A TOURISM promotion group and a heating oil collective are two notable successes from a £60,000 project to boost the Ettrick and Yarrow valleys.
So says outgoing project officer Julie Nock about the two-year Revitalising the Ettrick and Yarrow Valleys work which ended last week.
She told The Southern: “It’s been a really successful project. When I first started a lot of people thought ‘what can you do in the valleys that we are not already doing?’. I see a real difference in the community over the last two years.”
She said in her report: “On paper, the heating oil buying group and tourism group are the stand-out successes. However, the real success is seeing the communities of Ettrick and Yarrow working together, communicating and getting involved with the issues that affect them most.”
The tourism group launched its first initiative, a walking booklet, at Bowhill last month, while the 70 members of the heating oil buying group have bought 138,800 litres, saving £8,230 collectively.
And earlier this year, members met MP Michael Moore, the council and the Borders Machinery Ring to look at ways of rolling the initiative out to the wider region. One of the major issues facing valley residents is poor internet and mobile reception, hampering them from expanding their businesses and accessing services, said Julie.
But work with gas and electricity provider SSE might result in faster broadband, she said.
Funding and support for the project came from Scottish Borders LEADER, Buccleuch Estates and the Southern Uplands Partnership.
And £10,000 was disbursed to community groups, including to the tourism group for the walking booklet and £1,000 to move the James Hogg Exhibition to Ettrick School, which closed last year, where a creative residency will also be set up. The exhibition is expected to open at the end of next month.