Brora Development Trust was formed in 2013 by a group of passionate local volunteers, in order to establish a grass-roots approach to making our community a better place to live, work and play.
Brora Development Trust is the known as name for Brora and District Action Group and is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SC043968) and is managed by a board of 7 voluntary Trustees.
To help ensure the delivery and development of a comprehensive programme of projects in line with a three-year work plan, the Trust currently employs a full time Development Manager and a team of Youth Workers, to deliver a comprehensive programme of work.
The 2023-2026 work plan has been organised into five thematic programmes: Social; Community; Economic; Environment and Placemaking. These themes emerged from the community consultation conducted in the last quarter of 2022.
• Social
• Community
• Economic
• Environment
• Placemaking
Within each of these programmes lie a number of projects:
Project: Brora Youth Initiative
This is a community initiative, steered by a voluntary sub-committee, Brora Youth Partnership, working alongside the charity Youth Highland.
Brora Development Trust recently asked Youth Highland to carry out a piece of work to find out more about young people’s experiences in terms of pathways to employment and training and to determine how a youth work approach can support young people them on that journey.
Brora Development Trust is keen to find out more about the aspirations and ambitions of young
people and determine how the local community, businesses, and schools can respond to these needs to ensure that young individuals feel happy and fulfiled.
The findings also provide valuable information on how rural areas such as Brora, can retain and attract a young population.
The report contains recommendations, suggested actions and possible outcomes, which The Trust
can take forward. Recommendations are:
1). Young people are actively involved in the decision making processes in their Youth Club and
have the opportunity to get involved in organisational decision making.2). Strengthen relationships between young people and local employers.
3). Discussion circles where a youth worker and a group of young people talk about the topics
that impact the young people.
We have gone some way to addressing the first recommendation by supporting members of Brora Youth Room to form a young leaders group, Brora Youth Development Team. The other recommendations from the report will be incorporated into our workplan to take forward.
The report is available to read here:
Voices from the Future: Understanding Young People’s Experiences in East Sutherland
Brora Development Trust runs twice-weekly drop-in youth-led sessions for secondary school-aged young people, in the dedicated youth room at Brora Community Centre. Members gave the club the name Brora Youth Room.
Sessions take place on Wednesdays from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and on Fridays from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Young people are supported by a team of Youth Workers, employed by the Trust.
The initiative came about initially in response to the findings of the community consultation questionnaire survey, which identified the need to improve services and provisions for young people, as a top priority.
In order to find out what young people themselves would like, the Trust worked alongside the youth work charity, Youth Highland, to carry out consultation exercises with groups of young people at Brora Primary School and Golspie High School.
During the consultations, some of the young people were tasked with drawing their image of a perfect Youth Worker. The young people were also asked to design their perfect youth club. Interestingly, many of the designs for youth clubs were very basic and simple: most young people said they are looking for a dry sheltered space where they can sit down and spend time together. Where groups were more aspirational with their ideas, they wanted space where they could participate in different activities but where they could have access to food and drink, screens, electricity to charge phones. There were some designs created by the young people which featured youth clubs with activities including sports and arts. The findings of the consultation were used to inform the development of the programme.
Brora Development Trust has continued to work closely with Youth Highland, who provide support and advice on all aspects of the Trust’s youth work services. Youth Highland supports a network of voluntary and third sector organisations to work with young people to deliver youth work outcomes in community settings https://youthhighland.org.uk/
A team of Youth Workers were recruited and trained in the essentials of youth work, supported by Youth Highland and Youth Scotland. All youth work employees, Development Manager and Board of Trustees are subject to a Protecting Vulnerable Groups, Disclosure Scotland check.
Project: Healthy School Holidays
School holidays can be particularly difficult times for families as a result of the increase in the household costs (food, childcare, heating for examples) and a reduction in income (not being able to go out work or working less often because children are at home). There is a growing body of evidence of a holiday experience gap – with children from disadvantaged families less likely to access organised out-of-school activities; more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health; and more likely to experience social isolation. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation lists Brora as one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland.
What is often referred to as ‘holiday hunger’, pushes many families into food poverty and insecurity. While many children from low-income families are entitled to free school meals during term time, there is currently no such provision during holidays.
The need to support families with children and young people in education out with term time during school holidays is something that the Trust decided to commit to. This has come in the form of grocery vouchers in the past and currently meal starter kits. Meal starter kits will be made available in the last week of school term, in December 2025.
Project: Community-led Tourism
With funding from the North Highland Initiative and Brora Development Trust, representatives from the Scottish Community Tourism network (SCOTO), visited Brora and facilitated a Press Pause community led tourism workshop on 21st February 2024.
SCOTO met with various local interests from business and wider community. Time was taken to experience the village and explore local sites and features of interest. A report was produced and a follow up meeting then took place on 30th April in Brora to review and prioritise the findings and recommendations.
The full Press Pause workshop report is available at Brora Library or if you click here.
Project: Discover Brora
The Trust set up and manage the Discover Brora website and social media platforms, to provide helpful information for visitors and a platform for advertising for local businesses. The Discover Brora brand was created by a group of local volunteers who are passionate about Brora and the community they live in.
The website is however an organic and ever evolving entity. Local businesses are adding their details to the listings pages and continue to do so. This website truly is ‘by the community, for the community’.
The Trust facilitate a WhatsApp group, called Brora Together, which was created by participants who took part in the Press Pause community tourism workshop in Brora, as a way for participants with a vested interest in tourism to work together for the benefit of people who live and work in Brora.
Project: The Otter’s Couch
The Otter’s Couch is an arts and crafts social enterprise located in Brora, providing earning opportunities for local people. The Otter’s Couch has been operating for 5 years and has a wide selection of arts and crafts. The shop also houses a Visitor Information Point, providing information on where to stay, what to see and do and what’s on in Brora.
Project: Community Calendar and Community Newsletters
Brora Development Trust produce regular newsletters, which are sent directly to members and made available on this website. Printed versions are available in the library and Otter’s Couch shop.
The Events page is available for sharing information about activies and events organised by local groups and individuals.
Partnership Working
Partnership working is key to Brora Development Trust’s work and the Trust participate in a number of forums and groups. Sutherland Community Partnership is one such collaboration which Brora Development Trust actively participates in. The Partnership is made up of core partners and community representatives to address inequalities across Sutherland. There are a number of Sutherland Community Partnership thematic groups which Brora Development Trust participate in.
The Trust has also worked to strengthen local partnership working and collaboration and indeed, a number of projects delivered this year would not have been possible without the collaboration with partners:
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Brora Nursery, Stepping Stones, Brora Primary School and Golspie High School.
Engaging with Activity at Brora Village Hub
Brora Community Centre
Brora Wanderers, the Skilltleball group and Brora Rangers Mini Kickers
Engaging with Activity at Brora Village Hub
The Development Trusts Association for Scotland (DTAS)
Scottish Community Tourism Network (SCOTO)
Brora Community Council
The Highland Council
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Scotrail
Rotary Club of East Sutherland
Examples of previous projects:
Improvements to pedestrian signage in Brora
Replacement of football goals at Muirfield football pitch
Fair Work First Statement
“Brora Development Trust is committed to advancing the Scottish Government Fair
Work First Policy and the criteria as set out within the Fair Work First guidance
document. We confirm that we pay our staff the Real Living Wage and/or will do so
if we employ people in the future. We make every effort to ensure that our
suppliers/contractors are offered the same Real Living Wage rate when procuring
goods or services. We also confirm that we offer our staff and/or volunteers an
Effective Workers Voice channel within the workplace.”
