Keeping the community connected during lockdown
Lairg and District Community Initiatives, known as LDCI was established in 2002 for the purposes of enhancing community life by supporting local groups and facilitating initiatives.
Previous projects have included the Lairg Asteroid Exhibition with significant input from the local primary school, Lairg Through Time, tree trunk carving with an aim to create a seating area in Ord Place, Visit Lairg and Rogart, exploring feasibility into potential uses of the Old Police Station and various village tidies, Winterfest with over 1,000 participants attending annually, a proposed Lairg Care and Well Being Centre with the acquisition of the old Sutherland Arms Hotel site and the footpath linking Lairg to the train station.
Shortly after the first lockdown announcement in March 2020, LDCI decided to set up a weekly magazine to help keep their community's spirits high during this time of isolation. To help design and produce the magazine they successfully applied to the Lairg Wind Farm Community Fund and were awarded £2,888 in 2020. The ‘Lairg Magazine’ included a list of useful emergency numbers such as the covid-19 NHS advice line, utility emergency number and the local health centre. It also included budget recipe ideas, local stories, indoor activity ideas, crafts for kids, a quiz, old photographs of local people and a movie or book review.
The magazine has helped to tackle social isolation during lockdown period and has been met with very positive feedback. Requests have been made for it to continue throughout the lockdown and beyond to help keep people connected. Initially intended to be predominantly online with a few printed copies for people not online, the number needed to print increased unexpectedly as more people wanted a copy - an outcome which LDCI wholly welcomed and encouraged.
LDCI Chairperson, Kaye Hurrion said
“The grant was to produce a community magazine throughout the pandemic which has proven very successful. We hand deliver over 145 copies to our elderly residents who cannot access it online. They have enjoyed the stories and have been sending some of their own in. It has been a very useful way of getting information out to those people who are vulnerable and have been scared by what is going on.
We are really pleased that this project has made such a difference to our community. Speaking to people when we deliver the magazine has shown us how much a little magazine has meant to so many at such a difficult time. We have been able to promote many of the services those who are not on the internet would otherwise miss out on. As well as reporting information they needed to know in a non scary way. We have had letters of support and people often open the door once we have stepped back to say how much they enjoy it. Both our local shops help with distribution of the magazine. This is something the community needed to keep those isolated connected. It has led to a referral to the food parcel service, befriending schemes and financial help.”
It is intended to continue the Lairg Magazine beyond lockdown as the feedback has been so encouraging, however it will be scaled down to fortnightly and then monthly as lockdown measures ease.
To read or download copies of the magazine visit the magazines pahe here on the Lairg and District Community Initiatives website.