Welcome to the KDP Bulletin.
Kincardine & Deeside Befriending has been working for 29 years in rural Southern Aberdeenshire with vulnerable, isolated and lonely older people, who live in their own homes. We facilitate a regular befriending visit which in most cases would involve an outing to a garden centre, going out for a walk, for a bit of shopping or just for a cuppa and a fine piece, and if outings aren’t possible, then a cuppa and a chat at home.
We cover a large geographical area. In Kincardine from Banchory-Devenick and Portlethen down the coastal strip to St Cyrus, across to Marykirk, Laurencekirk, Fordoun and Fettercairn. On Deeside from Drumoak to Banchory, Aboyne and Ballater, Torphins, Lumphanan and Tarland. And all the places in between.
We are always on the lookout for volunteers who we try to match locally, so we won’t be asking you to travel a long way, and we will look after your travel expenses and your snacks. And don’t worry if you don’t drive – there’s always someone who can’t get out and about who needs a friendly face.
What skills do you need to be a volunteer? You just need to be kind, compassionate, empathetic and committed. We offer a home learning package and a volunteering experience which is well supported with volunteers being screened (PVG checks and references) and supported. We aim to ensure that the service has a positive impact on self-esteem, reduces feelings of loneliness, keeps isolated individuals linked with their local communities and allows many to remain in their own homes for longer. Befriending has been shown to have positive impacts on the mental health of all involved.
If you think that you might have a couple of hours free once a week or once a fortnight, and think that you might like to brighten up someone’s day, please get in touch with us either by email info@kdbefriending.org.uk, or by telephone on 01569 765 714 (for Kincardine & Mearns) or 01330 823 368 (for Deeside). You can also find us on Facebook and we have a website for further information.
The CARES Community Buildings Fund provides grants to help community organisations reduce their building’s energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It does this by funding the installation of renewable technologies like heat pumps, battery storage, and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, as well as some energy efficiency measures.
Up to 80% of eligible costs can be funded up to a maximum grant amount of £80,000.
The fund will be open to applications until the end of October 2025, or until funding is fully allocated, whichever is sooner. This will allow projects time to complete and draw down funding before the end of the financial year.
Visit the website for more details.
Throughout May 2025, Love to Ride are running their fun and free campaign that encourages and supports people to ride bikes more often!
There’s a competition element too, so they are encouraging all schools, colleges, workplaces and individuals to ride 5 miles over the course of the month and see who can top the leaderboards! Once you ride 5 miles you can then unlock further challenges during the month to ride 5 transport trips, rate 5 routes etc which enable more entries into prize draws!
Here’s how to take part:
- Download the Love to Ride App
- Enjoy any kind of bike ride – log it manually or turn on auto-logging!
- Staff can register for the challenge and join their workplace profile
- Families can register as individuals, with over 13’s able to have their own account.
- Rate your routes to show how safe and comfortable you felt on different sections of your ride to help your local biking community
- Ride your bikes and encourage others to earn points – the workplaces/schools with the highest number of points will top the leaderboards
- The local workplaces/schools with the most points will top the leaderboards – There are amazing prizes up for grabs
Learn more here.
Applications are now being accepted from Organisations and Projects for Fairer Aberdeenshire Funding for 2025/26. This fund is open to those groups who have a project focusing on one or more of the below:
- Food Insecurity
- Fuel Poverty & Housing
- Financial Inclusion (including Cash First)
- Mental Health & Wellbeing
- Child Poverty (including childcare services)
For more information or to receive an application form, please email tpi@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
The Soil Association’s Food for Life programme has put together tips and ideas for schools and communities to help inspire the nation to get growing.
Plant and Share returns for 2025 to help inspire the nation to get growing, together. With four key themes to explore, each week has resources and tips to get your growing activities off the ground. If you are getting involved they’d love to hear about your activities! Tag them on social media @SAFoodForLife.
More here.
Live Life Aberdeenshire are delighted to confirm they will be launching another round of Sport for Change funding this year, and expect to open applications towards the end of April. As in previous years, they will be looking to work with community groups and clubs who are linked to a local sport hubs, and have identified local issues that can be addressed through working in partnership and using sport as the mechanism to activate positive change.
They would like to encourage any club, group or organisation to start considering any projects you feel could be supported through this funding and make contact if you wish to discuss your thoughts further ahead of applications opening.
Please contact Greg Welsh, Community Sport Hub Officer (South), at gregory.welsh@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or 01467 468327.
Community Wealth Building is a collection of practical methods to create and keep wealth within a local area. It is often described as a people centred approach to economic development and aims to ensure every area and community can participate in, and benefit from, economic activity.
Aberdeenshire Council would like to hear your views on their proposal for a Community Wealth Building Strategy.
Take part here.
The window for applying to the Nestrans’ Community Project Grant Fund is now open until 1700 on Friday 9th May.
Community organisations who would benefit from funding to support people to increase their use of active and/or sustainable transport modes, should visit the website.
Initiatives should focus on: (i) enabling people to put walking, wheeling, and cycling at the heart of their everyday behaviours; of (ii) connect journeys to the public transport network, offering sustainable alternatives to the car.
The funding awards will have a ceiling of approximately £10k.
The Independent Food Aid Network are offering free “Money Counts” training sessions to support the use of the local ‘Worrying About Money?’ leaflets. The training supports frontline staff and volunteers from a range of sectors including NHS, local authorities and community groups, feel confident using ‘Worrying About Money?’ resources and engaging with people about money worries.
Following their successful Scotland-wide sessions earlier in the year they have set up further training for May and June. One on MS Teams and one on Zoom to ensure the best accessibility for all participants.
21st of May 2025 (Zoom) 10-11am
3rd of June 2025 (MS Teams) 10-11am
Email emma@foodaidnetwork.org.uk if you have any questions.
The Stobart Sustainability Fund is aimed at supporting community-led sustainability projects and initiatives lead by non-profit organisations, community groups and educational facilities, such as schools and colleges, to help them transform their local community through projects that tackle climate change, reduce carbon emissions or that protect and enhance the environment.
No deadline is given, and applicants must complete a very short form to get initial feedback.
Learn more on the Stobart website.
The Woodland Trust are currently taking applications for tree packs to be delivered in November 2025. Hundreds of thousands of trees are being given away to help the UK reach its 2050 carbon net-zero target.
Schools and communities from across the UK are eligible to apply for up to 420 saplings to improve their local environment.
Tree packs include hedging, copse, wild harvest, year-round colour, working wood, wild wood, wildlife, and urban trees.
Applications are expected to close in August 2025.
Find out more and apply here.
The Eden Project’s Big Lunch is the UK’s annual get-together for neighbours and communities, with millions of people coming together for a few hours of friendship, food and fun on 7th and 8th of June.
The Big Lunch website provides resources to help communities plan their community lunch and is also inviting home cooks to share their favourite recipes to celebrate the meals that bring us together.
The Aldi Scottish Sport Fund is a community-based sport programme designed to make it easier for kids to take part in sports within their local communities by giving clubs the chance to secure funding.
The Aldi Scottish Sport Fund is open to any sporting organisation in Scotland with registered charity status, from rugby clubs to after school groups and everything in between. Groups can apply for funding for a wide range of purposes, such as new strips, equipment or to subsidise transports costs.
Applications are currently open to stores in NE, Highlands & Islands areas which includes Portlethen.
There are three funding packages available per region: 1 x £2500, 2 x £1000, and 5 x £500.
Find out more here.
The Autistic Adult Support Fund aims to help adults with an autism diagnosis, self-identified autistic adults, and their families and carers understand what neurodivergence means for them and improve their wellbeing.
The fund supports organisations across Scotland to deliver a range of projects to meet these aims. Facilitated by Inspiring Scotland and funded by the Scottish Government, the Autistic Adult Support Fund builds on the work of a pilot which ran between 2020 and 2021 to provide post diagnostic support to autistic people.
This fund is now open for applications for a new phase of the funding, which will run from October 2025 to March 2028.
Grants of £40,000 – £200,000 per year are available.
The deadline for applications is 21 May 2025.
