Month: August 2026 (Page 1 of 2)

Just a reminder that our Strathdearn Flower Show takes place on Saturday 5th September at Strathdearn Primary School and everyone is welcome to come along!

🌼 Entries accepted: 9:30am – 11:00am
🏵️ Judging: 11:30am
🚪 Open to the public: 12:30pm

Why not come along, admire the wonderful displays and enjoy:
🥣 A bowl of soup and a sweet £5
☕ Tea or coffee with🍰Delicious home baking £2
🎟️ Raffle £1 a strip

🏆 Trophy Presentation: 2:00pm

📸 Photography Entries Welcome!
If you have any photographs you’d like to enter into the show, please email them to events@strathdearn.org

Whether you’re entering, supporting family and friends, or simply looking for a lovely community afternoon, we’d love to see you there.

🌻🌺🌹 We look forward to welcoming you

[from Andrew Dempster]

 Strathdearn Cup Success! 🏆

Congratulations to Strathdearn brothers Torrin and Fionn Dempster, who helped Kingussie II lift the Strathdearn Cup on Saturday following a convincing 3-0 victory over local rivals Newtonmore II in the final at The Dell, Kingussie.

We’re delighted to see two local lads bringing the trophy home to Strathdearn. 

Well done Torrin and Fionn on a fantastic achievement! 👏💙💛

[from Louise Ramsay, Community Woodland Coordinator]

Here’s a wee selection of the bird and bat boxes the afterschool club made for putting out in our community wood.

The children have done a fantastic job creating these boxes and are helping to give our birds and bats a safe place to roost and nest.

We’ll number each box and get them put out around the wood, where we can keep an eye on them and monitor what’s using them. It’ll be great to see who moves in and learn more about the wildlife right on our doorstep 🦇🐣🌳

These issues are separate to the ones posted about yesterday regarding possible delays while huge beams are transported for Dalmagarry Bridge. These ones relate to traffic management changes flagged last week. They begin tomorrow and Balfour Beatty want to remind you of this. Here’s a summary, with a link to the original post:

From 28 August 2026, traffic management on the A9 just north of the current Tomatin to Moy roadworks, south of Daviot, will be extended by around 2.5km towards Inverness for up to four weeks, with a temporary 40mph speed limit and one lane maintained in each direction. Some delays are possible, particularly during a small number of overnight works, although these are expected to be kept to a minimum.

For full details read the original post:
https://strathdearn.org/2026/08/17/a9-roadworks-temporarily-extended-in-late-august/

Come along for a progress report. Bring the kids as an excuse so YOU can have a go on the virtual digger!

[from Gemma Corbett, Community Liaison Officer | Balfour Beatty | Scotland | Civil Engineering]

We are delighted to invite you to the 2026 A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy showcase. This 2-day event in the Strathdearn Hub is a welcome opportunity to hear an update on the project, speak with key members of the project team and take part in some interactive activities for all ages – including a plant simulator* on Friday 11 September supplied by RJT. 

Light refreshments will also be available throughout the day. 

All are welcome and we look forward to welcoming you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* What’s a plant simulator? It’s a “video game” which simulates a piece of plant (a digger, dumper truck etc). Balfour Beatty had one at Belladrum which proved very popular. Sounds like a lot of fun for all ages!

Potential delays on these dates: Wednesday 2 September, Thursday 3 September, Friday 4 September, Tuesday 8 September Thursday 10 September and if required, Friday 11 September.

[from Gemma Corbett, Community Liaison Officer | Balfour Beatty | Scotland | Civil Engineering]

As previously outlined, we are planning bridge beam deliveries and installations at the Dalmagarry structure in September 2026. We can now confirm that these will take place on Wednesday 2 September, Thursday 3 September, Friday 4 September, Tuesday 8 September Thursday 10 September and if required, Friday 11 September. 

All deliveries will occur at approximately 12noon apart from the delivery on 4 September which will take place at approximately 2pm. Due to the beams sizes, this will be done under the guidance of the Police Scotland. 

Temporary traffic signals in all below locations will operate on an “all red” phase for up to fifteen minutes at these times. 

What you need to know

Road users travelling on the A9 may encounter temporary traffic signals to allow these beams to travel to the Dalmagarry structure in three locations simultaneously.

• Tomatin North Junction (A9 northbound): northbound traffic will be temporarily stopped to allow large construction vehicles to transport beams safely to the Dalmagarry structure.
• Moy South Junction (B9154/A9): southbound traffic will be temporarily stopped to allow large construction vehicles to reverse safely into position at the Dalmagarry structure.
• Ruthven Road Junction with the A9: traffic will be temporarily controlled to allow large construction vehicles to transport beams safely between the junction and the Dalmagarry structure.

Once the delivery is complete, road users travelling southbound may encounter temporary traffic signals on the A9 at the B9154 Moy South junction for a maximum 3-minute period to allow the large construction vehicle to safely leave the structure to travel northbound.

Additionally, road users may experience overnight temporary traffic signals on 12 September at approximately midnight on the Dalmagarry realignment, stopping northbound and southbound traffic to allow for the first beam to be installed safely as it is in close proximity to the existing A9 carriageway. We anticipate that this will take place around midnight with an “all red” phase initiated for a maximum of 10-minutes on one occasion only.

Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout the works, and emergency vehicles will continue to have access through the site at all times.

For the most up‑to‑date information, visit:🔗 A9dualling.scot/a9-dualling/roadworks

Best Wishes, 

Gemma 

We’re absolutely delighted that our Community Housing Project has been named as a finalist for the in the Scottish Land & Estates Helping It Happen Awards 2026!

The standard of entries from across Scotland was incredibly high, and we were up against some fantastic competition, so it is a real honour to have made the shortlist. 

A huge thank you to everyone who has played a part in getting us here — being recognised alongside so many inspiring organisations and projects from across rural Scotland is something we’re very proud of.

Now we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for the awards! 

Thank you to Scottish Land & Estates and our category sponsor Bidwells.

Read more about the finalists:

https://www.scottishlandandestates.co.uk/…/rural…

@scottishlandandestates @Bidwells

#HiH2026#HelpingItHappen#ruralscotlandSee less

Tracy Campbell

Minute Secretary & Administrator

Children’s outdoor education is starting back up again in Hazelbank Wood.

The outdoor learning sessions take place on Tuesdays, as well as on an ad hoc basis throughout the year. There are signs within the woodland to help keep everyone aware when the children are using the area.

Sadly, their first day back started with a lot of dog mess in the outdoor learning area.

This is really disappointing, especially when the children are coming into the woodland to learn, explore and enjoy the outdoors. It is also disappointing for the wider community who use and care about Hazelbank Wood.

We are really hoping that, with dog waste bins now provided at both entrances to the wood, we will see a real difference. Please remember to pick up after your dog and use the bins provided.

We want Hazelbank to be a clean, safe and welcoming place for everyone to enjoy, and we really appreciate everyone doing their bit to help keep it that way.

Louise Ramsay

Community Woodland Coordinator

[message from Strathdearn Community Council]

We’re delighted to announce that the Strathdearn Local Place Plan 2026–2031 has now passed Highland Council’s validation check and has been added to the Council’s Local Place Plan Register.

This is an important milestone for our community — and the culmination of many months of work, consultation and community engagement.

A Local Place Plan is a community-led plan that sets out our priorities and aspirations for the future of Strathdearn, particularly in relation to local services, facilities, and the development and use of land and buildings. Our plan will help guide community action and spending over the next five years. (strathdearn.org/local-place-plan)

A huge thank you to Helen

Profuse thanks are due to Helen Bailey, who has led the preparation of the Local Place Plan and has put an enormous amount of time and effort into bringing it together. Our community is very fortunate to have someone with Helen’s experience and skills, which she has put to excellent use at a time when they were very much needed.

The process involved extensive engagement with people across Strathdearn, including surveys, drop-in sessions, focus groups and discussions with local community groups, businesses and landowners. (strathdearn.org)

The finished Plan reflects the views and aspirations that emerged from that process and provides a clear picture of what matters to our community and what we would like to see for Strathdearn over the coming years.

Read the Plan

The Strathdearn Local Place Plan 2026–2031, together with information about how it was developed, can now be found on the Highland Council register.

You can also find all the information about our Local Place Plan on the Strathdearn Local Place Plan page.

Highland Council Local Place Plan Register:
Strathdearn Local Place Plan 2026–2031

The Local Place Plan document:
Download the Strathdearn Local Place Plan 2026–2031

Supporting Statement:
Download the Supporting Statement

Highland Council Local Place Plan map:
View the Local Place Plan on Highland Council’s map

This is a plan for Strathdearn, by Strathdearn — and getting it officially registered is something the whole community can be proud of.

Well done, Helen, and thank you to everyone who contributed their time, ideas and views along the way.

Strathdearn Community Council is currently being kept going by the Chair, Treasurer and three recently co-opted members. The three co-opted members will be standing for proper election — but at least three more people are needed to help bring the Community Council towards full strength.

New blood, new ideas and new enthusiasm are very welcome! You don’t need to be an expert, and it only takes a few hours a month to make a difference and help your community.

If you’ve ever thought “someone should do something about that…”, why not consider standing? 🙂

Nominations close on Monday 7 September 2026.

If there are more candidates than the Community Council’s maximum membership of eight, there will be a vote on Thursday 8 October 2026.

See the notice below for details of how to stand.