2025
12th Inverness Boys’ Brigade
Beauly & District care project
Inverness Disc Golf
Sutherland Adventure Company
St Andrews Cathedral
Seaforth Nursing
Scripture Union
Morning Call
Drummond School
2024
Inverness Lions Basketball Team
Thistle Colt Boys
Karate Alba Federation
Auldearn FC
2nd Inverness Girls Brigade
Abernethy Trust
Prospects across Scotland
2023
Towie School Parent Council
Blooming Gardeners
Sheddocksley Baptist Church
Inverness Christian Fellowship
Caithness KLICS
Maggie’s Highland
SU Scotland
SNAP (Special Needs Action Project)
Inverness Cathedral
Caithness Music
Drakies Primary School
Roots and Shoots
Tykes Young Carers
2022
Caithness FM
Fox’s Tales Family Sessions
Wild Things
Worldwide Vets
Project Linus UK
Thurso Youth Darts Club
No Limits Caithness
Inverness Pipe Band
Ormlie Teen Scene
Relationship Scotland
Close
Amount Donated: £600
12th Inverness Boys’ Brigade
The boys brigade is a long established Christian youth organisation that cares for and challenges young people for life through a programme of informal education in a fun way. We are a local company of the Boys Brigade with an open membership policy and we cater for young people from 8 to 18 years. We will use the donation towards the cost of our two summer camps for our young people. Our 2 groups are our Juniors ( P4 to P6 ) and our Company Section ( P7 to S6 ). Any weekend summer camps we have had in the past have always been a great success and are the highlight of the year for many of our young people. This summer we have planned a weekend camp for each group – one at Craggan Outdoor Centre on Loch Tay and one at Carronvale House near Falkirk. Both are excellent outdoor centres with lots to do to keep our young people busy. The grant will allow us offer lots of activities and we are hoping to organise canoeing, archery, go-karting and more.
Close
Amount Donated: £528
Beauly & District care project
The Beauly & District Care Project (Beauly Cares) was set up with the aims to tackle social isolation. We have a range of activities that the older members of our community can take part in. A lunch club is run on the first Monday of every month, which is extremely popular with more than 40 people attending, entertainment is also provided. There is also a community garden and two walking groups, one which is just a short wander with a cup of tea and chat afterwards. With the money you provided we have been able to take the members of the group out for lunch and a excursion in the bus, which has proved to be popular. We have a minibus which was provided to us by the Highland Cross 10 years ago which allows us to pick up the less able and go for runs and shopping trips. Fundraising is always challenging and we are so grateful to Jennifer’s fund for giving us the opportunity to take our members out for lunch without it involving a cost to them. This extra monthly trip has been very much enjoyed, especially as most of the trips took place during the drearier months of the year. For some of our members this is the only opportunity they have to leave the village and enjoy the company of their peer group.
Close
Amount Donated: £450
Inverness Disc Golf
Inverness Disc Golf are a group of volunteers who have built and maintain the free to play disc golf course at Torvean park. They provide free taster sessions for all youth groups, adults with learning disabilities an anyone else who is interested in playing. The funds we received have been put to work already. We bought 50 disc golf discs ( like frisbees) and we placed some in the free to use box at Torvean Park disc golf course. In 2025, we have also opened 2 9 hole discgolf courses at Inshes Park and Castle Heather Park. We have made two new boxes for the new courses and have been able to put free to use discs there too. The discs do not always stay in the boxes but we are certainly helping more people to play for free.
Close
Amount Donated: £400
Sutherland Adventure Company
-
To deliver eight young gals, female teens and women paddleboarding sessions in
-
The sessions create an opportunity for females within Sutherland to utilise their
-
The structure of the session will be delivered over 1.5 hours and will include,
Close
Amount Donated: £400
St Andrew’s Cathedral
Close
Amount Donated: £400
Seaforth Nursing
Close
Amount Donated: £750
Scripture Union
Close
Amount Donated: £400
Morning Call
important. So we would like to be able to have several small social events probably 2 in Inverness and 1 in Invergordon , that will enable both our clients and volunteers to get together between the months of June and December . The vision is simply to give people the opportunity to meet over tea and cake and chat, to enjoy each other company and to meet the volunteers who phone them each day . The plan is to organise three events the third of which would be a Christmas event .
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Drummond School
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Inverness Lions Basketball Team
The Inverness Lions Basketball club is a community basketball club for 6-18-year-olds. The club is fully run by volunteers and parent helpers. There are a mix of basketball players at various levels – from those who want to play for fun right up to players who also train with the Scotland Regional Academy.
The Inverness Lions Basketball club were awarded £500 towards taking 10 Under 16 boys and 20 under 18 girls with 4 volunteers to Barcalona for the Euro Camp Basketball Tournament. This is a renowned tournament where various teams from Europe, Japan, The USA and many more countries come together to compete for the title.
Both teams travelled to Barcelona on the 11th of June 2024 where they first had a few days at a training camp in the centre of Barcelona in a local sports centre, along with a couple of friendly games against local Barcelona teams.
The teams then headed up to the tournaments where the x10 U16 boys and the x10 U18 competed.
The trip went very well. We had a few days at a training camp in the centre of Barcelona where we had training sessions in a local sports centre and a couple of friendly games against local Barcelona teams. We then headed up to the tournament where we had 10 Under 16 boys and 10 under 18 girls competing.
The boys had a tough time playing a National league team from Japan, 2 teams from the Philippines and one team from England. The girls did really well and finished fourth in the whole tournament where they had to play teams from Spain, Chilli and the USA.
The teams played exceptionally and did Scotland and the Highlands proud by being polite, well behaved and mixing well with all other teams from around the world, one of my proudest moments was when both teams were supporting teams that had beaten them in previous games.
Close
Amount Donated: £300
Thistle Colt Boys
Thistle Colts is a grassroots football club based in Culloden, Smithton, Balloch and the Westhill area of Inverness. Thistle Colts Football Club is open to P1’s right through to 18 years of age where the kids can then venture into adult football if they wish.
Thank you very much for the kind donation from the Jennifers fund, together with several other donations and team fundraising helped us to get our older boys new kits for this season and also some new training equipment, as we have to share equipment with the other teams in the club and can make it quite difficult when we are all training on the same days
Having a club free to all kids and all abilities is not possible without the like minded businesses and charities like you guys provide and for that I thank you endlessly.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Karate Alba Federation
KAF is a non-profit organisation based in Inverness, promoting Karate youth development in Traditional and Sport Karate and aims to provide high standards and affordable sporting opportunities in the local community. Since 2008 we have a track record of providing an inclusive organisation for the development of children and young adults regardless of ability or social disadvantage. Clubs operate across the Highlands but primarily Merkinch, providing support, development and education to over 150 children every week. We aim to also allow children to compete at the highest level with athletes competing recent at Scottish, British and Commonwealth level.
The application was made for the £1,000 cost of putting on a local Karate competition for our group, to celebrate all the amazing athletes we have including Jamie Borthwick who is competing at the Junior World Championships in Venice in October and Vilis who is current Scottish and British para champion.
We have assisted athletes in competing as far away as Sweden this year so far but the costs associated with the various events often mean that wider families miss out on seeing the children compete. By having a local competition it will allow more families to be able to celebrate the efforts of the children.
We will put the money towards venue hire, trophies and ensuring the event is as low cost to the families as possible.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Auldearn FC
Auldearn Football Club are a newly formed adult football club in Auldearn participating in the Forres and Nairn Welfare Football Association and Scottish Welfare Association Cup.
With the donation from yourselves we were able to purchase a membrane and drainage pipe which will form the main part of the drainage works. The works is scheduled to take place in September when the season finishes to minimise disruption to the playing time.
Close
Amount Donated: £300
2nd Inverness Girls Brigade
The girls brigade is a uniformed organisation offering girls a holistic, all-rounded, four-fold programme. The programme is concerned with the spiritual, physically educational and social development of the girls. The motto of the girls brigade is “seek, serve and follow Christ”, and its aim is “to help girls become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and through self-control, reverence and a sense of responsibility to find true enrichment of life.” They are open to P1-S6 from different social backgrounds all finding a safe environment and inclusion.
“We have 46 girls attending weekly and annual insurance fees to be paid is currently £35 per girl. With girls coming from many different social backgrounds, and in the current climate of financial difficulties, asking the girls families to contribute is becoming increasingly hard, especially families with 2 or 3 siblings. Equipment for games, cram materials, Christmas party and other running costs add up and our heart is to give the girls a place where they feel they belong, are able to feel safe, and whatever their social background, all girls are welcome. Funding would relieve a burden and in turn, as the girls learn about other charities and organisations in their ‘Educational’ section of badge work, they try to think of different ways they can helps others – Paying it forward.”
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
Abernethy Trust
Abernethy Trust has been providing transformational adventure experiences in the Scottish Highlands for over 50 years. As a Christian charity our vision is to see lives transformed by amazing experiences in the outdoors. We have three centres around Scotland which see around 6,000 guests every year. We provide camps for families throughout the year where they can get away together and take part in amazing activities suitable for all ages. Our camps are fully catered and staffed by a highly qualified team, so our guests don’t need to worry about a thing.
Close
Amount Donated: £950
Prospects across Scotland
Prospects Across Scotland (PAS) support churches to be welcoming places to people with learning disabilities and autism – real communities of belonging and places where people can build real friendships. PAS does this by delivering awareness raising events, training and running direct events on Zoom and in person for people with learning disabilities including drama, choir and music sessions as well as our Bible Buddies group. PAS has 20 local partner groups including 2 in Highland, 2 in Moray and 1 in Grampian. These groups are Christian based meeting in churches but offer social opportunities as well.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Towie School Parent Council
Towie School Parent Council’s role is to represent the views of the parents and make sure the school takes these into account. Moreover, it works with the school to create a welcoming, Inclusive place for all parents and promote partnership between the school, pupils, parents and local community. It plays an important part in fundraising and organising extracurricular activities for the children to build confidence, have fun and make sure their time a Towie School is memorable. Being a rural school, access to activities cost more money due to the distance required to travel. The Towie School Parent council were awarded £500 for mountain bike experiences for 38 pupils in the school.
I would like to extend my gratitude for being awarded this grant for our biking sessions. The children at Towie School were delighted to have specialised training from Chris at Ride in Peace Adventures, who came to the school for 3 biking sessions. We then had a day trip to Ride in Peace biking hub to put into practice all the skills they learnt on biking trails. Over the sessions the children’s confidence grew along with their ability to master riding difficult jumps and judging corners and altering terrains.
The funding has made it possible for these biking sessions to go ahead, especially in our small rural school where there are limited opportunities for fundraising.
We are also very grateful to Foundation Scotland who covered the transport costs to the bike hub.
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
Blooming Gardeners
Blooming Gardeners is a therapeutic horticultural project in Easter Ross for adults with a learning disability, neurodevelopmental disorder or autism.
Project aims:
· to advance the physical and mental health of our gardeners through involvement in horticulture in a safe and supportive environment
· to provide the opportunity to develop new and transferable skills
· to reduce social isolation and promote social inclusion by providing the opportunity to develop new friendships and by involving volunteers and community groups
· to protect the environment by using eco-friendly horticultural practices
· to support the gardeners’ carers by providing them with regular respite from their caring duties
Their beneficiaries are adults with learning disabilities and their careers. BG reduces social isolation in an already isolated and relatively deprived area (SIMD), providing a safe, supportive environment, underpinned by a caring and friendly culture enabling socialising and fun. Enhanced self-worth is fostered through participation in meaningful activities encompassing all aspects of plant cultivation, soft landscaping and appreciation of the natural environment.
Many thanks indeed for the £1000 donation from Jennifer’s Fund. As per our application we used the money for working capital/welfare as we continue to run our therapeutic gardening project for adults with learning disabilities – Blooming Gardeners SCIO.
- We used the funds to enable us to further develop our two sites in Alness and Barbaraville, Invergordon.
- We purchased plants and materials (eg compost) to cultivate plants and planters for onward sale to local businesses. This provided our gardeners with real work and skill development. It improved their physical and mental health, reduced their social exclusion, fostered a sense of well being and purpose through work and the acquisition of stills and provided rest bite for their often elderly parents/carers.
- We also purchased several new gardening tools.
Thank you so much once again for your generous donation. We are a small band of unpaid directors that try and keep the project going and your donation really has helped us as we continue to get our project on a sustainable path.
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
Sheddocksley Baptist Church
Shaddocksley Baptist Church is a community church based in the North West of Aberdeen City. Over the last 30 years they have served their neighbourhood in numerous ways, seeking to improve life for toddlers, families, singles, teenagers, parents and the elderly who live by.
They have a strong track record for delivering sustainable volunteer-led projects with high impact on people’s quality of life. Preventing social isolation and alleviating poverty would be two priorities for us locally.
The Make Lunch Project was awarded £1000 from Jennifers Fund. The project was based on the fact that the scale of holiday hunger is huge, with over 1.5 million children in the UK receiving Free School Meals and millions more children living in poverty.
We had a fantastic Make Lunch project last summer, where we connected with over 40 families in the local community, providing a holiday club and a hot meal for an average of 30 primary school kids per day, throughout the summer holidays. Many of these kids would go hungry in the school holidays without this hot meal provision, so it really did make a significant difference to their wellbeing.
The project was so successful that we are running it again this summer, starting tomorrow!
Thanks again for your generous support
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
Inverness Christian Fellowship
The Inverness Christian Fellowship has been working in the community in different forms for over 30 years, majority of the time in the Merkinch area of Inverness. They often partner with other organisations to provide a more holistic approach we to meet the needs of those on our doorstep. From baby massage to children’s club and friendship groups, as well as church services and church related activities. The aim for this project is for the children to have fun and be fed – as well as the children being able to take food home with them, helping parents by relieving some of their pressure making for a better home environment. Families in extreme need are supported and signposted to CAB, CAP, and Food Bank.
We (Inverness Christian Fellowship – ICF) gratefully received £1000 funding for our Holiday Brunch club called SuperHeroes in July 2023.
We wanted to say thank you. As a result of your generous donation we had 167 children through our door on Tuesdays throughout the school holidays in Summer, October & April and also a Christmas Party which Santa visited. Each week the children who attended enjoyed story time, songs, games, crafts, puzzles, Brunch and all left with a goodie bag of fruit, treats and snacks along with the crafts they had made.
We have attached some photos of the which was fun had. This has been a very successful project and one that we hope will continue one the years.
Once again we want to thank the Jennifer Fund for your support.
Close
Amount Donated: £700
Caithness KLICS
Caithness KLICS SCIO offer support for young carers between the ages of 5-18 years old, these children are classed as vulnerable. The offer opportunities to the least fortunate families, this includes Respite, day trips and other professional services. Throughout the year they have around 90 young carers that attend the sessions each week, such as group sessions, 1 to 1 and rural sessions. By having these sessions and groups available to them, it gives them the chance to be kids and enjoy themselves and to have people they can openly talk to when they need it. These kids from all over Caithness who all live in a caring situation at home, either through looking after a sibling, parent or guardian, benefit greatly from this service.
The £700 received was a great help and support to Caithness KICS. The young carers were delighted to benefit from from trips to The Wick Players Christmas pantomime and The Thurso Players Christmas pantomime. Some of our young carers had never been to a pantomime before and may otherwise have never had the chance to experience one. They were all absolutely thrilled with their experiences and were keen to go again.
We also discovered last year that many of our teenage young carers have never experienced a proper Christmas dinner. So we decided to make sure that they didn’t miss out and booked them in for a Christmas dinner at two of the local hotels, The Nethercliffe hotel in Wick and the Pentland Hotel in Thurso. Seeing some of them experience this for the first time was so heart warming and it gave them all memories of enjoying it as a group as well which will hopefully be life long memories.
We really appreciate the support for the Jennifer’s Fund in helping to make these such exciting experiences for our young carers.
Close
Amount Donated: £966
Maggie’s Highland
Maggie’s Highlands is part of the umbrella organisation, Maggie’s – a network of centres (in the UK and abroad) that promise to be ‘everyone’s home of cancer care’. From the words of the centre’s Head, Seonaid Green, Maggie’s help people “find joy in the face of cancer”.
It was agreed that the grant would part-fund one of Maggie’s Highlands many courses – a seven-week Children’s Support Group programme which would support children that have a family member with a cancer diagnosis. It’s a place where they can have all sorts of conversations, speak about something that feels a bit scary to say at home, meet other children in similar positions and use artwork to explore their emotions.
Just one of the many activities in the workshops involved one where the children painted a huge river, with rain clouds to demonstrate their sadness, and a smiley sun to show their happiness. The river was to help the children understand that they would pass through their emotions. Another photo, from a different workshop centred around the topic of fear saw the children making superhero masks, to represent the powers they may have to increase their braveness.
The heartfelt donation from Jennifer’s Fund enabled us to run kids’ groups for children who have a parent or family member with cancer at Maggie’s Highlands.
The groups aim to reduce fear and anxiety, provide assistance, open up better communication between the child and their parents, and encourage them to talk about their feelings and ask questions. It is a chance to meet and talk to other young people going through a similar experience.
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
SU Scotland
Scripture Union Scotland is part of the worldwide family of Scripture Union movements that began in the nineteenth century and now operate in over 130 countries across the world. We are a Christian charity working in partnership with local churches and other sympathetic organisations. More than 2,000 volunteers are involved in helping to run our activities, together with around 100 staff and associate workers
SU Scotland is very grateful to Jennifer’s Fund for the grant of £1,000 towards the development of a young people’s project in Merkinch, Inverness.
Over the past 12 months, Tim Raynes, SU Scotland’s Ministry at the Margins Lead, has sought to develop relationships with Merkinch Primary School, both with children and staff alike. Within a few weeks of Tim’s weekly engagement within the school, a P7 child asked if he could run a lunchtime games group. By the end of that afternoon a group of 10 P7 children had signed up to join the group which began the following week.
The team grew, to also include two others joining weekly to support the games group, and also offering a weekly craft group. This gave opportunity for more children to engage, and a regular cohort of 17 have engaged over the year, with a total of 24 engaging at some stage in the year.
Another volunteer provides positive engagement in the school a morning a week offering reading support for 5 or 6 identified children, as the reading age of children attending the school is 18 months below their peers.
During the year, we gathered funding enabling the entire P6 year group to attend an activity day at an outdoor centre, starting relationships with a new group of young people in the school.
An opportunity arose in May 2024 for an after-school SU Group to begin on school premises which has continued weekly for P6/7s, offering a mix of games, activities, crafts, Bible engagement and healthy snacks. 5 children regularly attend this group.
As we reviewed the year with the Headteacher, we have agreed that in addition to the games and craft groups, and after-school SU Group, two of the volunteers will offer weekly one-to-one support for identified children in the academic year 2024/25. In addition, a further two volunteers are joining the team to help in weekly activities, and a further volunteer offering maths support for specific children. The school have also welcomed the opportunity of another contact offering CAP (Christians Against Poverty) money management courses to older children and parents.
We were able to take feedback from a group of children attending the games and crafts groups late in the summer term; 13 children completed our short survey. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
We have made contact with two teachers at Inverness High School, where these children will transition to, exploring if there may be perceived appetite for similar connectivity. The response has been very favourable, and so contact will be made with the Headteacher in August.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
SNAP (Special Needs Action Project)
SNAP enhances the lives of young people with additional support needs with social experiences whilst encouraging the development of social skills and independence. Offering and experience of fun in a creative, supportive environment whilst also providing opportunities for parent/carer to have a well needed and valued respite. SNAP have a growing waitlist of over 100 young people waiting to use the service – a demand was identified for a new centre due to the continuing of referrals they are still getting.
With the funding we kindly received from Jennifer’s fund we purchased the following play equipment for our new premises at the Haven Centre: Mood lighting, fort building kit, tuff tray, soft play sofa and seat cushions
In the past 9 months since we began our new services, we have been able to offer 40 new children and young people who have been on our waitlist the opportunity to access our services. Some of these families are now coming from the Ross-Shire area of Highland which was previously an area that we were never able to support.
Thanks again to Jennifer’s Fund we really appreciate the support.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Inverness Cathedral
‘inSpire’ is our area of outreach and support for our community. We understand that there are times in life when a little extra help makes all the difference to people. The inSpire project came about in 2016 when we began with offering, ‘Bags of Hope’, quite simply a bag with toiletries for women who found themselves with none of the basics, never mind the luxuries that help us day by day. These were distributed to those who needed them. The project grew into offering a toiletries bank, an emergency food parcel and breakfast parcels for families who needed this help. Alongside our holiday lunch club, there was a uniform bank and then later in the year a winter jacket bank available for families. The name is a play on the fact that the Cathedral never completed its spires on the towers but we hope that this help to families will offer some inspiration and hope.
The donation from Jennifer’s Fund was a huge help to our inSpire project which is supported by grant funding, and donations from the local community.
The money was used to purchase school uniform and toiletries for families who were finding it difficult to afford essentials for their children. We had an increase in the number of requests for school uniform last year and the funding helped us to support more families within Highland. Feedback from families was that they didn’t know how they were going to manage to afford to buy school uniform for their children, especially those with large families. Feedback was also that they appreciated toiletries being available along with food bags which families can drop in weekly to collect.
Close
Caithness Music
‘inSpire’ is our area of outreach and support for our community. We understand that there are times in life when a little extra help makes all the difference to people. The inSpire project came about in 2016 when we began with offering, ‘Bags of Hope’, quite simply a bag with toiletries for women who found themselves with none of the basics, never mind the luxuries that help us day by day. These were distributed to those who needed them. The project grew into offering a toiletries bank, an emergency food parcel and breakfast parcels for families who needed this help. Alongside our holiday lunch club, there was a uniform bank and then later in the year a winter jacket bank available for families. The name is a play on the fact that the Cathedral never completed its spires on the towers but we hope that this help to families will offer some inspiration and hope.
Our event brought together over 40 community musicians of all ages from local schools, the Pentland Brass Band, the Caithness Orchestra, the Caithness Big Band and the Caithness Handbell Ringers as well as a surprise visiting percussionist from Orkney! Our conductors were Susie Dingle from caithnessmusic.com and Karen Anderson, senior instrumental instructor for High Life Highland. Some of the children (and adults) had never played in a band before and it certainly was a day to remember for all involved.
The event raised £329.24 for Arran’s Appeal for Anthony Nolan through donations on the door and sales of delicious baked goods which were donated by band members.
Arran is a young violinist who is facing his second stem cell transplant this summer due to a rare genetic blood disorder, and we were delighted that he was able to join us in the percussion section for his first ever band experience! His mum Janet also joined in on baritone saxophone, and the rest of his family was able to come along to enjoy the concert too. He’s now 60% of the way to meeting his target of raising £6000 for Anthony Nolan.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Drakies Primary School
An Inverness Primary School has created a Remembrance and Mindfulness Garden for pupils, thanks to the generous support of local businesses. Drakies Primary School has transformed an otherwise unloved area of the school grounds into a beautiful and peaceful space where pupils can choose to go to for some ‘chilling and stilling’ time, if they are feeling sad, distressed, or in need of time to reflect. The school has growing population of military families, as well as several children who are bereaved, or worried about family members. Head Teacher Scott Callander had noticed that some of these children were seeking out quiet spaces at break or lunchtime, so sought to create a calm and reflective space where they could practice mindfulness, regulate their emotions, and remember servicemen, servicewomen, and loved ones who have passed away. He explained,
“We are aware of families who have experienced significant loss at Drakies, and it is important for us to provide a space for children to be supported when they are feeling overwhelmed or upset. It is hoped that a calm and reflective space will provide opportunities for them to remember their loved ones and to talk about their memories.”
He added,
“At Drakies we are passionate about providing an exciting, engaging, and inspirational curriculum that ensures our children leave Drakies with skills for learning work and life. For this to be possible we strongly believe that it is essential for our school to be a welcoming and nurturing environment which supports our children and their families through challenges that they may face.”
The new garden has as its centrepiece a young oak tree donated by The British Legion, and also includes spring bulbs, plants and shrubs donated by Simpsons Garden Centre, and will, in time, be surrounded by a woodland hedgerow, thanks to saplings donated by The Woodland Trust. But it wouldn’t have happened at all without a donation from Jennifer’s Fund, managed by the directors of The Cairngorm Group, in memory of their daughter and sister Jennifer. Jennifer, a mother of three school-aged children, died from cancer in July 2021. Chris Dowling, Jennifer’s brother and an administrator of Jennifer’s Fund, said,
“As a family we know first-hand the impact on young children of losing a parent, and of how important it is for them to be able to take time out to come to terms with what they are feeling.” He added, “We are really proud to have played a small part in this brilliant initiative, and firmly believe that with the support offered by the school, the Remembrance and Mindfulness Garden at Drakies will help children who find themselves in the same position as Jennifer’s, to find a space in which to take some time out to reflect, as and when they need to during the school day.”
The garden area includes decorated benches and chip bark, a banner designed by older pupils, and, every November, will display silhouettes of a servicewoman and serviceman. The area is equipped with books, games, crayons and drawing materials, and cushions and blankets, to create a quiet and cosy environment. It is hoped, in time, to have a weatherproof shed in which these resources can be permanently stored. Speaking anonymously, the parent of a bereaved child in the school who regularly uses the Remembrance and Mindfulness Garden, said,
“this has already made a huge difference to my child. The school was already brilliant at tackling mental health issues, but this garden has helped my child to really open up and not be scared to tell the truth about our situation. At nine years old, [my child] is already being asked by teachers to look after other children in a similar situation, and that is really helping [them] to grow [their] confidence. I can’t thank the school enough for doing this.”
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Roots and Shoots
Roots and Shoots Highland is a not-for-profit outdoor learning social enterprise – a registered Community Interest Company – operating across Badenoch & Strathspey. We exist to support inclusive outdoor play and nature connection experiences for everyone in the area. Since we established in 2016 we have delivered a nature play holiday club for primary aged-children during the Easter, Summer and October holidays. These are full days of adventurous, child-led outdoor play in beautiful woodlands. We also run outdoor parent and toddler groups, Forest School programmes, adult mental wellbeing programmes and community nature events.
“Primary-aged children from across Badenoch & Strathspey, identified by local social workers and primary schools as standing to benefit the most from the experience. Often these children have Additional Support Needs, or have particularly challenging family circumstances, such as a recent bereavement. Normally they are also children who struggle within a mainstream education setting, and are not able to access these kinds of adventurous and sociable outdoor play opportunities in their ‘normal’ life for a variety of reasons. We have outdoor clothing of all sizes for children borrow so the opportunity is fully accessible.”
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Tykes Young Carers
A survey in 1997 was carried out highlighting a growing awareness a growing awareness of Young Carers in Sutherland in 1997. Many reasons for this became apparent from Alcohol Misuse to MS and Cancer and many more reasons for Young Carers to be fulfilling a caring role. In 1999 a young carers project was launched and in 2004 Tykes was launched as a stand alone project . Services provided with in Tykes varies from each young carer and family treated on an individual basis. Support comes in 1:1 support with a worker, drop in ( group work ) and respite breaks. Support is also offered to families, again on an individual basis.
“Young carers and families who may be facing challenging life – circumstances will benefit from having a break away in a safe and nurturing environment, which impacts on many aspects of their wellbeing, some of which cannot be measured. Young Carers return to Tykes in to their adult life and feedback with positive memories and experiences and friendships formed from respite breaks.”
“The overall mission is to give children a break from challenging and stressful home environments, and provide a welcoming and nurturing setting for them to create and develop good childhood memories. For some children simply being on holiday for perhaps the very first time will make this a break to remember, but for others it can be an opportunity to benefit from structure, to develop social skills and to experience basic personal care like being encouraged to wash and brush their teeth regularly. Good food, good sleep and opportunities to have fun and make happy memories that can last a lifetime.”
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Caithness FM
Caithness FM is a volunteer community radio station based in Thurso. As part of their commitment to the Caithness community they support local charities and local voluntary groups as well as providing a radio service for the people by the people. Their main charitable event is the annual toy appeal for disadvantaged children in the local area and have done this for 29 years.
We managed to provide for 462 children In Caithness whose families were struggling after covid and with fuel poverty. Not only ate the children delighted but it takes so much pressure off of parents who struggle with guilty and worry in the lead up to Christmas. We very much appreciate your help as unfortunately the need for our appeal continues to grow. (Photo shows our Caithness FM elves delivering to the toy collection point with just some of the toys donated!)
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
Fox’s Tales Family Sessions
Fox’s Tales works with family and young children who were born or only small during lockdown. The sessions are set up as a covid recovery plan and aim to boost language and literacy skills in the kids and support the grown-ups after a hard 2 years. Many of these families had never left the house in the child’s first years. This is detrimental to the children’s development and has negative impacts on the parents’ wellbeing. Fox’s Tales aims to reverse some of the damage that Covid has done to these families.
The fund was used to support the running of our Fox’s Tales family sessions.
These sessions offer a fun and interactive story time for young ones and their families, which reinforce the importance of play and reading in the early years.
Popping up in libraries, village halls and schools in the Easter Ross & Inverness area we welcomed 100s of families along over the year.
Please thank those involved in selecting us for the fund. It was much appreciated. 🦊
We are now in the process of trying to secure funding to open a community hub in Alness to run several projects from.
We we would also run an outreach service from this facility, allowing us to travel as far as Nairn and Aviemore with our services.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Wild Things
Wild Things specialises in tackling educational, social and economical disadvantages by fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between communities and the natural world. Wild Things reaches multiple demographics including older people, venerable teenagers, and primary school-age children.
Your donation was made at the end of 2022 and provided match funding for our Growing Wild and Well programme for teenagers in 2023. Our season of work went really well and we broke new records for the number of total participants on our programmes (1,702), which rose by more than 30%.
Regarding the work that your funding supported, this is a really important part of our charitable mission. In Moray, there are few providers of extracurricular and alternative curriculum activities for vulnerable young people and we really appreciate the support you have shown to Moray via the programmes we provide them. In 2023, we worked with partners across the region to reach 97 teenagers, delivering to each of them an 8-day programme of outdoor activities, nature connection and health & wellbeing activities. This was achieved in 8 separate groups with approximately 10 students per cohort. Whilst much of the activities include mindfulness, sensory awareness, games and adventurous activities, there are always elements of formal learning and sessions are themed around different elements of nature including microlife, mammals, tracking, plant and tree identification, foraging, birds, geography, biology, habitats and ecosystems. Those that were able to also undertook a Level 2 Accredited Qualification, Introduction to Bushcraft. Of our 97 participants, 36 gained the qualification.
The degree of need across our cohort of participants was widely varied, some struggled with mental health challenges, emotion management, ADHD, autism, challenging home environments, isolation amongst others. As much as the programmes have been important as an alternative route to learning and personal growth for these young people, our data indicates that 78% felt that coming out with Wild Things had made them feel happier and healthier, 77% would like to do another programme with Wild Things, 95% said they had learned new things about nature and 85% said that the overall experience of the programme has been “great” or “excellent”. This was reflected in much of the qualitative feedback which was always positive and demonstrated the highly varied benefits that each individual took away with them. Included are a handful of quotes which demonstrate this:
“I’ve learnt how to start a fire safely in the wild. It’s good fun to get out the classroom and being in the outdoors … my favourite thing was lighting a fire and cooking food.” participant
“How to tie new knots, like the Siberian hitch … It made me happier because I made new friends along the way.” participant
“I’ve learned that trees are males and females. [my feelings about nature have changed] because we’ve learned how to plant trees and different parts of an animal.” participant
“The students are always happy, excited and relaxed during these sessions. The class learned to work together more. They helped each other more. Having the students outdoor more [was the best part], it was great how much they learned about the impact humans have on nature and how important it is. I can’t think of any improvements. It was excellent for both students and staff and we hope we can do it again next year with new students.” Supporting Staff
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Worldwide Vets
Worldwide Vets is a non-profit organisation that aims to reduce suffering, advance welfare and improve medical care available to all species worldwide.
The Safari project in Zimbabwe, was absolutely fantastic!!
Caitlin had the most amazing trip, where she fully embraced all aspects of the trip which included activities such as stable chores, boundary and snare patrols where we were able to ride amongst Impalas, Giraffes and Elephants, swimming with horses, playing polo cross to name but a few. Caitlin raised enough funds to also participate on a 4 day adventure to Victoria Falls. Whilst at Victoria Fallls Caitlin partook in more fun and adventure, including doing a Gorge swim over the Zambezi river, a safari drive, where we had the opportunity to watch Lions be fed, got up close with Hyenas and fed Ostrich’s, as well as seeing a wide variety of We also enjoyed a boat cruise on the Zambezi river where we enjoyed dinner and saw Hippos and Crocodiles, which was incredible. Caitlin also go to enjoy dinner whilst experiencing the most incredible sunset. The sounds of the Lions and elephants roaring to the monkeys running around trying to steal food or personal items is also up there in some of the best memories.
Caitlin found this trip life changing, her confidence and social skills developed greatly as did her independence as she explored new cultures and had to take an active role as a volunteer. Caitlin enjoyed meeting people from Zimbabwe and can’t wait to travel again!
Caitlin is extremely grateful for the opportunity and all the support that she had to go on this incredible trip
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Project Linus UK
Project Linus is a UK is a national volunteer charity that started in 2000. It provides homemade patchwork quilts, knitted blankets and incubator covers for children in hospitals or hospices. The project has expanded to include disadvantaged children and teenagers with the message “A quilt is a hug you can keep!” Project Linus were awarded £500 donation from Jennifer’s Fund towards sewing afternoons. The aim for this project for beginners who would like to improve their skills.
The funding we received has really very been helpful for us.
We are small part of a large organisation and we do all our own fundraising.
In August 2022 I started a group meeting every two weeks at Balloch Village Hall. They have been a great success – and we will be starting our 3rd year after the school holidays.
I get more quilts donated and the ladies enjoy meeting up with other people who share a similar interest. All the volunteers are very generous with their time and providing fabric for these quilts and I used most of your funding to buy wadding for them. I also bought some fabric to compliment other fabric we got donated.
In the year to 31/3/22 we donated 595 quilts and blankets, 631 the next year and 844 in year to 31/3/24 . With the cost of living crisis the demand has greatly increased.
Close
Amount Donated: £300
Thurso Youth Darts Club
Thurso Youth Darts Club has been running for 5 years. Trish Mackay is the head coach along with 3 other coach who help her each week. They have 32 kids who attended every Monday night from 6-8:15pm. Most of the stuff the Darts Club do is based around the kids having fun while at the same time learning counting which is skill that can be used in school as well. They identified a need for new equipment as they have had the previous equipment for 5 years. They noticed all the mats had started to fray and were in poor condition. They also used white boards which needed replacing – while also noticing they were running out of darts that the kids get to use each week.
Thanks to my donations I was able to buy all new equipment as the new venue doesn’t allow dart boards on the wall so I had to source free standing ones which were very costly. This was made possible thanks to your donation and other donations I have received.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
No Limits Caithness
With the soaring energy costs, we might not have been able to open again this autumn, but this cash helps us to keep going with our important role in the community.
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Inverness Pipe Band
The new band could make its competitive debut at Grade 4 level in 2023 if enough funding can be secured for uniforms – and Cairngorm Group has kicked off the cash quest with a £500 donation. Pipe Major Scott Taylor said:
“Most of the big bands in the south have a second band, which is a big advantage, and now we’re going down the same route.
This will be the band of the future as far as Inverness is concerned and we’re delighted that so many pipers and drummers want to be involved. Many of us in the senior band do tuition, and this will allow those pupils an opportunity to play in a band and go on a learning curve. The idea is that, in time, they push their way into the senior band, while some older members could drop down to the Grade 4 one.
The Pipe Major, whose senior band competes at Grade 3A, added:
“The new band is an exciting opportunity but every penny is a prisoner as far as kitting them out is concerned. That’s why we’re delighted with Cairngorm’s assistance – hopefully it will attract other businesses to help our project.”
One of the new band’s members is 15-year-old Lily Kelman, who is a world champion Highland dancer.
“I’m on tenor drums and I’ve been playing since I was 10, fitting it in around my dancing,” she said. “Getting the chance to play in a pipe band is a real thrill and I’m thrilled to have begun practising with the group. We see this as an important step forward in our development.”
Another newcomer, Calum Wilson, said:
“I’ve been piping for some time but this is the big step up I’ve been looking for. Playing in the new band gives us the opportunity to work together to enhance our performance level.”
Cairngorm Group is making the donation from Jennifer’s Fund, set up by the windows manufacturer in memory of Jennifer McBurnie. Group chairman David Dowling was her father while her brothers, Chris and Scott, are joint managing directors. All three were impressed when attending one of the new band’s first practice sessions in Inverness Town House. Scott said:
“Their music enthralls spectators at various events and we’re extremely pleased to be able to help the newer members to develop in a band environment.” Pipe band secretary Michelle Middleton said: “This project will impact future pipers and drummers in the Highlands. It’s important for Inverness to be able to sustain competing bands as well as providing a local band for the community. “It will cost several thousand pounds to kit out the new band and all credit to Cairngorm for stepping forward to help.”
Close
Amount Donated: £500
Ormlie Teen Scene
Ormlie Community Association opened in May 1997. They deliver a variety of structured projects to the people of Ormlie and Thurso. The families they support are socially and economically deprived. The people are faced with a variety of challenges such as Rac, sexuality, gender, disabilities, mental health, addiction single parent homes, low paid and unemployed. They support from birth to 90+ years of age. They have a wide selection of group for everyone to get involved in such as, employability and digital access groups, free WIFI, older adult groups, toddler groups, mums groups, men’s shed, art groups, gardening groups, fun young and involved for primary school children and also teen scene for teenagers. The Teen scene project was awarded £500 by Cairngorm group through the Jennifer’s fund – this will go towards funding the teen scene group which is open 2 nights a week, a ¾ of which are teenagers who suffer with additional needs such as ADHD and autism.
Close
Amount Donated: £1000
Relationship Scotland
Counselling Highland is a Scottish Charity SC001163 and part of the national network that is Relationships Scotland. While our network provides a great range of services for individuals, couples and families, Counselling Highland specialises in couple counselling, and individual counselling where relevant to relationships. From Inverness, we serve Highland region. Because the area is so large and it’s not always possible for clients to travel to us, we are building our outreach services, including telephone and online counselling. Don’t let distance deter you from asking for help.
“The impact of the funds means we will be able to help more vunrable families to access the help they need”