Portavadie in the Community
If you have visited us before, you probably know how great our local community is and we like to think we play a part in it. Here’s some of the activities you might be interested to know we are involved in with our local community, and how they help us out!
For several years, we have supported the Kyles of Bute Golf Club, and we sponsor the annual Portavadie Cleat trophy, this is a great day out for members who keenly contest the prestigious annual trophy and bragging rights. Don’t forget your clubs on your next stay with us, our guests can enjoy complimentary golf on the course – it’s a great, challenging, 9-hole course with spectacular views over the Kyles of Bute.
We are very proud to have welcomed the Cowal Elderly Befrienders for over 10 years on most Mondays to enjoy a day out, great food and chat.
With Portavadie’s very close relationship to the water, we are also very proud that over the years we have contributed over £20,000 to the local RNLI through our charity auction events and fundraising contributions from our visitors and guests.
Portavadie also partner with several local businesses including BC Technologies, Argyll Coffee, Calum’s Cabin, Prentice Seafood Tarbert, Argyll Smokery, Stronchullin Farm, Wild Kitchen, A&L McCrae – plus lots more! One of our biggest partners is John Brown of Strone, based in Dunoon, who provide us with Facilities Management support, and they have also delivered on several of our building and development projects over the last 10 years.
'Portavadie got in touch with us to see if we could supply small bags of our 'Argyll's Secret Roast' coffee for their guest accommodation. It's the perfect amount to make a lovely cafetiere of coffee in the morning. Imagine waking up and enjoying a locally roasted coffee on your balcony overlooking the marina? Sounds heavenly to us! And if the guests enjoy the coffee, they can pop along to the shop, which stocks bigger bags. It's a great way to introduce our coffee to new people. We've had folks getting in touch with us saying they tried our coffee at Portavadie and loved it and now they won't buy any other coffee brand!' – Eve MacFarlane – Argyll Coffee
‘JBS are proud to partner with Portavadie Loch Fyne in the delivery of Facilities Management for the site covering planned maintenance, reactive repairs, and capital projects. Portavadie are one of our largest clients and our contract with them not only greatly contributes to our workload but assists with workforce development and training of apprentices.’ – Paul Galbraith – John Brown (Strone)
We have worked with Out of Your Hands for 10 years now, they are also based in Dunoon and support our housekeeping services. Our partnership has provided a robust business model, year-round, for owner Marie to attract and retain up to 12 staff. We also support the Argyll Yacht Rigger by providing office space and a small workshop space. This is a very valuable service for our berth holders and a known destination for their services.
We are also very proud to have supported the work of the Kings Court Christmas Lunch with equipment and cooking skills. We also collaborate with Paddy who runs the Kings Court, which provide support for those with addiction. The residents maintain the grass and pathways during the growing season at one of our staff accommodation sites, and we reciprocate with access to our Leisure Experience as part of their range of support activities.
Recently, we have been doing a lot of remedial and maintenance work with support from carpet-fitter Ronnie Irvine and joiner Duncan Kerr. We are really pleased with their work and it’s great to have local, trusted tradespeople to rely on.
We are also very excited to be and active in supporting Rhyddian Knight and the Friends of Glenan Wood, we look forward to building on this relationship, both for our guests and crew members to get involved in the community owned rainforest on our very doorstep!
It’s not just the business who supports the community, some of our Crew also play a big part!
Our Spa and Leisure Manager, Avril is a member of the local Coastguard and Sam, our Assistant Spa and Leisure Manager, is one of the local Firefighter response crew. Craig, who is part of our maintenance Crew is an active member of the local lifeboat and has been for many years, as is Josh who is in our marina team. We sponsor Helensburgh’s 2012 football team, and our MD Iain is the Head Coach - with a squad of 18 players and volunteer coaches they compete in the Glasgow League.
It's very much a team effort here in rural Argyll and we look forward to building many more community relationships and sharing those with our guests and crew.