The Highland based charity, Blythswood Care’s 2025 Shoe Box Appeal has resulted in almost 81,000 boxes filled with gifts being distributed in eight countries in south east Europe, including Ukraine where items such as wooly hats and scarves have proved to be immediately useful as temperatures have fallen as low as -15 degrees.
Blythswood’s chief executive thanked everyone who filled a box and all the volunteers who helped to process them. Other places where boxes were distributed to low income households were Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania and Serbia. Since the annual shoe box appeal started in 1993, more than 2.8 million boxes, each one different, have been collected and given out.
The National Trust for Scotland site at Torridon was one of seven NTS sites where rare and remarkable recordings of species were made last year on NTS land.
The Torridon finding was of nine endangered lesser butterfly orchids seen for the first time in six years.
These orchids, listed on the Scottish Biodiversity List of species of principal importance for biodiversity conservation, were found in Torridon on grassland where nature-friendly cattle grazing has been reintroduced.
An NTS spokesperson said the discoveries highlight the importance of safeguarding nature with their presence being a powerful signal that conservation efforts are making a real difference.
The French port of Dunkirk has raised the possibility of a new direct ferry link being introduced between Scotland and mainland Europe.
The proposed route, last in use for passengers more than fifteen years ago, would be from Rosyth in Fife to Dunkirk,
It was previously hoped that the route would be in operation this year but the need for a new border control post has set that back and Dunkirk Port has announced that it is looking forward to the new crossing being in place in time for the Six Nations rugby tournament in early 2027 in which Scotland will travel to play France in Paris.
Local residents are reminded that the Gairloch branch of the Bank of Scotland is scheduled to close for the final time at 2 o’clock tomorrow, Thursday, afternoon. Thereafter, many banking facilities locally will only be provided physically by local post offices.
