January 2026 general news

 our journalist and editor are back from their flight-free trans-European information-gathering and learning adventure. More details of which will come as the year unfolds—stay tuned for a blog post soon! and potentailly a flight free and eco tourism adventure with purpose event announcement,

The hub remained open over Christmas and New Year, thanks to a fantastic team of volunteers who ensured the rooms were warm, clean, and that recycling bins were maintained. These recycling bins are becoming more problematic, an issue we will soon need to address. A big thank you to the key holder team!


We have commissioned an architect to create plans for our refurbishment and emergency repairs. Some of the work we've already paid for includes drone footage of our roofs and walls, along with in-depth structural repairs and a building warrant for some essential roof repairs. We have held numerous meetings with mechanical and electrical installers regarding our heat and power transition, which has resulted in some further quotations for the installation of solar panels and air source heat pumps.


We are also excited to announce the launch of new groups. We now have a support group for tinnitus sufferers, which was featured in the Falkirk Herald. The Quakers have returned to the hub, and a new tech support group called "Tea Tech and Talk" is starting. Additionally, Craig's Corner has installed a memory bench, which will also be featured in the Falkirk Herald, and they have started walking football sessions in addition to their Thursday night meetings.


Our Highland dancers recently performed at a care home to celebrate Burns Night, and refurbishment work at the Top Toes clinic began in January. This led to a requirement to rearrange some toys, allowing us to create a new children's corner in our foyer.




Our events team has been extremely busy and, unfortunately, had to make the decision to cancel our planned Burns supper. However, our Scots language champion views this as a postponement rather than a cancellation for 2026. The events team has confirmed the date for our next big event: PolmontSOUP on March 21st.


January's Friends of the Hub meeting did not take place due to our packed schedule. Bookings are coming in consistently, which is great news, but it has increased the workload for our already stretched team. There was an incident involving a burst pipe, but the team handled it exceptionally well. The worms for our wormery are still in their temporary accommodation but are thriving.


Our nature and biodiversity champion planted out some sweet chestnuts experimentally, we harvested some mushrooms from Claire's box of mushrooms, and are preparing a space for a an indoor (mini greenhouse) seeds area, the gardening leadership course in March is nearly sold out  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Update on Polmontsoup

Image
  Fun Soup Event 21st of March 2026 Polmont SOUP will be a way of promoting, raising funds, and celebrating great ideas to build a bigger, better, stronger, supportive community. We will come together and enjoy a hot bowl of soup, some entertainment and help a community idea blossom. What is PolmontSOUP? Polmont SOUP will be a way of promoting, raising funds, and celebrating the great ideas that are building our bigger, better, stronger, supportive community. We will come together enjoy a hot bowl of soup, some entertainment and help a community idea blossom. Our community music lead is going to get back to us about the entertainment, as he may make that one of the projects up for funding at the event How it will work  PolmontSOUP will bring people together to make good things happen in our community. PCHub volunteers will host this form of community crowdfunding event to support new ideas and exciting projects in our community. Everyone is invited, you’ll receive tasty soup, ...
Read more

First years heat and power

Image
Our first year -  Heat and Power Management Last year at this time, we faced numerous challenges in discovering how to take a meter reading for our electricity. It was not easy, and even the strategic property review team at the council struggled with it. In the end, Claire figured out how to take the electric meter reading. EDF placed us on their emergency tariff, which took effect on October 1, 2024. The initial bill from this tariff caused us significant headaches, resulting in days lost to phone calls, meetings, emails, and letters. However, we can now celebrate a success story: Claire took our meter readings on the evening of September 30, 2025. We now have the exact figures for kilowatt-hours used and the associated costs for our first full year. Claire continues to take monthly readings and monitor our tariff. We also know the kWh usage from the council in previous years. Our sustainability manager is working on his impact report for our first year, which isn’t ready for pub...
Read more

Sunflowers 2026

Image
  Keep Scotland Beautifull (KSB) took part in the - Big Give Earth Raise campaign – this was an opportunity for any donation to be doubled for the Climate and Nature Friendly Communities Network - which we at PCHub are, it went live at 12noon on the 22nd April 2026!!!! - all donations up to £4,000 were doubled!!!! Quite simply: one donation, twice the impact – no matter how big or small. We had until noon on 29 April to donate    Check out their 2025 Impact Report for the Network , which will show you where your money is going (and how important the Network is).   As you know, dear reader, we are one of their  Climate and Nature Friendly Communities Network. There are almost 250 community groups across Scotland (and it’s all FREE for groups). Donating through the Big Give Earth Raise campaign will enable KSB to raise much-needed funding to help support their coordination of our network.   With our financial support, they help communities build their capabi...
Read more