Inverness hosts successful Participatory Budget event
The North Region held another successful Participatory Budget event, this time in Inverness. Over 50 people attended for afternoon tea and to help us select the winning bids.
In Highland we have a high number of supported people with wildly varying and complex communication needs. This presented us with a challenge in finding a voting system that would work for everyone as the systems used elsewhere would not have worked on this here.
The solution was to use a sound level meter to create a "clapometer" which was built by Michael Thompson from our Golf View Road service. Michael and Pawel, one his staff, are pictured below showing off this magical device.
From nearly 20 original bids a variety of informative presentations evolved. Who had ever heard of wheelchair scuba-diving before!
The North Regions very own red coat, Learning Manager Ken Dinwoodie ably hosted the event. Organised cheerleading successfully overcame our reticent Highland nature and the 4 bids clapped to success were;
- Fancy dress disco at Inverness's premier night club! Fancy dress and non alcoholic cocktails included.
- A monthly social club. Bingo!
- A series of individual day trips. Pandas, here come the Highlanders!
- Outdoor sports events. However probably including not wheelchair scuba -diving!
We are now working on making these fun events happen.
About The Richmond Fellowship Scotland & Participatory Funding
The Richmond Fellowship Scotland has pioneered Participatory Funding as a way of handing over funding to vulnerable people to help them shape, design and control projects that achieve what they want. It gives over control and responsibility. Our only requirement is that the money is spent on getting some fun. This is an outcome that is important and one that makes a difference at a human level. - Find out more at: http://www.trfs.org.uk/news/418_people_we_support_receive_80_000_for_fun_outcomes
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