As a community organisation, we take the threat of Coronavirus spread very seriously. Particularly with those in society in mind who are at most risk from the virus.

As a responsible precaution, we had to cancel/postpone all physical events until further notice. This sadly included the temporary closure of the Neep & Okra Kitchen.

Although our face-to-face events have stopped, we are staying active and finding new ways to reach out to our community: physical - not social distance is our mantra! We have therefore expanded some existing services, reimagined a selection of our regular events for online and found new ways to stay in touch and offer support and creative events during this time:

Friday Lunch
For the foreseeable future, our weekly Friday lunches will be taking place online! The format of the event is much the same but instead of a shared meal, we ask that you prepare your own lunch, to eat with digital company at 1pm. From around 1:20pm the speaker will give their talk, followed by Q&A for 10 minutes with questions from us all. Please click the link here to see a full list of our upcoming speakers and to find the links to join.

Fresh Heritage Bread Available
Kate, our Heritage Baker, has been baking as many loaves as she can, for distribution to those in Huntly in need of fresh, wholesome bread. The loaves are a delicious traditional wholemeal sourdough and each loaf comes with a wee poem to help feed your soul.

Loaves cost £3/£2 and can be bought from Forbes Raeburn the Family Butcher on Bogie Street, from the Honesty Shop Cart on Castle street, or we can arrange a doorstep delivery. We’d prefer folk to access bread even if they can’t afford to pay – please contact us to see how we can help. To find out more, please click here or contact Kate directly at baker@deveron-projects.com.

Honesty Shop Cart
As well as Kate's fresh sourdough bread, the Honesty Shop Cart is a way to access all sorts of key supplies to feed your soul during lockdown - all from a safe social distance. In it you'll find an evolving array of goods 'handmade with love in lockdown', from the Heritage Bakehouse's bread, croissants and cakes, to face masks and face mask kits, to free seeds, seedlings and veg plants. The cart sits outside 8 Castle street, Huntly from Wed - click here for more details.

Food Chain
Our popular local/global home cooking sessions are now online! Each month we are joined by a home cook from the Huntly area, highlighting the rich patchwork of ethnic and culinary backgrounds present in our community. From Mongolian to Scots, we've learned family recipes and stories from the home cultures that created them. Workshops take place in the evening via Zoom on the last Monday of the month, with the option to cook along live (we share the shopping list of ingredients before the event). See our events pages for details of individual workshops.

Reading Together
We also continue with our Monthly Reading Group via Zoom. We normally read an article related to the field of socially engaged art to discuss and share ideas. If you would like to join us, visit the Reading Together page for details of our upcoming texts.

We hope to see many of you on screen over the coming months but we also look forward to resuming face-to-face events and gathering together in person again as soon as it is safe to do so.

If you have any further ideas of how we can support you or our local community during this time, or if you’d like to reach out to us for any other reason, please feel free to email us at info@deveron-projects.com

Wishing everyone good health, The Deveron Projects team

Other local services:

Local Food:

The Larder
Freshly made meals like macaroni cheese and stovies, delivered to your door.
Call 01466 793567 or message through their facebook page.

Deveron Projects Heritage Baker
Sourdough bread being baked fresh from local flour, available from Forbes Raeburn Butchers or doorstep delivery. More information here. Email Kate to order and arrange delivery.

Forbes Raeburn The Family Butcher
Meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and now Deveron Projects' heritage sourdough bread. Currently open, with delivery service too. Call 01466 792818 or check their facebook page for updates.

The Ethical Gift Shop
Including store cupboard items and dried foods from their refillery - order online and have it delivered.

Essons/Costcutters
Full range of groceries plus newspapers. Currently open, with delivery service too. Call 01466 792715 or check their facebook page for updates.

Aberdeenshire North Food Banks
Information for accessing the Food Bank in Huntly and other Aberdeenshire towns.

Strathbogie Seed Collective
Grow your own food whilst in isolation. Receive packets of seeds and then return the same amount of seeds after the growing season. 

Local Friendship:

Northeast Neighbours
A telephone befriending service based in Huntly - call 07890 934453 to arrange a regular free call to you.

Local help and advice:

Gordon Rural Action
Advice and community signposting service.

Networks of Wellbeing
Local mental health charity - for support or a chat call on 01466 793732

Aberdeenshire Mutual Aid
Facebook group setup for people to help each other during the coronavirus pandemic.

Other support:

Scottish Government Coronavirus Information
Updated daily with current advice, statistics, and specific support resources for many different groups in society.

Creative Scotland
Directory of resources providing support and funding to artists and other creative professionals.

Mind UK
National mental health and wellbeing charity with advice on staying well in isolation.

Samaritans
Non-judgemental listening service. Call 116 123 free, or email jo@samaritans.org

Coronavirus Community Assistance Directory
Hosted by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, the directory aims to link assistance with those seeking it.

Good News Network
Positive stories about the good things happening around the world right now.

Image credit: National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases