02/10/2026
Happy Friday, folks! 💜
October already! 🎃 But that’s exciting for us because we absolutely LOVE Halloween at the Hub!
Right now, the team are digging their way through the cabin, searching out all of our Halloween stuff, which is super exciting because it can only mean one thing… Halloween madness is officially beginning at the Hub! 🎃👻
Tickets are now on sale for our Haunted House — and they’re only £5 per person. We also have free tickets available, so if cost is a barrier, please just get in touch with us. 💜
We’ve got two evenings of spooky madness planned! Nothing too scary, so it’s perfect for all ages, with Fox’s Halloween Messy Play and lots more Halloween fun on offer too.
But wow… what a week!
The Hub is getting increasingly busier, which is absolutely amazing to see, but honestly, what a whirlwind it feels like when you step inside that door!
💜 Our Time Capsule
Yesterday was a particularly special one. Our Time Capsule project was created by our S4 boys, and we were delighted to have all of our local primary schools involved, with artefacts from each school going into the capsule.
Pupils from all of the schools were invited to come along and be part of the burial, and it was lovely to welcome those who were able to join us on the day to help the boys finally bury the capsule in the Hub garden.
We had originally thought about burying the capsule for 100 years, but on reflection we decided 50 years would be far better. That way, the young people involved have a great opportunity to come back together, dig it up again and reminisce about days of old.
I wonder what will have changed in 50 years? What will the Hub garden look like by then… or, more importantly, will it ever actually be finished? 😂 And where will all of these young people be in their lives? It’s quite something to think about.
Please also keep an eye out in the Ross-shire Journal, who are covering the story. It’s just lovely for all the kids involved to see their project being recognised. 💜
🌱 Our Boys’ Garden Project
Our boys’ garden project is nearing an end for this year as the weather begins to turn and the boys need to crack on with gaining themselves an award for all of their hard work and achievements.
We are, however, still a long way from finished with the garden itself! There’s plenty more we want to do, and we’re still plugging away trying to secure funding for a cabin which would help make the garden fully inclusive and usable by even more people.
For now, the boys are going to crack on with one final big tidy and get the garden to the point where it is a safe and welcoming space for families to use over the coming months.
The garden will also be used by our After-School Club, ASN groups and those attending our Community Drop-In, so it really is becoming another extension of the Hub and a space for everyone to enjoy.
Next week will be the boys’ last week with us for now, and we’ll be marking it with a very well-deserved treat from Sweet Minis while they finish off their work.
🚽 Never a dull moment...
Of course, because this is the Hub, it couldn't all go smoothly! 😂
We’ve had blocked drains, which resulted in Scottish Water coming out and clearing around 50 years of gunk from them — and amongst all the excitement, he also managed to flood the bathroom floor! 😂
Then, just to add to the week, we also had a tripped switch, which unfortunately meant that all of the food stored in our deep freezer had to be binned. 😭 Definitely not what you want to discover when you're running a Community Food Bank!
Never a dull moment around here!
💜 Community Catch-Up
We also hosted a brilliant Community Catch-Up at the Hub, with lots of different services coming along to chat with the people who pop through our doors.
These events are such a lovely opportunity to get everyone together, share information and make connections. Partnership working really is the way forward, and we definitely need to do more of these.
Our Groups...
Community pop in is crazy busy most days now, which is amazing. It's wonderful to see such a mix of generations building friendships at the Hub. 💜
Our After-School Club continues to get busier, which is fantastic to see, and everyone had a brilliant time baking with Steph from Grow For You. 🧁 The after school club will keep running through the holidays too.
🍳We’re also nearing the end of our current six-week block of ASN Cookery. This can now be booked week by week, rather than committing to a full block, and it will start back up after Steph enjoys a very well-deserved holiday!
If you'd like to join us when it returns, please get in touch.
🚐 Community Transport funding.
Lets hope this is a winner and we get our own community transport! 🚐
This could make such a huge difference to the Hub and the people we support through Easter Ross. We’ve had an increasing number of families reaching out because they simply cannot get where they need to go — whether that’s getting to the Hub, attending hospital and other important appointments, getting their shopping home or accessing our Community Food Bank. We’ve also had other local services who use the Hub reaching out to us about transport, so the need is becoming clearer and clearer.
Our vehicle would, of course, be wheelchair accessible, as there is a real lack of wheelchair-accessible vehicles available and we want to make sure that nobody is excluded simply because suitable transport isn't there.
We are very lucky to have access to the local community minibus, which we do use for our trips and outings and which is fantastic to have available to us. However, what we’re looking for now is something quite different — our own vehicle for the day-to-day running around and community support that we are increasingly being asked to provide.
In reality, we don’t think this vehicle would ever spend much time sitting in the driveway! We envisage it being out all week, helping us support people right across the Easter Ross area — getting people where they need to go, helping people access the Hub and other services, supporting those with transport barriers and allowing us to respond when somebody needs help.
Having a vehicle that is right on our doorstep and available when we need it would make such a difference to what we can offer our community. Everything crossed for this one! 🤞🚐
Several other funding applications have also been submitted this week, so there are lots of fingers and toes crossed here!
🌿 Our Garden Room
Our lovely new Garden Room is officially in use and has already welcomed its first family contact visit. 💜
It’s a perfect little space for a quiet meeting, appointment or small group, and we'll soon be welcoming some more lovely wellbeing groups into it.
We also have different-sized rooms available to hire at the Hub, so if you're looking for a welcoming community venue for meetings, groups, sessions or activities, please get in touch.
🙏 VOLUNTEERS — WE NEED YOU!
One thing this week has made very clear is that we need more hands on deck.
Our small team is trying to keep all those plates spinning as the Hub gets busier and busier, and we're starting to struggle to keep up with everything happening through those doors.
So if volunteering sounds like something you'd be up for — whether that's helping with our groups, the Community Drop-In, Community Food Bank, events, kitchen, or simply mucking in wherever an extra pair of hands is needed — please get in touch.
Whether you can help regularly or just every now and again, we'd absolutely love to have you. 💜
🤠 BONKERS BINGO!
We are absolutely delighted to say we’ve now sold over 50 tickets! We’ve also given away a few free ones along the way and, although we are at a full house, we’ve decided there’s definitely room to squeeze in a few more! 🤠
So if Bonkers Bingo sounds like your kind of madness, we’re happy to offer a few more FREE tickets to anyone who would love to come along and join us. Just get in touch!
For everyone who has already purchased a ticket, please let the Alness Golf Club know what you’d like to eat on the day. 🌭 They are taking pre-orders only, and have put together a brilliant ranch-themed menu especially for us! 🤠🍴(see the last photo on our post for the menu).
And we're still not finished for the week!
Toddler Group is running this morning, then tomorrow our Community Drop-In is open alongside our JUMBLE SALE!!
And then…
BONKERS BINGO, HERE WE COME! 🤠🎉
Have a lovely weekend, folks! 💜
