april newsletter

 April just flew by at the hub, and we accomplished an incredible amount!

April 1st was no joke! It was a busy day for the hub staff. Verture launched their strategy towards climate change initiatives, as their organisation unveiled their five-year low-carbon living strategy, Our power launch their manifesto at the Kinning Park Complex, which we attended. We loved learning about the history of the complex and had some great networking opportunities. 

Additionally, we received a massive donation of books for oor wee library (OWL), and the Tinnitus Support Group expressed their delight with our growing community engagement and international recognition. Open Book held a meeting with us regarding a reading group initiative—more on this later, but it’s definitely happening! We were also interviewed for an international webinar about our Soup Night.

our cold frames built from upcycled waste

On Friday, April 3rd, we received a bit of a panicked email from a local group called Polmont Together. This group typically avoids attending hub events and seldom communicates with us, as they host their own local events in the community of Polmont. However, they checked the weather warnings and realised their annual Easter event was going to be a washout, similar to their Christmas event. They reached out to check our availability, knowing the hub was free for hire. 

Of course, we were delighted to facilitate this for the community's benefit. However, this meant that on a Friday night, our unpaid volunteers had to go to great lengths to prepare the space. They ensured that the toilets were clean, towels were in place, the rooms were vacuumed, and the entire area looked respectable for this business hire. This is not a five-minute job; it took countless hours of hard work from our volunteers. They made sure the heating was on, the rooms were clean, the washing was done, toilet rolls were full or replaced, bins were emptied, and everything was ready. 

our seed library finally sorted

The financial gain for the hub from hosting an event that isn’t the hubs own event is not worth this level of effort, but we did it for the benefit of the community, hoping it would foster community-building. However, the event did not serve this purpose. Supporting other groups like this can feel like a virtuous balancing act. They have their agenda, we have ours, and the community has its own. Why should we invest so many hours to support a group that does not support us? 

For us, the reasons were hopeful: building community strength, breaking down barriers, and fostering inter-community conversations for the greater good. As Jo Cox said, "We have much more in common than what divides us." 

The Polmont Together Easter event was very successful event for them, the Polmont Together group and their supporters had a fantastic day. They paid their bill, and we haven't heard from them since.

 Over the past month, we have received continuous book donations for Owl. Additionally, the Falkirk Writers' Circle held a spring fair, which resulted in a large number of books being donated to the hub. For their seminar in May, entries had to be submitted by Tuesday night, April 7.

We have also held Zoom meetings with Falkirk District Council regarding the Soup Night and the match funding, which has unfortunately led to a mountain of paperwork. Moreover, we spent several lengthy meetings with Ian Guthrie from Strathcarron's Stronger Communities Group. These meetings focused on expanding our music library and planning music events. Ian is passionate about community work and music, and these discussions are not truly work—they're an opportunity for good people to come together and organise musical and fun events that celebrate life.

The hub aims to be a supportive space for the community, especially for those who need to cope with the loss of a loved one at Strathcarron. We want to be a comforting place for families in their time of need.

In addition, we have made significant progress with our notice boards around the hub. This is an ongoing project that requires considerable effort. Our main volunteers have dedicated numerous hours to tidying up and improving these boards, and they will continue to do so. Our volunteers also work hard to get this newsletter out. The journalist and the editor are extremely busy, not only with the newsletter but also with other hub-related work. We need additional help! 

on Sunday the 12th of April We hosted a screening of the National Emergency Briefing We were extremely proactive in getting the screening done in our community before the upcoming elections, if people are going to make an informed decision at the ballot box Then they need to have information that is true honest and fact checked by government experts - across the wide spectrum of society,  If you're going to make an informed choice then it's good to know the information you are receiving, is not mis, dis, or malinformation, informed decisions of who you are voting for and why, should be an open book! This is why we invited all of the political parties, all the candidates for the upcoming election - The current MSP and our MP were invited to attend this briefing, along with all local representatives of political parties.

 On the evening, 20 people attended. Two of them were representatives of the main political parties. The Greens sent a representative, they have no elected representative in our community, out of our communities, which is Falkirk wards 8 and 9, out of these 6 councillors, only one attended a Labour Party councillor. None of the prospective MSP`s attended our MP. said he would attend, but then did not appear. This screening is crucial to informing everyone about what policies we need in place to build resilience towards the global damage being done and how we adapt and survive as a community. 

There is much more to discuss regarding our new cold frames built from donated, discarded windows and decking. The gardening group has some upcoming events. We constructed these cold frames to start our planting early, and we began sowing sunflower seeds at the start of April. This has become an ongoing, amazing local event. If you have followed our blogs over the past year, you will see how significant the sunflowers and the sunflower-growing activities have been to our growth plans. Anyone who has visited the Hub over the past month has likely seen the sunflowers and how we have been a fun part of Keep Scotland Beautiful's Big Earth Giveaway match-funding appeal. 

There is a separate blog detailing this initiative.

 When we started putting seedlings into pots at the beginning of April, we had no idea how big this project would become—and we still don’t! It’s a huge, exciting event that will culminate at the end of August with our Solar Festival, celebrating all the power of the sun—from our solar panels, which have yet to be installed, to our by-then blossoming super giant sunflowers.

During the first two weeks of April, we had a regular attendance of a Gospel Choir movement. This was a beautiful addition to our hubs groups, and it was extremely pleasant to listen to the choir in a busy room on multiple evenings. We hope they will repeat this experience, as it was truly enjoyable.

On Monday, April 20th, we had a particularly busy day. The Hub`s Sustainability team participated in a knowledge exchange visit to a water restoration site near Penicuik. This informative event focused on water preservation, restoration, flood protection, and adaptation to climate change and extreme weather events. We learned a lot, including how Penicuik is coping with flooding and the upstream measures they are implementing to mitigate the impact of extreme weather. Having experienced flash floods ourselves, we found the knowledge sharing particularly beneficial. Networking with other water-saving initiatives allowed us to better plan our sustainable urban drainage systems across Scotland. Our water expert has since met with Falkirk District Council regarding the water-saving initiatives we aim to achieve at the Hub.

On Saturday, April 25th, 2026, we hosted the third annual collaboration between Polmont Joggers and Polmont Community Hub volunteers for the Scurry Round the Forth Ultra Event. This 45-mile round-trip race starts and finishes at the Kelpies. Three years ago, the same four volunteers took charge of marshalling points 5, 6, 7, and 8 during the inaugural event. They donated their marshalling wage to the Hub’s bank account in 2024, marking Polmont Community Hub’s very first financial donation. The following year, the same four individuals made a donation again, as the Hub had become more organised and no longer needed the funds merely to keep the doors open. Instead, the Hub required funds for restoration and rejuvenation projects.

Unfortunately, at that time, the Hub's treasurer was problematic. The volunteers felt that the funds should be used to purchase a water filter and dispensing systems. However, the treasurer was disgruntled about the extra bookkeeping required for this process, which created significant contention. Fast forward one year, and those water dispensers and filters have now been purchased, thanks to the donations from 2025. It’s almost ironic that marshalling points 6 and 7 this year had dispensers supplying filtered water funded by the previous year’s donations! 

During the 2026 event, our mascot Monty and Sloth Security were on hand, dispensing cruelty-free treats and filtered water. The same four volunteers are currently deliberating what to do with the financial reward from this year. Should they keep this money for themselves or donate it again, while clearly informing the accounting department about how they want it spent? This decision is still pending. What do you think, dear reader?

In April, there were two significant film screening events at the Hub. The first was the National Emergency Briefing, which was hosted and organised by the Hub. The second event was a private screening by a separate group that required an invitation for attendance, except for our Hub volunteers, who enjoyed a night off to watch this educational and entertaining community-building film. This event aimed to foster community spirit leading up to the national elections.

Interestingly, this screening coincided with the 60th anniversary of Grangemouth Athletic Stadium, which held its 60th Round the Houses race. Two of our main volunteers participated in this 10-kilometer race—what an achievement for the community! Additionally, this year marks not only the stadium's and race anniversary but also the 60th year for our chairman, who hails from Grangemouth. more on that here roond the hooses

On another note, we welcomed two new groups to our Hub in April while also seeing two groups complete their contracts with us. Furthermore, we secured our first office lease. More details on these topics will be provided in another blog post! and planning has started for the hingabootery and sitabootery aspects of the west wing? With perhaps a secret garden growing? 

we also recieved sleepers that falkirk district council sourced for us from jewsons building suppliers, this is timely for our upcoming gardening open day,