Autumn 2025
Moray Reach Out helps adults with disabilities gain a real sense of purpose and pride
🍂 Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter! 🍂
As the seasons are about to change, we’re excited to share all our latest news with you.
In this edition, we’ll be looking ahead to our upcoming sales and events, giving you a sneak peek at our Christmas promotions (because it’s never too early to start thinking about the festive season!), and celebrating the wonderful highlights from our busy summer. There’s lots to catch up on, and plenty to look forward to!
What’s Coming up
Wedding Fayre
We’re thrilled to be part of the Love & Co Wedding Show at Elgin Academy on Sunday, 14th September 2025, from 12–3pm.
We are going to be showcasing our talented woodworking team’s beautiful range of brand-new handcrafted taster items, designed to inspire you with ideas for what we can create – from wedding favours to unique centrepieces and more.
We’ll also be bringing along a selection of lovely formal outfits from our Thrift Shop, giving you a chance to see just some of the affordable and stylish options available for wedding guests.
And the best part? We’re not limited to what you’ll see on the day. Our team can also craft bespoke items, tailored perfectly to your wedding style and ideas, making your big day truly one of a kind.
Come along, be inspired, and let’s chat about how we can help bring your wedding vision to life!
Buckie Christmas Kracker
✨ Celebrate the Christmas Parade with Us! ✨
We’re excited to be part of the festive fun during the Christmas Parade, lighting up the community with lights, laughter, and holiday cheer! While we won’t have a stall at the parade itself, we’re thrilled to open our Buckie Shop on the day – a special treat as we don’t often open on a Saturday.
Visit us to explore our selection of handmade items crafted by our skilled trainees, ideal for unique and thoughtful gifts. Enjoy the festive atmosphere and take part in our Christmas-themed fundraising activities happening in the shop.
It’s a wonderful way to get into the festive spirit and support Moray Reach Out at the same time!
MRO Embroidery
We were thrilled to hand over a large order of beautifully embroidered uniforms to Black Isle Berries at the beginning of summer, and we’re delighted to say they absolutely loved them! Supporting local never looked so good. 💜
A special shout-out to all the brilliant businesses who continue to support Moray Reach Out by choosing our embroidery services. Every order makes a real difference, helping adults with disabilities gain confidence, skills, and a true sense of purpose and pride.
In our Elgin shop, we currently have a rail of polo shirts available for £10 with a simple logo, perfect for personalising or gifting.
Looking ahead to Christmas, our embroidery team is busy designing festive postcards as part of another exciting creative project. In addition, our trainees have crafted a delightful range of handmade gifts, perfect for giving something truly unique this festive season.
It’s a busy, creative time in our embroidery team, and we’re proud of all the skills and dedication our trainees bring to every project!
MRO yarns & Crafts
Our Yarns & Crafts shop in Buckie stocks a wide range of yarns, from 100% acrylic to 100% pure wool, as well as hundreds of patterns, knitting and crochet tools, and a selection of haberdashery. With competitive prices, we welcome customers from across Moray and Aberdeenshire.
This summer we ran our first sock workshop, which was a great success and one we hope to repeat. Crochet classes have also taken place, and more are planned. If you’re interested, you can ask in the shop, check our Facebook page, or look out for posters in our window.
Throughout the year, our staff, volunteers and trainees put together themed window displays, and we also create samples of garments, blankets and accessories so customers can see our yarns knitted up. There are adult and child sample rails in the shop, and we also sell a small selection of finished garments.
👉 Pop into the shop to see for yourself and follow our Facebook page here
Mro Woodwork
A big thank you to everyone who placed orders with our woodwork team over the summer – you’ve certainly kept us busy, and we’re delighted to see so many of our handmade items going to new homes.
We’ve also been trying our hand at creating wooden wedding favours, and it’s been exciting to explore how our skills can be used to make unique items for special occasions.
Looking ahead to the festive season, we’re offering two types of wooden Christmas trees this year:
Our zig-zag tree – a simple but stylish statement piece – £20
Our 3D tree – a fun option for all the family, whether you leave it natural or decorate it together as a project in the run-up to Christmas – £25
👉 Visit our website to place an order or get in touch with us directly – we’d love to hear from you!
Summer News
The MRO Sponsorship Fund Launch
At Moray Reach Out, our social enterprises provide adults with disabilities the chance to gain skills, confidence, and a real sense of purpose and belonging. There’s a growing demand for placements, and to make sure everyone who needs support can access it, we’ve officially launched the MRO Sponsorship Fund. Even more exciting, we are already putting it to good use, having funded a new trainee to join our MRO Recycling team.
The Sponsorship Fund is a dedicated way for local businesses to help us continue creating life-changing training opportunities. Sponsoring a placement is a fantastic way to support your Corporate Social Responsibility goals while making a real difference in someone’s life.
Find out more about how your company can get involved by visiting our Sponsorship Fund information page: Click Here
Working with Schools to Support Young People
We’re proud to be working closely with local schools to create opportunities for young people. This year, school partnerships have already helped three amazing young people transition from school to supported work placements at Moray Reach Out 💙
With thoughtful planning, teamwork and lots of heart, Damien, Kyle and Taylor have grown in confidence, independence and skill. It’s been incredible to watch their journeys unfold, and their families, school staff, and the MRO team have all shared powerful reflections. If you’re looking for inspiration on how meaningful transitions can be done, this is it.
Looking ahead, we’ve had strong interest from both Buckie High School and Banff Academy for a variety of work experience placements. We’re also excited to welcome two young people from Banff Academy in September, who will be starting a Foundation Modern Apprenticeship with us. They’ll be working towards a vocational qualification and covering key criteria as part of their learning journey.
👉 Click here to read the full blog on the transitions
🙌 Let’s work together to support more young people into purposeful futures.
A huge thank you to NFU Mutual inverness & Elgin! 💛
We’re so grateful to NFU Mutual Inverness and Elgin for their incredible donation of £7,899 to our MRO Sponsorship Fund.
This generous gift will help us provide life-changing work opportunities and training for adults with disabilities in Moray, building skills, confidence, and independence through our social enterprises.
It was lovely to visit their Elgin office to say thank you in person to Rhona, Lucy, Sarah, and of course, the honorary team member, Purdy the dog 🐾
Click here to read the full story and see the impact this amazing support will have!
Volunteer BBQ
On Friday 8th, we fired up the grill for our Volunteer BBQ – a chance to say a massive THANK YOU to our incredible volunteers who give so much of their time, energy and kindness to Moray Reach Out 💚
A special shout-out to:
👏 Kevin – for helping us get the garden looking lovely the day before.
👏 Tomo & Bert – for working their BBQ magic!
👏 Bunnetz and Beardz – for providing the fantastic live music that made the evening even more special.
👏 All of our brilliant staff who pitched in to make the evening success.
It was a fantastic evening full of great food, music, laughter and appreciation – we couldn’t do what we do without you all! 🥰
Portsoy Wool Festival
On 23rd August, we attended the Portsoy Wool Festival, celebrating all things wool and craft. It was a brilliant day full of stalls and activities, perfect for anyone who loves handmade goods and traditional skills. Visitors stopped by our stall to see our latest hand-spun art yarn and handmade products.
Buckie Classic Car Show
Then, on 31st August, we joined the Buckie Classic Car Show, a much-loved community event showcasing stunning vintage and classic cars. The atmosphere was fantastic, and many people came along to enjoy the day, visit our stall, and take part in our bottle stall. We are super grateful to everyone and all the organisations that kindly donated bottles to support us, your generosity made a real difference.
Join the Moray Reach Out Family
Ready to make a positive impact? Volunteer with us or become an Ambassador! 🌟
We’re looking for Volunteers and Ambassadors to help spread the word about what Moray Reach Out does and assist us at various events throughout the year. Explore our diverse projects – Buckie Recycling, Elgin Recycling, Woodwork, Embroidery, Thrift Shop, Art Yarn, and Yarns & Crafts. 🌈
We tailor roles to your skills, interests, and availability!
Click here for more information
We sincerely hope you will consider joining us on this journey of empowerment and support.
Email info@morayreachout.org.uk to express your interest
Support us by shopping with us, volunteering or donating/fundraising.
For more info on how you can do this, contact us now on info@morayreachout.org.uk or like our Facebook page to stay updated @MorayReachOut
Click below to be re-directed to our MRO sites for more information!
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