Getting Into The Community Spirit

The schools are on holiday, daffodils are blossoming and lambs are bouncing merrily round fields whilst the talk of the Easter Bunny and how many eggs he will leave is on every child’s mind! In Caithness, Spring has well and truly arrived with our wide open views and rolling countryside bursting into colour in contrast with their surrounding Caithness flagstone walls and fences which have weathered another winter.

If you followed our #MarchMeetTheMaker posts or blog (or even just our social media posts!), you may have seen how much we, at Norse Stone, really do love Caithness. We love our heritage and culture, our dialect and local produce as well as our landscapes and amazing community. A big part of the community spirit in Caithness is down to the supportive businesses in the area and we are so grateful for the support we have been shown that we have decided to give back. But we aren’t doing it alone, oh no! We have teamed up with a fantastic group of local businesses and decided to give back to two of our local charities.

All of the following Caithness businesses have joined forces with us to create a wonderful hamper which will be up for grabs via an online raffle on Saturday 27th of April 2019: G S Donn Mechanical Maintenance & Repair, Eye Candy, Caithness Chocolates, Inspired By Caithness, Lindsey Gallacher Studio & Workshop, Shore Seaweed, The Ulbster Arms Hotel, Wolfburn Whisky, KW1CK Deliveries, Dunnet Bay Distillery , Highland Drones and Marks & Pencils. Make sure to check out our social media and the up and coming Facebook event page over the next week where we will post all the photo’s and information on the raffle but for now we will give you a wee sneak peak of the hamper contents.

Teaming up with some of our local businesses was the easy part, trying to choose only two local charities to benefit from this raffle was the really tricky part but we finally came to a decision. Our two chosen local charities are the Castlehill Heritage Centre and Balmore SSPCA Rescue Centre.

The Castlehill Heritage Centre is a real community gem and a must see for any locals or visitors! It has wonderful exhibitions including a journey through time from the early Caithness flagstone industry right up to the present day. Found in the village of Castletown, it is a wonderful visitor experience with changing exhibitions about local history, heritage and biodiversity as well as workshops all year round. The converted farm buildings, which now holds the centres wonderful displays, are immediately adjacent to the old Castlehill flagstone quarry and visitors can explore the area further following the Heritage and Sculpture Trails.

Most people will have at least heard, if not possibly even visited a SSPCA centre. Balmore is the rescue and rehoming centre for Caithness and Sutherland and is based just a few miles outside of Reay. Having run for over two decades, this small but busy centre has a dedicated team dealing with a range of animals coming from a number of different situations and all with the end goal of being able to rehome animals to their forever homes or release wildlife back to their natural environment. From dogs to cats, guinea pigs to rabbits and hedgehogs to birds of prey, this SSPCA centre does an amazing job for the local community and its animals.

So make sure to check our social media for updates over the coming days and help us give back to the Caithness community by raising money for these two amazing charities. We can’t thank the local businesses who have donated towards the raffle enough as well as the Caithness Voluntary Group for their help in making this happen. If you find yourself with time to spare, make sure to check out these amazing businesses, charities and group!