Three enterprising women have joined forces in a Deeside community to offer free assistance to locals.
The launch of a Skills Exchange scheme in Ballater was inspired by the solidarity which members of the community displayed while helping one other after January’s devastating floods.
The venture, which has been put together by Councillor Geva Blackett, Reverend Vittoria Hancock and Faye Swan is committed to allowing members of the community to swap skills as well as save money.
The Skills Exchange will be organised from Ballater Library, where people can log both what help they need and what assistance they could provide – this includes anything from gardening, dog sitting, sewing, DIY or home baking.
Ms Blackett said “The idea came to me when someone said that their insurance company was not covering the restoration of their sister’s garden following Storm Frank – so exchanging skills seemed an obvious solution.
“The Skills Exchange proposes to keep a notebook in Ballater Library of offers and requests.
“For example, if you need someone to put up a shelf for you, you can put that on the ‘Help wanted’ page. And, if you would be happy to do a few hours babysitting for someone, you can put that on the ‘Help offered’ page and so it goes.”
Rev Hancock added: “People may think they have nothing to offer, but it could be turning up a pair of trousers, taking your dog round to visit an elderly person, doing someone else’s shopping, giving them a lift to the doctor’s or even clearing snow from a path – the possibilities are endless.
“We are not all good at everything, but everyone is good at something!”
Ms Swan who works in the library, said: “This would be a central point for those who need help and those who can offer help to find each other.
“If the library is not open, just put a note through the letterbox and we will update the records. Personal details are not published and will not be kept longer than required.”
