Weathermac

General information

Loch of Shining Waters is a non-profit voluntary group which was officially launched on the 1st January 2010 as a community resource site for Lochgelly, with the aim to highlight local positive and negative developments to (a) raise awareness to the wider online public, and (b) encourage local open debate online & offline.

We also adopted a range of objectives to focus on technology to (a) promote better online safety, security, & privacy, and (b) showcase what can be achieved by non profit organisations through the utilisation of Open Source software to provide very affordable, low cost solutions for the promotion of their organisations that can also compete effectively against their commercial competitors.

The name of the group is derived from the Gelly Loch, which gives the namesake of our town. The word Gelly is from a Gaelic word; ‘Gheallaidh’ which loosely translated means ‘Shining Waters’ or ‘Loch of Brightness’, hence the name ‘Loch of Shining Waters’ for our group. We chose this name to mark the significance of our local Loch and the towns namesake.

The site was originally created by two volunteers from the Lochgelly area, who have spent many hours researching, networking and engaging with many local individuals, groups, and the local authority to help further develop this resource site for the benefit of the local community.

The site has grown in popularity and content since 2010, and we have received much help from the local community through feedback, support and contributions, which has led to many awards for the work that we all do collectively.

On the 17th November 2012, the group has formalised the organisation by signing a constitution and selecting a board of members.

In December 2013, the board members voted to dissolve the organisation in it’s current format, so that the organisation can be further developed into a Social Enterprise.

a social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or the community

(adapted from the definition of the Department of Trade and Industry)

As of 20th March 2014, Loch of shining Waters has been incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital. Our company number is SC473024.

We opted for this model so that we can further develop the project to develop local projects and initiatives through community engagement, to provide additional community resources directly in the Lochgelly area, and expand our community services beyond an online role.