Issue - meetings

Ian Brodie, East Kintyre Community Council

Ian Brodie advised that East Kintyre Community Council had formed a group, comprising of members of the Community Council and volunteers, at the beginning of lockdown which had served the community as required. Ian noted that the group had delivered a bottle of hand wash to all of those listed by the local GP surgery, and handed out bars of soap provided by South Kintyre Development Trust. Ian noted that some work had also been carried out with local shops and one volunteer who had a PVG had been assisting with picking up shopping and delivering prescriptions. Ian advised that this support could be reinstated if required.

Rachel Whyte, Islay Community Council

Rachel Whyte advised that Islay had benefitted from having a resilience group in the area, noting that the Community Council had undertaken a huge amount of work in response to the Covid19 pandemic. Rachel outlined work which had been carried out, including erecting signage and the implementation of hand sanitiser stations across the island and outside of the local Co-ops. Rachel noted that the resilience group on Islay had worked fantastically and Islay also now had a recovery group set up to assist with coming out of lockdown. Rachel noted that reports from the recovery group indicated that people had become somewhat cocooned and were at times unwilling to come out again as they had been made to feel very safe, noting that this was causing concern with regard to social isolation.  Phil Dickinson sought and received confirmation from Rachel that hand sanitiser had been purchased using the supporting communities grant and noted that Craignish Community Council planned to use some of this fund in future for safe coffee mornings to prevent social isolation. Rachel advised that attempts were being made to prevent social isolation, however this was a worry on Islay and elsewhere in Argyll and Bute, particularly due to the lack of Mental Health support available in the area. Rachel agreed to discuss this issue in further detail with Phil following the meeting and urged everyone at the meeting to reach out to anyone who they felt may be struggling with the effects of social isolation.

Councillor Alastair Redman

Councillor Redman advised that it had been a huge concern locally that the Co-op had not provided hand sanitiser at the entrance of their shops, despite other shops in the area doing so, as it was not their statutory duty and noted that he felt that it was a moral duty that they should be providing this. Councillor Redman thanked Rachel and the Community Council for arranging this and thanked volunteers across Islay and the Kintyre peninsula for going above and beyond, often at their own expense. Councillor Redman highlighted recent spates of vandalism on Islay which Rachel had notified Police of. Councillor Redman, following comments made by Rachel in relation to a lack of mental health provision in the area, noted that many of his constituents had contacted him with concerns around mental health provision. 

Phil Dickinson, Craignish Community Council

Phil Dickinson advised that he found the sharing of ideas at the group useful in seeing how other groups had utilised their funding and dealt with the pandemic. Phil advised that a group had been set up in Craignish including representatives from the Community Council, Community Company and Village Hall. Phil noted that a document outlining the response had been sent on to the Committee Manager who would circulate to attendees and advised that he would briefly outline the contents of this.

Phil advised that the group had decided that their role would be as a portal of information who could signpost people to available services, noting that this was largely carried out via Facebook, e-mail and voice file notes for those who struggled with reading. Phil noted that the group had also put together a pack for every household with printed information and details for organisations which could be signposted to. 

Phil noted that it was the priority of the group to ensure that no one was missed who required support and a list of vulnerable people had been collated and shared with a first responder network, each person on this list was allocated a volunteer who would assist them and check in on them every week. Phil outlined work which had been carried out to assist people including signs being erected, messages being distributed reinforcing government advice, and those reporting breaches of guidance being signposted to the Police. Phil highlighted that much of the work of the group had been around running a hardship and food fund, noting that 138 people had been assisted through this. Phil advised that the group were currently planning further options for the next stage of the fund and noted the challenges around meeting the criteria for this, advising that there were a number of ideas being explored with this in mind. 

Antonia Baird, Community Development Officer

Antonia advised that she would provide an overview of the work which had been carried out across the MAKI Area by groups who were not represented at the meeting, noting that the communities throughout the MAKI area had spontaneously organised themselves in a number of compassionate and creative ways to suit their community’s needs. Antonia provided details of the different ways in which support was provided such as providing shopping, collecting and delivering prescriptions and co-ordinating activities to prevent isolation and loneliness. 

Antonia advised that people could be referred to local community organisations via the Caring for People helpline and that this had resulted in many new connections being made and the needs of individuals being met by their communities, noting that this had been particularly successful in areas such as Kintyre where referrals had decreased when individuals were made known to the Kintyre Resilience Group. Antonia provided details of the work carried out by the Caring for People Partnership such as creating a Guide to Safe Volunteering, putting in place a protocol for safe delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5