was that they were prepared to accept that fee as long as there was a new machine.
The Ellishadder Art Cafe ...

RESPECTED Gaelic broadcaster Roddy MacLean and the Staffin Community Trust have been short listed for the Duaisean Ghaidhlig (the Gaelic awards).  
Roddy’s 10-day course, ‘Arainneachd, Canan is Dualchas’ – which translates as Gaelic in the Environment –  has been hosted in Staffin by SCT for three years now. SCT directors Sine Gillespie and Dugald Ross have played a key role in the course delivery, which is largely based outdoors at the hugely popular ecomuseum Ceumannan sites http://www.skyecomuseum.co.uk/
SCT and Roddy ...

KEY sections of a Community Emergency Plan for Staffin – which swings into action in the event of extreme weather, a power cut or other major disruption – require to be updated.
Staffin Community Council is keen to ensure the vital plan, which offers support to local people, particularly vulnerable residents, is up to date as we head into the winter months. 
Part of the plan includes having a list of local organisation in Staffin and residents who may be ...

SURVEYS asking Staffin residents and businesses for their views on potential improvements at the Old Man of Storr are now landing in Taobh Sear letterboxes.
Several Staffin Community Trust (SCT) directors are hand delivering the surveys to every household across the district in a major consultation about the project. The community is being asked to support  an aspiration to manage a visitor site at the foot of the Storr.
The Staffin Community Trust (SCT) has been in talks with Highland Council – ...

TWO Remembrance Sunday services were held in Staffin at the weekend, despite the inclement weather.
At 2.30pm around a dozen folk attended a service at the Culnancoc War Memorial during a welcome gap in the heavy rain showers. Valtos woman Janet Lamont laid a wreath at the memorial on behalf of Staffin Community Council, as did Allan MacLeod, from Clachan, on behalf of the Staffin fire brigade.
Donald MacLeod of Culnanoc then read out the names of all the men who ...

STAFFIN residents are being asked to support an aspiration to manage a visitor site at the foot of the Old Man of Storr.
The Staffin Community Trust (SCT) has been in talks with Highland Council – which owns an 82-hectare site from the Storr’s roadside upwards – about improving the visitor experience at the location, which attracts people from all over the world. This could involve a new off-road main car park, toilets, interpretation and refreshment kiosk. SCT is now set to ask the ...

SERVICES at Staffin’s two war memorials will take place this weekend to remember those who lost their lives in the two world wars and the Boer War.
101 years after the start of the First World War, Staffin firefighters will join representatives from the Staffin Community Council and Staffin Community Trust to pay their respects on Remembrance Sunday. 
Two services will be held. The first one starts at the Culnacnoc War Memorial at 2pm where wreaths will be laid and a two-minute silence observed. The ...

STAFFIN is poised to host the annual Cancer Research UK sale of work after more than £14,000 was raised last year.
The sale always attracts a bumper crowd and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the charity’s vital work over the years.
It is probably the busiest day of the year in Staffin, certainly in terms of the number of vehicles parked around Staffin Hall.  The huge sum of £14,296 was made following 2014’s event.
The sale kicks off at 2pm on Saturday, ...

A DERELICT toilet block which lies in the shadow of the Quiraing has been demolished to make way for a new Staffin eatery.
The former Brogaig toilets, which were shut by Highland Council several years ago in a cost-cutting drive, were razed to the ground on Friday. Local firm Staffin Groundworks, father-and son Ian and Robert MacDonald, efficiently carried out the work and unlike Glasgow’s Red Road flats no part of the structure was left standing. 
Brogaig woman and experienced chef Marion ...

A RURAL community like Staffin can play a key role in curbing extremism, a police officer told a recent counter terrorism event in the Taobh Sear.
In a first for communities in Skye, Portree-based Police Scotland sergeant Bruce Crawford delivered a presentation on terrorism, which is commonly thought of only being a problem in densely populated urban areas, to a captive audience at Columba 1400 earlier this month.
Sergeant Crawford, who is Skye and Lochalsh’s Local Counter Terrorism Liaison Officer, outlined the potential threats posed within rural ...

HAZELNUTS eaten by former Staffin inhabitants thousands of years ago were discovered from the area’s recent archaeological dig, Highland archaeologists have confirmed.
The exciting discovery has been made following the five-day archaeological excavation  by Staffin Bay in September and promises to provide firm evidence about Staffin’s Mesolithic past. The joint University of the Highlands and Islands and Staffin Community Trust project was the first excavation in Staffin for more than 20 years and was visited by more than 200 people, including Staffin and Kilmuir primary school pupils.
The site may date back ...

STOP PRESS… NEWS FROM STAFFIN COMMUNITY HALL: 
– The Staffin Community Hall Association awarded funding from People’s Health Trust using money raised by HealthKind through The Health Lottery – 
CONSTRUCTION work has started of an exciting new leisure development in Staffin – a new gym for the community. Local builders A&A MacDonald are working in the attic of the Staffin Community Hall, which is just above the foyer, where the new gym will be located  
Staffin Community Hall Association began discussing the potential ...

ANYBODY interested in standing for election to Staffin Community council – including older teenagers in the area – has until Tuesday to register. And Highland Council’s leader has pledged that new members will have a greater role in decisions affecting Staffin than ever before.
Community council elections take place each every four years and Nomination Papers must be lodged by 4pm on Tuesday, October 6 at Tigh na Sgire in Portree.
Having given sterling service over the last four years and ...