5th Sept (August Blog)     
What a difference a month makes!  The extension is up and the roof covering is due to go on. We’re still on track to get it finished in October, with the aim of having the dining room re-floored and up to size again by the end of September.

The new extension takes shape
As a continuation of our July thrift shop volunteer Daisy managed to sell a few items on ebay and raised over £300 last month. We're very grateful to have also had donations through both Stewardshsip  and MYDonate (which is the on-line donations platform we use on our website. We're linked with Easyfundraising too.) We were also awarded some more grant funding to help with the conference room. Just as well as there are always unexpected surprises – which usually cost money – this time the old roof has given us some problems. We need to install more skylights in the old roof to give enough natural light as that area is now enclosed, but it turns out the old roof was not designed to have new holes cut in it, so that will be expensive to resolve. So do keep on praying & giving. It’s not over till the fat lady sings. 

Daisy at Soldiers of Killiekrankie - they had a dressing up tent!
Ani & Sally dress up too

We loved having Ani & Sally with us in August and were sad to see them go so soon. They gave us a lovely friendship bowl in memory of their stay with us. A couple of weeks later Kasanya came just for a week followed by Hannah, both from Belarus and Hannah's settling in just fine. She's off to Glasgow today to do some training with Stand International & will be back afterwards. We were also sad to say goodbye to Erik & Damian who left at the weekend to return to university in Poland. They both worked so hard & have been a great help over the summer. Damian hopes to come back again next year though, so we're looking forward to that. Paul is still with us for a little longer. It’s been brilliant having our own little international community over the summer and we’re so pleased the sun has started to shine again for them. They were beginning to believe it rained all the time in Scotland
Ani (right) & Sally (left) say goodbye giving us a friendship bowl
Erik (right) & Damian(left) say goodbye too giving us a new mascot Martha the hedgehog
August has seen a lot of B&B including many international guests & the flat has been well used too. We continue to see quite a few vulnerable people using us for personal holidays, so please pray as we take the opportunity to listen, offer support and witness to God’s love. September will be mainly groups - we have the annual holiday for people with  ME with us just now and then a disabled group from Aboyne, Ruchill church, Going Solo and Stand International (disabled folk from Eastern Europe), so please pray for each group. October sees a return to B&B with a great opportunity to reach many new people as they come for the Enchanted Forest.
                                      The ME group helped us make this video last year

Our community garden is blooming thanks to Destiny Plus, one of our mental health groups. We won a next stage certificate from It’s Your Neighbourhood - a tribute to the progress we have made over this last year - and David put together our new picnic table set which makes the garden even more user friendly. We're trying to get more people using the garden as well as hoping to create the sensory area when the building work is finished, so if you're interested we'd love to hear from you. 
David makes up our new picnic table & chairs set
October is Wellbeing month designed to highlight all the things in the community people can get involved in to make new friends & keep healthy. We’re planning 2 events at the Atholl Centre on the 7th & 28th October from 11-3, so do pray as we organise these that they will be a great success in bringing people together and inspiring people to get more involved in their local community. Many of our community groups take a break over the summer and they are gradually beginning to start up again. It was Pacer's first day back today and we've just learnt we're getting a drop in literacy and IT through the council starting in October. We're working on more provision for foreign workers in Pitlochry at the moment, so please pray as we put in  funding applications  and talk to potential providers. We've also now met Perth & Kinross's social prescriber. Lots of ideas. Lots of possibilities. Please pray for wisdom as we find out what part we should play in developments in this area of our community.

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