Ronan MacPhee
Balivanich teenager Ronan MacPhee doesn’t give himself much free time between all of his current endeavours. Having finished school in June 2021, he’s been kept on the go juggling many different roles and giving his time to other people in the community; young and old.
He spends some of his time as a gardening assistant and is the host of the new Neighbour Foods project that’s run by Tagsa Uibhist. He is also a relief worker between Balivanich and North Uist nursery, is part of some advocacy groups for the Western Isles and he’s racked up a stomping 1000+ hours of volunteering work over the last year, a number which continues to grow.
Neighbour Food, his current focus, is a new project run by Tagsa Uibhist. Hosted by Ronan this is an idea which started off in Ireland and has grown and travelled over to our own shoppers and consumers in Uist.
“There are currently nine Neighbour Food projects in Ireland, five in England and nine in Scotland, two of which are in Uist – ours and another run by Croft & Cuan. By visiting the website customers are able to do their full shop and buy all local produce, in one place. When you place your order online, you then collect this order at the Tagsa Bunker in Benbecula. You can get all sorts from ice cream to salt, some drinks by North Uist Distillery are there and some things from our own Tagsa garden. There’s a few things from the mainland like beers, oats, jams….”
Neighbour Food is an online service featuring local, Hebridean and Highland produce all in one place. This weekly service takes your online order and requires collection each Wednesday. The focus is on the local and sustainable; helping producers and consumers along the way.
“It’s been a journey. Firstly, I had to do up the bunker, it used to be a storage room and it was packed with stuff and I had to clear it all out. That took a while! Then I painted for a good few weeks and I’ve done up all the area where the gardens are. “
These days the Neighbour Foods store room is spick and span and full of various products. Ronan also works in the Gardens, having begun his gardening career as a volunteer with Tagsa Uibhist.
“I used to volunteer, then I was employed by Tagsa. At one point, the Gardens had 2 people working and now there’s a team of 4 employees. When we’re growing in the garden, some of it goes to the food bank and some of it goes to the public, and it’s all run on donations. The garden is really busy and we see loads of people every day.
We have a volunteer day on the first Wednesday of every month. It’s good for the people to be able to get out and do what they enjoy, which is gardening and planting and they’re getting to socialise and meet people while they’re there. It’s a good opportunity to make friends and it benefits the garden as well. My favourite thing is dealing with the public, talking to people and seeing what their interests are, hearing what they’re up to and listening to their stories.”
With my jobs I get to work with all ages. I love working with everyone
When he’s not gardening,Ronan is working with your youngest islanders and has hopes of becoming a play leader in a nursery. Further into the future he hopes to become a Special Constable and joining the Police.
Inspiringly, on behalf of the Western Isles Volunteer Centre, Ronan has been awarded the well deserved Outstanding Saltire Award for Volunteering having reached over 1000 hours of work. “You normally get the award after 500 hours and they haven’t given this award out in donkey’s years. I was presented with the award by Alasdair Allen. When they were telling me about it, Ms Manchester, the head of the Volunteers Centre, said that when they were uploading my hours to the system that the system had a malfunction, it hadn’t had anyone with that many hours in so long”
Impressively, Ronan is filling his time supporting many people in our community. Fortunately for us, we have compassionate young people who are considering the future, for the even younger residents within our islands.
“Instead of worrying about coastal erosion and rising tides, I’ve decided to take action, so I’ve joined a climate action group. It’s so that the future generations – people like my niece who’s 3 – hopefully don’t have to worry about these problems. I raise my concerns within the group and talk and try to get our questions to parliament. It’s just us trying to push and get some change for the future”
Ronan’s extensive volunteering CV includes working for the following: Youth Climate Action Group Western Isles, Uist Local Energy Plan, Benbecula Community Council, Tagsa Befriending, Uist & Barra FoodBank, Youth Cafe & Holiday Club, Tagsa Community Gardens & he’s been an active member of a COP26 Climate Co-design Group.
“I like to help someone in some way, make someone’s day and make them smile.”
You can shop and support Neighbour Food and local businesses online, through this link: neighbourfood/Tagsa.co.uk
