Duplets

Fraya Thomsen and Gillian Fleetwood, aka Duplets have relased their first CD. "Tree of Strings" will be officially launched at a gathering in Eden Court Theatre on 25th August and was part-funded with an award from PSYBT.

Gillian and Fraya both originally from the Inverness, have been described as “two of the most exciting exponents of the Scottish harp”.

Tree of Strings, also features performances by Gabe Macvarish, of Daimh, The Unusual Suspects’ Donald Hay and Tam “The Banjo” Kinsella, of The Squashy Bag Dance Band.

The Duplets play Scottish traditional music, songs and their own compositions.

Earlier this year they were both part of Harp Heaven, a sell-out concert for the Celtic Connections festival.

Tickets for the launch are free and available at www.thebooth.co.uk.

Orkney Update

We are very pleased to have Gavin Cullen fully on board (Note to self: we really must get a photograph of him) as local coordinator for PSYBT in Orkney. Gavin is among other things, carrying out the aftercare, organising Awards Panels and events - and he has been very busy with local Chair, Karen Scholes, organising the Orkney PSYBT Awards. (see elsewhere) . In addition, like the rest of PSYBT's regional staff he has been at the receiving end of training in the new PSYBT systems.

Gavin is already a busy man in Kirkwall, helping with the Folk Festival, running yoga classes, occasional dairyman and we are really lucky to have him on the team.
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Congratulations to Kevin Gauld (The Orkney Furniture Maker) on being shortlisted for the Balvenie Artisan Awards. We wish him the best of luck in the next stage of the competition.

The PSYBT Awards

It's full steam ahead for this year's PSYBT Awards. The Awards were open to all recent PSYBT clients and judging is now complete; winners will be announced at gala events in Highland on the 17th September and Orkney on the 18th. The Highland event is sponsored by Tulloch Homes and the Highland Council and will be held at the Inverness Town House.

Orkney has received very welcome support from the Robertson Trust and Orkney Islands Council and their presentation will take place in the visitor centre at the Highland Park distillery. Invitations and press releases are just about ready to be sent for both Finals.

The top six winners from each of PSYBT's 18 Regions will be invited to compete at the Grand Final to be held in Glasgow on the 17th November.

We're Back in Business

I think I've solved some of the technical issues with firewalls, anti-spyware and good old fashioned cackhandedness and can now concentrate on bringing you the news from PSYBT Highland. So let's have a quick catch up on what's happened since the last bulletin.
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Sara Luxmoore left PSYBT for pastures new in the Cotswolds and has been replaced as Operations Manager by Our Man from The Borders, Geoff Leask. Geoff who brings a lot of experience to the job, has already been to the Highlands a couple of times in his new capacity and we look forward to showing him around this fantastic region.






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Our good friend and former Grampian PSYBT (or PSBY, PSTB, PTBS) Manager, Simon Fraser is now married to the lovely Keri. It's about time he settled down.









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The big (non-human) arrival has been the launch of PSYBT's new Client Relationship Management (CRM) system which will form the foundation for all of PSYBT activities in the future. A completely linked system which enables us, at last, to gather all of our client data in one place and allow us easy access to information wherever we are.

Alithea, Gavin and I have had part of the training and Alithea, at least, is already a dab hand at inputting client enquiries. The next stage is for the application and aftercare processes to be included. This latter will then allow aftercare advisers to have direct access to the system thus cutting out another paper-based process. Lovely.
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And a really significant departure is Bill Anderson, The Prince's Trust - Scotland Area Manager for Highlands & Islands ,who has been made redundant as part of PT-S restructuring. Bill was invaluable in helping PSYBT Highland support some of our more disadvantaged young people. There are a lot of young people in our area who owe much of their personal and social development to Bill's enthusiasm and commitment; we definitely won't be losing touch with Bill and we all wish him every success for the future.

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In July, I went to the AltoAdige Region of Italy as a Judge for the Finals of this year's European Business Game. The Scottish team from Fortrose Academy acquitted themselves remarkably well, coming third overall and winning the Innovation Prize against some very fearsome pan-European competition.

The Fortrose Team

Jolomo Awards

A new awards scheme aimed at encouraging more young people in North West Scotland and the Highlands and Islands to set up businesses in the arts, craft and creative industries sector has just been launched.

The Jolomo PSYBT Awards is the result of a unique partnership between the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) and John Lowrie Morrison - Jolomo - one of Scotland’s best loved contemporary artists.

Born in Glasgow, Jolomo (pictured in Oban at the Award launch) is a leading Scottish painter renowned for his dramatic and colourful contemporary landscapes. Now living and working in Tayvallich, Argyll, Jolomo has spent much of his life painting the landscapes of the West Coast of Scotland and he is hoping through these awards to encourage more young people from the region he loves, to make a successful business whether its from arts, crafts and creative industries.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, with the help of a generous donation of £10,000 from John Lowrie Morrison, the awards will support approximately 8 young entrepreneurs in the arts and creative industries through PSYBT start-up grants of up to £1000 as well as loans of up to £5000. Eligible candidates will include everything from fine arts such as sculpting to handicrafts like quilting, through to decorative arts including wood crafting and glass blowing, and applied arts such as graphic design and film making. In addition every two years, the award scheme will recognise the special achievements of three young businesses under themes including distance travelled/personal development, commercial awareness/business skills and innovation/creativity.

Winners will be selected jointly by PSYBT and Jolomo and will receive prizes of £500 as well as special promotional opportunities and inclusion on Jolomo’s website.

Duplets - The Video

There's no stopping PSYBT musicians. While we're all waiting for fun-and-talented harp duo, The Duplets' (link) new CD (coming soon, folks) , just have a look at their video. And then try and get the tune out of your head.

We're Back!!

The blog had been abandoned for a while as I sorted out some technical stuff at home but we're up and running again and I'll try and catch up with some of the old news over the next few posts.

And look a lovely new picture of lovely old me.....

(Thanks, Clive)