Gordon Rural Action's dedicates massive redevelopment to 'incredibly dedicated' volunteers in Huntly
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HUNTLY charity Gordon Rural Action (GRA) has revealed new details of its huge redevelopment plan – a legacy which could secure its future for another 40 years.
During a tour of their 55 Gordon Street office, charity staff behind the effort told the Huntly Express how the building will be transformed.
More than £400,000 has already been secured towards the project, through Aberdeenshire Council's Place-Based Investment Programme, which will see large parts of the building demolished and rebuilt.
According to GRA, the current building requires frequent stop-gap repairs to roofs and ceilings, while battling an impractical and inaccessible layout and limited natural light.
But in the first phase, earmarked to start in April, the Bargain Box charity shop will be brought up to modern standards and receive brand-new signage.
The second and third phases will then see huge structural changes to the GRA headquarters.
The charity's Baby Bank, which has saved the community more than £20,000 since 2021, will also move from its cramped current space into a relaxed and "aspirational" shop-style room.
In 2024, the charity has seen demand for the Baby Bank, which offers a range of essential items for young children, soar by 300 per cent on last year.
And the Uniform Exchange, which has given countless families clothes for education and activities, will also have a larger home created.
GRA chief officer Emma Selway-Grant and fundrasing and support manager Laura McNeil said the organisation was always looking at new ways to help those in need.
But everything the charity offers – including their generation-old advice service, the Period Poverty Hub and The Bikery, among others – is open to all, Laura said.
What makes GRA unique, Emma added, is that it hears what people need through the advice service, before setting up a solution to help those who may struggle to come forward.
The huge new project stands in sharp contrast to where GRA was less than four years ago, when it was feared Huntly may lose it for good.
In June 2019, the charity closed its base in Ellon, while its Inverurie office closed in February 2020.
Emma started working at GRA during this difficult period, and helped lead the charity through it after starting her current role at its helm more than two years ago.
The charity was cut back to a team of six “in one little room”, funded through income from the Bargain Box, with only one advisor remaining.
However 19 people now work for GRA, spread across every floor of their HQ – as well as The Bikery next door.
They have also received money from the UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund and the Macrobert Trust to buy The Bikery.
Emma said the current redevelopment project was "absolutely" the biggest task the organisation has ever taken on.
Along with protecting the charity's future, she added, improvements will reward volunteers and employees by making it a better place to spend time.
GRA recently received an Involving Volunteers Award from Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action.
“A big part of what we do relies on having volunteers and they range from age 14 to some up into their 70s," Emma said.
“They shouldn't be coming in here and freezing, it should be somewhere you want to come and volunteer, that you would like to work.
“Everybody that volunteers here is so incredibly dedicated and they always say how much they enjoy being here.
“But we feel like when we bring in new volunteers we just have to apologise for the building, you know?
“So we want to be able to marry up the building with what we're trying to do.”
Laura added: “We spent the whole winter saying: ‘We promise this will be the last winter you will be emptying buckets every weekend. This will be the last time we're going to have to do this.’
“We are dependent on volunteers to be able to run the baby bank and the uniform exchange – without a shadow of a doubt.
“We want to give them a space that they can be proud of.
“Emma and I have talked about, in our tenure here, being able to leave a positive legacy for the future generation that comes in to run GRA.
“Because we hope it will continue strongly for another 40 years."
