Celebrating collaboration at the 5th Falck Renewables Sustainable Communities Forum

Last week, we were delighted to welcome our friends from across our UK wind farm communities to the 5th Sustainable Communities Forum, this year held in Fort Augustus, Scotland.  

Representatives from 18 community groups – including co-operatives, community funds and local groups that receive funding – joined us for a day of learning, sharing and collaboration.  

During the forum, we caught up with some of the fantastic projects, understanding the impact that our community fund can have on these initiatives. We heard from charity, Trees4life, about some of the inspiring work that they’re doing through tree-planting, raising awareness and their important rewilding project.  

A representative from the Citizens Advice Bureau hosted a live workshop on Practical ways to support your community this winter, and we heard from Christine Bell, CEO of Cycling Without Age Scotland on how they are bringing cycling in the great outdoors to the elderly and disabled with the help of funding. 

A guest workshop was held on how community benefit trusts could leverage matched funding to boost their initiatives. And we were delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s Student Support Scheme, which sees a total of seven students from communities around our wind farm receive funding towards their studies linked to engineering, energy and renewables. Good luck in your studies!  

Erin Murchie, Community Relation Manager in the UK, said: “This forum is so important to the work that we do in the communities around our wind farms in the UK. It gives us a chance to really connect to the needs of these communities, using this knowledge to enhance and improve our offering to meet the real needs of the people.” 

“After two years of hosting these events online, it was fantastic to get together in person again to collaborate face-to-face. It was the best Community Forum yet!”.  

For those of you who weren’t in attendance, you can watch the community video HERE to hear directly from communities who have benefited from Falck Renewables community funds in various ways.