Gairloch and Loch Ewe Action Forum

Gairloch and Loch Ewe Action Forum [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (GALE) is a self-financing, community-owned and managed, development trust, social enterprise and charity. GALE believes that volunteers are literally their roots and branches, for they were started by volunteers and the areas of growth are largely volunteer driven.

GALE was established in 1997 by a group of volunteers who were concerned by the loss of key services in the area, which is a remote, economically fragile, rural location. Their ethos is to develop a sustainable economy, one that empowers the community to make decisions for itself and focus on what is important for its residents.

The projects are volunteer driven, which reflects where the desire of the community lays. The enthusiasm and engagement of volunteers enabled GALE to then consider employing someone to manage a project and drive it forward. This is an organic process and one that has made GALE the successful organisation that it is today.

The GALE Centre was built about seven years ago. The Centre contains a community café, local craft retail outlet, independent tourist information, and units that are currently rented to West Highland College, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands. GALE has also achieved the Investing in Volunteers quality standard.

In the course, there are contributions from Tania MacKenzie, the Volunteer Co-ordinator, and a volunteer, Rebecca.

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Tanya

I’m Tanya McKenzie. I’m a Volunteer Coordinator for Gairloch and Loch Ewe action forum or GALE for short. When I was first in post I was employed to establish the volunteer programme to replace the policies and procedures. GALE is a volunteer driven organisation, it’s community owned, it’s a development trust, a charity and social enterprise. It was established about 20 years ago by a group of volunteers who got together because we were losing resources and services in our area which is rural and economically quite fragile. They were then able, with the work they were doing, to employ a project manager and that has been a pattern of GALE ever since. Projects are volunteer driven and if they are successful then they are able to create employment which is an important core ethos of GALE to create a stable and sustainable economy for this community.

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Rebecca

Hello I’m Rebecca Duville and I do a numeral amount of volunteering in the Gairloch area including the GALE but also for the cubs and the community car scheme and other bits and pieces.

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