community out west Trust
kinlochewe community Toilets, and other stuff
Find out about the Community Out West (COW) Trust. Its plans for the development of the Community Toilets, fund raising, plans to acquire and develop other community assets for the benefit of the community. The COW Trust is committed to making life better for residents and visitors.
PUbLIC TOILETS UPGRADE
DURING
AFTER
COW NEWs
Public Toilets Upgrade Progress
16 October 2024
The upgraded public toilets are open for business and we have our Building Warrant.
The shower will be open soon after some tiny details are completed.
15 April 2025
Kinlochewe's Public Toilets including shower and chemical waste facility are all operational. Please donate generously when you use Kinlochewe's facilities. Also, please respect our neighbours and our village.
Feedback
Below is just some of the generous feedback we have received about our new toilets.
“Women's toilets were very well maintained, the signs about it being maintained by the community made me want to contribute as a visitor of the area.”
“I am so grateful for this fabulous facility - it is very much appreciated and I hope it continues to be there for years to come. I encourage everyone who uses it to donate.”
“They are a fabulous community resource and a god send on long drives!”
Daniel
"Drinking water is well marked and easy to Access. Chemical waste disposal accessible"
David Stewart
"Used these lovely facilities while hillwalking in Torridon. Such a relief to have a clean, dry place to freshen up after a long day on the hill. Quality of services second to none - a credit to the local community!"
Jahfar Sadhik
"Used toilet facilities and it’s very clean and hygiene."
Jamila
"Amazing facilities and much needed in such a popular area. Thank you so much! Hopefully more facilities like this will be able to pop up in other areas of Scotland"
Gillian
"Fabulous facility! Thank you."
COW AGM
Our last AGM was held on 26 March 2025.
Please find Introduction Introduction and Update and Draft Minutes of AGM held on 26 March 2025 by clicking on the links.
At our last AGM we were delighted to welcome Kirsty McKay and Jonathan Petrie on to the Trust's Board. They add skills and experience to the Trust's Board. We are much stronger for their contributions. The directors and their roles are given below.
David McIntyre (Chair), Kirsty McKay (Vice Chair), Mary Peart (Secretary), Andrew Peacock, Maud McIntyre, Jonathan Petrie
COW STUFF
We set out here our ideas and plans for more stuff for our community.
Toilets Upgrade
We engaged Simpson Small Works ("SSW") to refurbish the toilets. This is a turnkey project. SSW successfully obtained planning permission and building warrant for the works. The works began in March 2024.
The drawing below shows the new layout of the toilet block. The as-built design will be different in some respects following a value engineering exercise to reduce costs.
Community Shop, Post Office and House
We were unsuccessful in our bid for a grant from the Scottish Land Fund ("SLF") to purchase the above assets for the community. COW's principal objective was to retain a shop and post office in Kinlochewe.
SLF encouraged the COW Trust to bid again but this time for the shop and post office only. SLF expressed the view that this bid had a higher probability of being successful. Further to discussions with the owners, it was agreed that we would not apply. The owners thanked us for our efforts. The owners at all times wanted to do their best for the community. We understand that those running the shop and post office at present have reached an agreement with the owners. In addition, the owners have put the house on the market.
We informed SLF of the outcome and SLF responded with the following message.
"Thank you for getting back to me and for the update on the shop. I’m really happy that the shop and post office will stay open, a vital asset for your community, and the outcome may have been very different had it not been for the hard work that you and the trust put into the project."
Signage
We secured funding for new village signage to provide a source of information about the village's facilities. In addition, following a community consultation we identified a need for signage to address littering, dog fouling and to encourage visitors to use the public toilets and recycling facilities.
The new signage was installed at the public toilets and we are preparing material to be displayed.
Donations
The Community Out West (COW) Trust relies on donations* to keep the public toilets in Kinlochewe open and available to everyone. Clean toilets, maintained in good condition are a basic human right. It is only through the help of volunteers and generous public donations that we can pay the bills and keep going. Kinlochewe's public toilets provide a service to the local community and travellers including those following the NC500 and intrepid explorers to the area including those on the Cape Wrath Trail.
Electricity
Keeping the lights on has become more expensive.
Toilet Rolls and Soap
We want to make sure you never go without.
Maintenance
Electrical fittings, plumbing and the building all need to be mainatained.
Our Story
The COW Trust is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 18 March 2019. It is registered as a charity with the Scottish Charity Regulator.
Anyone over the age of 18 and resident in the Torridon and Kinlochewe area can become a member of COW Trust.
The board of trustees, which must have between three and eight members, administers the charity. The board meets regularly throughout the year as necessary, with meetings at least monthly. The day to day operation of the charity is managed by the Company Secretary who is also one of the trustees.
The charity has provided advice to other community groups in the area and looks forward to further such collaboration. The charity also receives some core funding from the Highland Council.
Charity registration number SC049478
Company registration number SC624757
Objectives and Activities
Community Out West Trust was set up to ensure that assets within the area are maintained for the community.
The purposes of the charity are:
Provision of facilities for the local community.
Provision of facilities for visitors to the area.
Encourage community involvement and engagement so fostering community spirit.
Support local businesses.
Help protect the local environment.
Our Plans
Since taking over and refurbishing the public toilets, seeking to establish a year round community cafe and bidding for funding to purchase the shop, post office and house it remains our objective to identify ways to provide additional facilities for our community, to help local businesses and visitors.
AGM
You can find the approved minutes of our 23/24 AGM here and our last set of accounts here.
World Toilet Day
2.4 billion people don’t have access to a toilet and they are getting sick and dying as a result.
Gairloch High School pupil Iain Miles and GALE continue to raise funds for Toilet Twinning so that everyone everywhere can have access to toilets by 2030.
For World Toilet Day, Iain joined forces with our local community run public toilets in Poolewe, Aultbea, Gairloch and Kinlochewe to raise awareness of the challenges of toilet provision across the world, including in our own community.
The COW Trust made cakes below to help raise monies for world toilet day and the COW Trust.
