Hub Groups Blog Posts

  Polmont Community Hub SCIO Governance Development Workshop 2 October 2025 Nicola Hanssen In the lead-up to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and year-end submissions to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), we reached out to Community Enterprise Scotland for assistance. With 35 years of experience, they specialize in providing tailored support to social enterprises, community groups, and charities to help them achieve greater sustainability and effectiveness. Their team of experts is dedicated to helping SMEs like ours navigate the challenges of turning our ideas into reality and ensuring our organization’s long-term success. Following an hour-long Zoom meeting with our sustainability manager, Community Enterprise allocated eight hours of professional help, which proved to be invaluable. At that time, our management team was at its smallest, and we felt overwhelmed and concerned about our workload in meeting our targets. The outside support from a government body ma...

  Apple Day Did Not Happen on Its Own   all animals are equal! Apple Day required extensive planning and coordination. The planning group engaged in discussions with other volunteers and stakeholders to determine what activities to include, where things should be placed, and what tasks needed to be accomplished.   One of the memorable lessons we learned was the conversation between the BFGs (Braes Friendly Growers) and PCH regarding what to do with the leftover apples and pulp. Permaculture and sustainability focus on waste management, which is central to our mission. At the hub, we are continuously introducing more zero-waste initiatives. Our sustainability manager at PCH suggested transforming the pulp into apple biscuit bars, perhaps with added honey, foraged seeds, or various spices, or even making apple pies for future events. He was quite excited about the idea of baking these snacks and pies for the upcoming Samhain event, which may now not happen. ...