Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) will be supporting the British Red Cross and resilience partners this weekend as it attends a community workshop in Ballater to help build preparedness and resilience to the risks of flooding.
The community flood workshop will be held this Saturday 7 April between 10.30am - 3.00pm at the Victoria and Albert Halls, Station Road, Ballater.
The workshops will give members of the community an opportunity to talk to SSEN representatives alongside responders from the emergency services, local authority and resilience partners to share experiences of emergency situations, chat through concerns and find out the support available to them from local organisations.
Shona Horn, Customer Relationship Manager for the North Caledonia (North East and Shetland) region at SSEN, said:
"We are delighted to support the British Red Cross and resilience partners with their flood workshop this weekend and I look forward to meeting customers and community members who may be interested in building their resilience. We do a lot of work all year round to help communities within our region prepare for adverse weather conditions through our resilience planning and promotion of the support we offer to those who need it most."
"We've had some great applications from Aberdeenshire in the last few years for our Resilient Communities Fund and I'd urge anyone interested to apply for grants of up to £20,000 to get their applications in before the closing date in May. As a responsible operator, we want to make sure our communities know how we can help them be more prepared, through our funds and our Priority Services Register for those most vulnerable in our communities."
Towns and villages in Aberdeenshire were some of the worst areas affected by Storm Frank in 2015. In the village of Ballater itself, the River Dee burst its banks, flooding the village and forcing over 400 residents to flee their homes. SSEN has since supported the community and surrounding areas with grants from its Resilient Communities Fund to help improve the resilience response of the community.
To register for the event, please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/community-flood-workshop-ballater-registration-42941676711.
SSEN's Resilient Communities Fund is open for applications, with £220,000 available for non-profit making organisations, community groups and charities in the north of Scotland. For more information, or to apply before the closing deadline of Tuesday 15 May, please visit https://www.ssen.co.uk/resiliencefund/.