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NOTICES AND EVENTS
18.03.23
We now accept Aberdeenshire Love Local Gift Card in our shop in Alford.
To find out more about getting a card of your own visit:
https://scotlandgiftslocal.com/product/aberdeenshire-gift-card/
26.01.23
Huge thanks again to Tesco’s for their donation of Christmas clothing from Gemma, Tesco’s Community Champion. On behalf of Home-Start Deeside, Alford & Strathdon, we thank Tesco’s for their continued support.
09.01.23
A belated but huge thanks to the staff, parents and children of Corner House nursery in Banchory for the fantastic donation of food, gifts and baby equipment given to us to distribute to local families for Christmas.
A belated but huge thanks to the staff, parents and children of Corner House nursery in Banchory for the fantastic donation of food, gifts and baby equipment given to us to distribute to local families for Christmas.
We hope you all enjoyed a lovely Christmas! 
20.12.22
Huge thanks to the Banchory Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday night Cubs for again providing fantastic hampers for our families! Once again your thoughtfulness and kindness is overwhelming!
20.12.22
**IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT ABOYNE SHOP CLOSURE**
**Fusion Fashion Show**
*OFFICE MOVE*
As of Wednesday 5th January our new office address will beÂ
Hill of Banchory Business Centre
Burn O Bennie Road
Banchory
AB31 5ZU
Our office number 01330 824443 will remain the same.
Home-Start Aberdeenshire is a consortium of the five Home-Start schemes within the Shire, consisting of Deeside, Alford & Strathdon, Deveron, Kincardine, Garioch and North East. Please contact your local scheme for more information.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FjwcKZ-mw_kuO8dfRJ7fcj0iOdZ9B7L7/view?usp=sharing
*SUPPORT US THROUGH EASYFUNDRAISING*
Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be raising free donations for Home-Start Deeside, Alford with easyfundraising?
There are over 4,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.
All you need to do is:
1. Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/homestartdeeside/?utm_campaign=raise-more and join for free.
2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.
3. After you’ve checked out, the retailer will make a donation to Home-Start Deeside, Alford at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
There are no catches or hidden charges and Home-Start Deeside, Alford will be really grateful for your donations.
Thank you for your support.
*IMPORTANT DONATION INFORMATION*
Week beginning Monday 17th May
Due to being absolutely inundated with donations, which is fantastic, we are unfortunately going to have to request that only two bags per person be dropped off at any one time on our specified donation days from Monday the 17th May and until further notice.
We are so grateful for all your continued support and donations but due to covid and government guidelines over the 72 hours quarantine times for donated items we simply do not have the storage space at the moment. We will keep you updated over when things begin to ease but until then we thank you for your continued patience and understanding.
As a reminder, donation days are Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10am and 2pm – Please do not leave donations outside our shop out with these days/times.
12th May 2021
**SHOPS REOPENING**
Our Aboyne shop will reopen on Tuesday 11th May at 10am.
Our Alford shop will reopen 3 weeks later on Tuesday 1st June at 10am.
Once again we ask our customers to adhere to social distancing, wear facemasks and sanitise hands upon entering. We can allow no more than 4 customers in at any one time. Donations will only be accepted on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10am and 2pm. We kindly request that if you are donating a large quantity of items, please call ahead first on 01339887290 (Aboyne shop) or 01975562398 (Alford shop).
We cannot wait to warmly welcome you all back.
26th April 2021
**PETER MULLAN MAKES AN APPEAL FOR HOME-START DEESIDE, ALFORD & STRATHDON **
Home-Start Deeside, Alford & Strathdon is part of a consortium along with the other 4 Home-Start schemes in Aberdeenshire. As a consortium we approached Peterhead born Scottish award winning actor Peter Mullan to be our patron, to which he kindly agreed! Please see our video appeal from Peter below asking you for your help.
There are a number of ways you can help/donate/get involved. For more information please email info@homestartdeeside.org or message us directly through Facebook.
Thank you!
26th January 2021
Thank You To The MacRobert Trust
We were delighted to receive an award of £10,000 from the MacRobert Trust which will go directly towards our continued support to local families.
On behalf of everyone here at Home-Start Deeside, Alford & Strathdon, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all at the MacRobert Trust.
Thank You
We were delighted to receive some funding from our local Scot Mid which went towards extra PPE for our volunteers who help in our 2 charity shops as well as printing costs and refreshments for our latest volunteer training course. Our thanks go to all at Scot Mid for their support.
November 2020
Changes With Donations
From Monday 31st August until the following Tuesday (8th  September), both our Aboyne and Alford charity shops are UNABLE to accept any donations due to being at full capacity.
We appreciate this will be frustrating, however we simply do not have the space at present to safely store items.
We would also request that anyone looking to drop off donations going forward please call the shops prior to doing so.
Our Aboyne shop number is 01339887290 and our Alford shop number is 01975562398.
We thank you for your continued patience and understanding.
We Are Open
We will be re-opening both our Aboyne and Alford charity shops on Tuesday 4th August at 10am.
However, there will some changes we need to make our customers aware of: Both shops will only be open from Tuesday through to Saturday, 10am until 4pm.
We can only accept donations on a Tuesday and a ThursÂ
day between 10am and 2pm. We will have a doorbell at the entrance to the shops that customers can ring when dropping off donations, a member of staff will then meet you at the front door and take your items from you.
For the time being, we can only allow four customers in the shops at any one time, we will continue to monitor this in line with government guidance. We will also have hand sanitising stations in each shop.
We are very excited to be back and look forward to welcoming our customers. Any queries please call our main office on 01330 824443.
August 2020
Thank You
We are delighted to share that we have been awarded the fantastic amount of £8,006.00 from the Bank of Scotland foundation.
This money will go directly towards the running of our four family support groups within Deeside and Alford thus empowering us to sustain our valuable group work within the community.
We would again like to extend our gratitude and thanks to all  @bankofscotlandfoundation
26th May 2020
Here For You
We are seeing now more than ever the importance of resilient, connected communities that can absorb adversity and protect each other.
The Government must invest in early intervention, local services that support families and the wider community through times of crisis. Read our call to the government here: https://www.home-start.org.uk/blog/home-start-and-the-carereview
Two New Groups
We want to keep families and our volunteers safe. That’s why we are currently supporting families remotely through phone, Skype, messages and texts. Call our team today for advice and support on 01330 824443 or email info@homestartdeeside.org
Bits n Bobs
Hill of Banchory Family centre,
Thursday mornings
9-11am
*CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING*
Bits n Bobs
Aboyne Bits n Bobs,
Victory Hall,
Aboyne, Thursday afternoon from 1-3pm
*CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING*
Our New Alford Shop
We are excited to announce that our Alford Shop is due to open on Friday 14th February. From 11am until 3pm. We will have cake and refreshments available.
Please note that our Aboyne Shop will be closed on this day to allow our Volunteers to come over and support the opening.
The Alford shops opening hours will be Tuesday to Saturday from 10am until 3pm
You will find the new Home-Start Deeside, Alford & Strathdon Charity Shop at 59 Main Street, Alford, AB33 8PX, 01975 562398, email: shop@homestartdeeside.org
We look forward to welcoming you in to have a look around.
Thank You To Baldarroch Chapel And Crematorium
We were delighted to receive a cheque from Baldarroch Chapel and Crematorium yesterday for the amount of £1654.25. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to Angela Smith and Moira Garden from Baldarroch,  for coming along to find out more about what we do and to present us with the cheque. We were also very interested to hear about how these monies came about which you can read about below. Pictured from left to right are, Irene Malone and Leah Bruce (Home-Start Deeside, Alford & Strathdon) and Moira Garden with Angela Smith (Baldarroch Chapel and Crematorium)
In accordance with the Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities (FBCA) policy, any metal (ie. Orthopaedic implants, jewellery, nails and pins used in the construction of the coffin) that is left after cremation is removed and is sent for recycling. In the case of Baldarroch Chapel and Crematorium, they use a company called OrthoMetals who are based in the Netherlands. OrthoMetals re-coup the current market value of each type of metal and keep 20% to cover the cost of transportation, sorting and smelting costs etc. The remaining 80% is returned to Baldarroch where they donate the money to charity.
January 2020
Thank You To Morrisons, Banchory
This is one of our board members receiving donated items from Morrisons comprising of tea, coffee, biscuits, toiletries, etc for us to use at our groups and give to families.
Pictured is Julie Williams, Home-Start trustee and Joanne Burt, Community champion for Morrisons Banchory.
January 2020
Thank You
We would like to send a massive thank you to Andy and the volunteers at Stella’s Voice, Peterhead for their very generous donation of furniture to kit out our new Alford shop, all your help and kindness was very much appreciated.
13.01.2020
Thank You To
Duncans of Banchory
We would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to Graham Duncan, Duncans of Banchory, for donating a shop counter and several other items for use in our new charity shop opening soon in Alford.
Pictured is Julie Cooper, Business admin and Graham Duncan
13.01.20
New Shop In Alford
We are so excited to announce that we will be opening a new charity shop in Alford.
We received the keys this week and from left, to right it is Iain Mackenzie, Home-Start Deeside Chair, Julie, Leah, Alex Anderson, Home-Start Deeside Trustee, Donna Keen, Shop manager, and Alan Grant.
We are now recruiting for shop volunteers.
We are looking to open the shop early February and anyone interested in becoming a volunteer should contact the office via phone 01330 824 443 or email info@homestartdeeside.org
08.01.20
Thank You
We received this cheque from the Humpty Dumpty committee this morning. We were completely overwhelmed as you can imagine and it will go a long way towards helping local families.
16.12.19
You Are Welcome To Join Us
Fun Day July 2019
We would like to thank those who helped make our Family Funday on Sunday the 7th July a success.
We would like to say a special thanks to Deesidedly Tasty for who provided the tasty BBQ service. Deeside Inflatables who provided us with a magical bouncy castle. And Morag McBeath, Secretary for the Aboyne Highland Games for loaning us some of their tressel tables.
And of course to all the families who came along to spend the time with us.
Without your support, we would be unable to hold events like this and raise awareness and funds for our charity which provides support to families within the local area.
July 2019Â
Thank You
Here is Leah from the office accepting a very generous donation of £3000 from the John Watson Guild.
The gentlemen from left to right are John Aitken, Rod Dallas, and Reg Christie.
All the money from this donation will go directly towards supporting local families within the area.
Thank you again.
May 2019
Our Shops 10th Birthday
We would like to thank all of those who purchased raffle tickets to celebrate our shops 10th birthday, on the 14th February 2019.
We managed to raise £500 altogether. Which will go back into our work helping local families within the area.
You can still help us by either donating items to our shop or coming in and purchasing some of the generous items that people have passed to us to sell.
Our shop in Aboyne is open Monday – Saturday, 10h00 until 16h00 every week.
Thank you for your continued support.
February 2019
Thank You
30 Things for 30 Years
Following her own experience with depression Victoria has decided to undertake 30 challenges. To mark her final year in her 20s. All to be completed before her 30th Birthday.
She has chosen three charities to raise money for and one of which is Home-Start Deeside & Donside.
Her challenges this year include:
1) Swimming with sharks
2) Balmoral 5km
3) The Illuminator night race
4) The Banchory Beast
5) Swim the distance of the Channel in 12 weeks
6) Be a human sponge target
7) Conquering a zip wire course
8) Giving up chocolate for Lent
9) Reverse advent calendar
10) Canyoning
11) Volunteering at a care home
12) Organising a pop up cafe
13) Anonymously pay for someone’s meal
14) Read at the children’s hospital
15) Climb Ben Nevis
16) Host a pudding night
17) Shear a sheep
18) Learn and create the art of stained glass
19) Visit universities with The Captain for pet therapy
20) GungHo! Aberdeen
21) Visit the homeless in Aberdeen with food supplies
22) Eat an entire tub of twiglets (?) in one go
23) Host a pub quiz
24) Go vegan for a month
25) Create a ‘shared bookshelf’ in Aberdeenshire
26) Cycle the whole Deeside Way
27) Plant a ceremonial tree
28) Volunteer at the Deeside Drop in Games Club
29) Host a charity Beauty Night
30) Give a public talk on Mental Health
We would like to thank Victoria for her support and if you would like to make a donation, follow her progress or read more about her and her journey you can at http://www.30thingsfor30years.com/
Christmas Party
Our 2017 Christmas PartyÂ
A big thank you to Lisa Lollipop for making the Christmas Party a fantastic success. Also thank you to Santa Claus who came and gave the children a present. xx
December 2017
Banchory Tesco Store Toy Drop
Banchory Tesco Store Toy Drop
A Huge Thank You to the staff and customers at the Banchory Tesco store and especially to Gemma Beltcher-Gray who organised the toy drop for us!
We would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. From all of the staff and families at Home-Start Deeside & Donside x
Thank You
Grampian Moorlands Food Donation
A huge thank you again to Grampian Moorlands for the donations of Pheasants, Partridges and goodies.
December 2017