General information
Stall at the Village Hall: Greener Kemnay has a stall at the Village Hall on Saturday 20th September 10 to 2pm, please come along and have a chat with us about what we are up to, and perhaps see other groups that operate in the village. It would be great to see you.
Community Garden
Storm damage: There has been some damage to willow trees next to the poly tunnel, another two trees came down over the woodland path so help with cutting and lifting is needed..
Activity Day: This on 13th September, 10 to 2, come along as little or as long as you like and please bring gloves and a drink for tea break. Jobs to be done this time; Sorting out the IBC, siting and digging a new bog garden, cutting back for autumn and removal of last remaining saplings. There are some saplings that are now too big to dig out without being cut down first.
Water: There has been a bit of a shortage of water at the gardens, mainly for the poly tunnel and big thank you to those who have helped to keep the water butt filled. We could have asked the Depot to fill the IBCs but in a time of water scarcity then spilling it when we move the IBCs would be irresponsible.
Fence: It was suggested that the Just Transition Participatory Budget fund could be used to upgrade facilities in the garden. Although folk want a compost toilet the timescale and huge amount of feasibility work needed as well as ongoing maintenance rules this out for this round so it was decided to make a bid to replace the fence. Two companies have agreed to quote and the first session on writing the bid has happened. Lots of votes will be needed so we will be asking you to lobby friends and family who stay in Aberdeenshire. If anyone would like to take on the work towards a future bid for a compost toilet please volunteer!
Energy Group
Energy Booklet: The Kemnay Newsletter agreed to include Udny Climate Action’s booklet in with the current edition of the Newsletter. Please have a look at it and get back to us if you want more information or like to get involved with the scheme. https://usercontent.one/wp/climateaction.udny.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/UCA-retroF-booklet-revised-April-25.pdf
Paths
Place of Origin Work Party: We had 19 people turn up on Sunday morning (24th August), armed with a mower, chainsaw, strimmer, hedge clips, long arm, loppers, secateurs and litter pickers. They were there to help us to tackle the long-needed task of making the Place of Origin more accessible to all, we had two aims, to widen the paths in the woodland and clear one of the plateaus where Mavis’s benches are placed. This was accomplished in the three hours we had allocated ourselves, with a lot of hard work in hot conditions. Along the paths, the trees and bushes were pruned back to a width of 2m (allow folk in twos and threes alongside each other along with carers pushing buggies and possibly wheelchairs) and the other parts of the path have been strimmed, mowed and in places spread with weed killer. At Mavis’s benches we cut and removed most of the broom and litter picked – nearly 80 Strongbow cider tins, Coors bottles, vapes, crisps packs and much more.
There has been a lot of praise for what we have achieved on social media and there have been reports that more people are using the Place of Origin which is great to hear. We would like to thank everyone who came along, you made such a big difference to the place and now we will keep you informed on where we go from here.
North East Climate Action Network (NESCAN) Climate Action Week 20th September – 5th October
Full details in the link https://climateweeknortheast.org/about/ The paths group are planning an event over this period, please keep an eye out for details.