Many people in South Carrick are trading their skills and getting paid in Scillets for their time, or using the currency to purchase skills from others.

A Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) has been established in South Carrick, which enables people to trade services and products amongst themselves, with no requirement for cash transactions. Membership is open to anyone over 16 years of age who lives in the KA26 postal code area. Instead of paying for work in pounds Stirling all transactions are carried out within the LETS using Scillets.

The scheme operates by trading ‘favours’ with no money changing hands. A ‘favour’ might be dog walking, home baking, gardening or decorating, with each favour being given a credit value, for example dog walking could be worth 5 Scillets and gardening 20 Scillets. Once trading begins members build up credits in the form of Scillets that they can then use to buy services from other people.

There is an annual fee of £10 a year to join, with a £5 concession fee, and each member has 3 Scillets a quarter debited from their account to cover administration costs. Each member is issued with a LETS chequebook that they use to pay for services, and receives a statement of their transactions every three months.

Convener of South Ayrshire Council’s Rural Communities Committee, Councillor Paul Torrance said: “This is a marvellous system that enables people to get work done by people who have the skills to carry it out without having to find money to pay for the work.

“Credits can be accrued by people while doing something they love such as gardening, baking or decorating.

“Many people who do not have a particular skill, or the time to offer a skill, earn Scillets by letting others use equipment such as washing machines, lawnmowers or photocopiers, or use the system to trade unwanted clothing and goods.

“The system is run by local people, for local people with the support of South Ayrshire Council, Girvan Horizons and with an Awards for All grant from the National Lottery.”

This system helps to build a sustainable community by:

Building bonds between people, facilitating friendships and encouraging self-reliance.
Facilitating recycling of materials within the community.
Enabling people to buy locally produced food.
Providing access to tools and expertise to encourage items be repaired and reused.
Making local economies more self-contained and encouraging skills and experience to be retained there.

The scheme is run by a committee of local members who can receive a payment in Scillets for the administration work they carry out. The Committee publishes a directory of services every three months which contains details of members and their ‘offers’ and ‘wants, plus the charge for them in Scillets. The charge may be a fixed on or a charge per hour. available from their members, records members accounts and can offer advice or assistance on all aspects of the scheme.

Anyone who would like further information about the scheme, or would like to join the scheme should telephone staff on 01465 7166600, log onto the website at www.girvan-online.net or write to LET Co-ordinator, The Volunteer Centre,
102C Dalrymple Street, Girvan, KA26 9BT.

April 2005