Marion Cordiner has joined the charity. 

Inverness-based charity, New Start Highland, is marking one of its most successful years to date as it celebrates serving people in the Highland community over 120,000 times in the last 12 months.

The organisation, which exists to transform Highland lives, has four retail outlets located in Inverness, Thurso and Dingwall.  

Retail turnover across the year to date has increased by 20% and the company has made significant staff investments including hiring a marketing and communications director to expand its leadership team.

Profits from New Start Highland’s various enterprise activities are reinvested back into the organisation, to help fund its charitable services. 

Throughout this year, the company has facilitated 238 training courses, delivered 922 furniture packs, serviced over 1,000 bikes and upcycled almost 2,000 pieces of furniture.

It has also managed the re-use of over 60,000 household items across the Highlands and beyond.  Over 2,000 furniture collections have been made and over 45,000 meals have been delivered.

The charity has also welcomed Marion Cordiner, who will head up their marketing activity. 

James Dunbar, New Start Highland’s chief executive, said: “Against a backdrop of the ever-present cost of living crisis, this year has been one of our hardest to date, with more people than ever in need of our services. 

“Through the hard work of our team and volunteers, we’ve been able to serve those who need us most with employability training, housing support, furniture packs and new bikes to name just a handful of what we deliver. We’ve seen a marked increase in footfall across our retail units as well.

“Our leadership team has a combined experience of over 100 years in the third sector and I’m glad to welcome Marion Cordiner to lead marketing activity and help tell our story.  I’m excited to put our ambitious growth plans into action over the coming months which will enable us to assist more people as they transition from challenging places in their lives to somewhere they can realise their potential.”

The constantly evolving organisation, which was established in 2000, now employs almost 80 staff across its charity and commercial arms. 

Through housing support, training programs, furniture reuse services, bike refurbishment and the New Start Gardens, it offers vast opportunities for people to experience personal transformation.  

New Start Highland operates Unique Ness, the home interiors destination located in Inverness’s Eastgate Centre.  It also runs professional, commercial services including order fulfilment, house clearance, removals and storage which operate across the Highlands.