Winter at Longcraig
It’s now Winter at Longcraig
That was very clear last Saturday when South Queensferry woke up to an inch of fresh snow!
It’s quickly cooled down, from the warm days in early October, and the very mild days at times in November, to a super frosty spell as we head into December.
Summer is well and truly over now (for this year).
We’re still seeing a lot of dead seabirds strewn over the coastline, so if you are in the area, or anywhere else on the cost at this time, watch out for them. The advice is to leave them alone – don’t poke or prod, but if you can, notify the RSPB and they will coordinate their removal if necessary. There’s not a great deal that can be done to those poor seabirds falling for Avian Flu, but there’s definitely no point in us spreading it around, or even risking our own human health.
Seasons Greetings
In the meantime, we’d like to wish everyone – especially those who did manage to get out on the water with us this year – a very Happy Christmas and to look forward to a prosperous 2024.
Image courtesy of Pinterest
Programme Planning
For any Groups who are planning a major event or a special event or celebration, that would involve some activities at Longcraig, the window of opportunity to select a specific date and a specific programme closes at the end of this month – December. After that, we start to prepare our own Booking Calendar which will be opened up for online bookings early in spring.
The best way to get in touch is through bookings@longcraig.com and we’ll take it from there.
If you’ve not yet been in touch please do so before the end of December as we need to plan your dates into our 2024 calendar.
Our Journey to Net Zero
At the end of November we were delighted to hear that we have been awarded some grant funding towards installing renewable energy solutions in Longcraig.
More details to follow next month when we will have more details to share with you, but:
- Improved heating in changing spaces
- More hot water for showers
- Reduced electricity bills
Is what it’s all about! And, which of these is not to be wanted??
Look out for more information next month!
Volunteering?
TYPE 1:
We’re always keen to see or hear from adults who would like to help out with what we do – up front on the water, or simply behind the scenes making the Centre operate.
We continue to offer opportunities to come and meet with us and see what we do, and what you could do as a volunteer. Our next planned drop in sessions will be early in 2024, we aim to offer one date every month where people can drop in to see what we are about.
Please simply contact us at getinvolved@longcraig.info with your preferred meeting date and your contact details.
We’ll take care of the rest!
Do you have any parents in your Group who might be interested in this? Please do let them know!!
TYPE 2:
We can also offer a different type of volunteering, which is to provide an opportunity for groups of adults, scouts or explorers to come along during the ‘closed’ season and give us the benefit of your volunteering – this could be just for one event, or it could be – say – once a month for a period of time. This can count to a number of outcomes, such as DofE volunteering, various scout badges and awards, or simply to lend a hand for a few hours. Things you might get involved in could be checking of buoyancy aids, fixing boats, painting, and decorating some parts of the centre which were not impacted by the recent building improvements, beach protection work, or behind the scenes stuff like preparing our land activity kits.
If you’re interested, please get in touch to make arrangements or discuss further.
Can anyone help?
Every year, the sea tried to ‘break in’ to our grounds and shoreline at Longcraig. We’ve worked hard to help prevent this causing too much damage, but it is a constant fight. And last month’s storms – Agnes and Babet – were no exception! Tons of seaweed washed up, and some minor damage to our shore defences.
We’re on it, but we are seeking a few small items to help us.
These include: used garden forks; used metal rakes; used grass rakes – all to help with returning the seaweed to the sea, instead of on our grass areas.
Offcuts of concrete reinforcing bars – the 19mm round kind – lengths of 1 metre or longer – we use these for pinning down the timber along the shoreline.
If you can help us source any of these items please get in touch – iharrower@longcraig.info.
