The caretaking team have had an eventful and sometimes challenging year, but overall contented, and more than enough projects and ongoing maintenance to keep a small practical team busy. Our hygiene routines and socially distancing practises have never been at such a high standard; at one point you could even see the pattern of the lino on the tea hut floor! Socially distancing has been a drafty affair with open doors and windows, and separate vehicles and separate sheds to sit in.
Old Covent Land Update
It’s been an exciting time here with the completion of the new housing, attention is now focusing on the external land and some community projects within. We are in the process of constructing a community composting area in the front field where residents and staff alike can take their green garden waste and compost it for future use within the villages. We are starting with leaf mulch, chipped bark and general garden waste such as grass and hedge clippings.
The ancient, shuttered boundary wall is also getting some much-needed TLC, with seemingly endless holes to patch up and point with fresh mortar and also mounting coping stones on finished sections as we go along.
Spring flowering bulbs have also been planted by the team including tulips, daffodils and crocuses which will help compliment the new planting scheme around Caledonian Court.
Villages Maintenance Highlighted Improvements
St Columba’s Well in Invermoriston has had some recent improvements with new handrails and rotten uprights being replaced on the timber structure. The steps and decking boards have also been identified as a slip hazard now, hence its closure until an anti-slip surface has been installed.
The team also installed a new handrail and step entrance to the Glenmoriston Footprints enabling easier access to another ancient piece of history in the area.
New picnic benches have been distributed throughout the villages including Invergarry; all made from recycled plastic together with BBQ plates mounted on one side.
Aesthetically pleasing improvements have also been carried out on several planting beds on Caledonian Brae with the purpose of making them stand out and bringing some colour and beauty to the area.
All the above aside, our bread and butter really comes from duties such as dealing with waste and litter, grass cutting, roadside drains, leaf fall, blowing and brushing pavements, gritting etc etc; but without these core duties we wouldn’t have our welcoming villages for residents and visitors alike.
Thanks for reading
Glen
Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston Community Company 