Braerannoch's Team Day...

On Thursday 14th June, Braerannoch took time to gather all the team together for a team day to reflect on some of the major changes which has been happening in their home whilst getting to know each other better.

The whole team gathered at Dores Inn beach by Loch Ness to enjoy a day of sharing, prayer and arts and crafts as well as a tasty BBQ. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and were happy to spend it with their soon to be House Leader, Cecile!

Happy Retirement...

On Friday 15th June, The Workshops held a Retirement party for both Barbara and Derrick who now no longer attend The Workshops after an amazing TWENTY- SIX years of attending.

It was a lovely afternoon organised by Anne Shaw who got the party going by having a good dance to some of Barbara and Derrick's favourite scottish music followed by party games.

Anne (who always has great games which everyone enjoys) orgainsed "Pass the parcel" with a twist. This mean't that everytime the music stopped you were able to take a layer of paper off BUT you also had to either say a message or sing a song to Barbara and Derrick to wish them well for their Retirement. This went down fabulously with John T winning the final prize. We had many lovely messages and songs and even the famous rendition of "Northern Lights" from Barbara.

The party ended with a very tasty cake creately baked by Anne as well as another party game where if you rolled a pink you had to put a hat, scarf and gloves on before removing a layer of paper to reveal a prize which was won by Amy in the end.

 The beautiful cake!



HAPPY RETIREMENT DERRICK AND BARBARA!

Finances become centralised...

L'Arche Inverness and L'Arche Edinburgh will be one of the first communities to have their finances relocated to the L'Arche UK Head Office in Silsden.

This has come at a very good time for our community's long- term Finance Officer, Hector, who has welcomed the opportunity to 'step back' and embark on a new part-time role undertaking the smaller finance tasks which must be done at a local level.

The community will be holding a small Tea Party at The Workshops on Monday 25th June at 3.15pm for all community members who wish to attend and support Hector during this time of transition into a different role.

Everyone will be thankful to still see Hector around the Offices and Workshops! Good Luck Hector!

Construction begins in Brae...

This week saw the beginning of the dramatic construction work in Braerannoch's kitchen which has long been needed. Holly and Anne have been working alongside Hector MacDonald (a long-term member of the L'Arche Inverness Management Committee) to finalise the amazing plans for Brae's new kitchen.

All the Brae team are working hard to keep the peace and fill tummy's without the use of their kitchen but luckily they have many friends in the community who have been offering them a lovely hot dinner. Most recently, they all visited Philine and her family for supper which was a real treat.

As you can see from the pictures below - this will be a real transformation and on behalf of all in Brae we would like to thank all tradesman involved who have been working hard to get the kitchen finished in an estimated 2 weeks! - We all can't wait to see the finished piece!

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations...

A few weeks ago the Loyal Servants Kirsty and Amy were commanded by the Royal King's and Queen's of L'Arche Inverness to invite all their Loyal Subjects, Lord's and Ladie's to attend the celebration of Her Majesty The Queen's Diamond Jubilee High Tea which took place on Monday 4th June 2012 as a full day event!

The whole day including the standard of decorations and food were completely amazing which I think would have met (if not come close) to the Queen's standards. Kirsty and Amy would really like to thank everyone who helped with sandwiches and baking as it really made the High Tea that little bit more special!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the day which started with a lovely breakfast of tea and toast, followed by lots and lots of photographs of everyone dressed in their finest clothes. There was a guest appearance from Her Majesty the Queen as well as a fantastic Red Carpet Entrance!

And in the afternoon we played many games including the price is right - higher or lower and a best dressed female and male catwalk which was lots of fun.
You can see more photographs in a small slideshow put together on the right-hand side of the blog but here are some lovely tasters of our GLAMOUROUS SUBJECTS!

Gina enjoying our tea and toast breakfast

Simon and Amy entering the palace on the red carpet!

Pierre and Michael with her Majesty the Queen

Simon and Caroline outside the Servant's Quarters

Petyo charming Caroline in the grounds of Braerannoch!

Bon Voyage Tracey and Holly...

Tracey and Holly were busy all week packing their belongings ready to travel to the General Assembly in Atlanta. They will be staying with Bill and his family when they arrive in Atlanta for the weekend before the meetings start.

The community has put together many fantastic gifts and Meagan White has very skillfully put all the videos from our Commitment and Belonging process to make a very beautiful and somewhat emotional presentation.

Most importantly, Tracey has gone armed with lots of mini Irn Bru bottles, shortbread, L'Arche candles and other items which represent Scotland and our community.

Now that the girls have taken off from Glasgow to arrive in Atlanta tonight we can proudly announced that we have managed to raise 70% of our £3000 goal with a fantastic total of £2,100! Thank you to everyone who put some input and gave very generous donations - it has been very much appreciated. The donating page: http://www.justgiving.com/atlantapilgrimage is still up and running for any last minute donations :)

Now that the meeting will be beginning soon you can keep up-to-date with all the documentation and decisions by logging onto: http://inter.larche.org and use the username: federation along with the password: raphael.

Good  Luck to all involved!