Sitting down to Sunday Lunch: time to reflect on another year of great work supported by our volunteers

Hannah Clinch
6 days ago
3 min read

A view from Ann Campbell, Dunoon Community Development Trust’s Partnership Manager.

As a small organisation in the thick of delivering funded projects, while also trying to find ways to sustain projects into the future, it can be hard to find time to take stock and reflect on the impact of our work. But that’s exactly what we did on Sunday 23 November at our Annual General Meeting. We brought over 50 people together for a fantastic Big Sunday Lunch and a sociable afternoon in Dunoon Burgh Hall. Catered brilliantly by local enterprise, Coorie Cooks, the event was dedicated to celebrating our volunteers, who are helping to make great things happen across the town.

Dunoon Community Development Trust (DCDT) is a small and relatively new charity, just four years old, with a growing membership of over 260 people, 6 trustees and an extraordinary team of volunteers. With support from Volunteer Co-ordinator, Barbara Henderson, our volunteers collectively contribute over 4,000 hours of work each year to progress projects that include What’s On Dunoon, Dunoon on the Move and Grow Food Grow Dunoon. Their work and commitment are having a huge impact on our community, helping to light the way to a more positive future for our town.

Over the past two years DCDT has been leading on the development of a Local Place Plan for Dunoon and Kirn (LPP). Our small rural town, located on Scotland’s remote west coast, is one of many communities with an ageing and declining population, high levels of poverty and significant health inequalities. In addition, Dunoon faces significant challenges with transport links and with infrastructure that desperately needs investment. Through an extensive research and engagement programme, led by Hannah Clinch of POP Shop CIC, we have found that many people feel let down by services that don’t respond to their needs. There is also a sense that projects can often raise expectations, then fail to deliver change, compounding a sense of decline. The Local Place Plan research has identified 32 projects that, with collective action, would help to improve Dunoon as a place to live, work and learn.

The projects that Dunoon Community Development Trust has nurtured over the past four years are not big in scale, but they demonstrate locally developed solutions to issues identified by our community. As one example, What’s On Dunoon, our pioneering online events calendar and community information system, gathers event information in one place, helping small venues, community groups and businesses to market their events more effectively. The platform makes it easy for local people and visitors to find place-based information and offers a community-owned alternative to the challenges of using social media. What’s On Dunoon is powered by a team of digital volunteers who take care to add events, keep information updated and share information across our community.

Our Big Sunday Lunch helped to bring our community together and demonstrate our commitment to sustainable, place-based action. While we continue to juggle project delivery and funding applications, we are proud to be able to look back on 2024/2025 and see the progress that has been made.