Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fox & Friends: Highland charity tackling social isolation and helping communities build resilience

Lisa Davidson has ambitious plans to unite rural communities across the Highlands.

Fox's Tales has been running for Highland children for almost a year. Image: Lisa Davidson / Fox & Friends.
Fox's Tales has been running for Highland children for almost a year. Image: Lisa Davidson / Fox & Friends.

A Highland charity is working to tackle social isolation, build resilience and create better opportunities for those living in rural areas.

Lisa Davidson has been running Fox’s Tales for almost a year to help Highland families struggling after lockdown.

The 42-year-old soon realised that many services for adults were lost due to Covid and a lack of funding. Miss Davidson wanted to help those missing out and launched Fox & Friends.

She still offers Fox’s Tales to children up to six years old, but plans to start offering projects for all generations, such as Fox Cubs for primary school children and Fox Trot for adults.

What is FOX & FRIENDS HIGHLAND all about? 🦊We believe that everyone should have access to activities and support in…

Posted by Fox & Friends – Highland on Sunday, 26 March 2023

The mum-of-two from Evanton also plans to offer groups for families with additional support needs (ASN) and anyone else who needs help.

“I really want to just reach out to everybody,” she said. “I want to create loads of services to reach everyone.

“Nobody should feel alone or isolated following lockdown. And now everyone is struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”

She added: “I also realised some older people, because their services aren’t running anymore, are only ever seeing a postman in a week, and that is tragic.”

Ambitious plans to ‘fill the gaps’

Miss Davidson, who was a family support worker, is running the charity herself and found problems like isolation arise because of the geographic nature of the Highlands.

But, she is hoping to “fill the gaps” after realising how lonely some people are and the lack of opportunities available for families.

Children love learning to read with Fox. Image: Lisa Davidson / Fox & Friends/

She said: “Our aim is basically to bring people together in their community, through classes, clubs, and events to create a positive impact on health and wellbeing.

“But, we’re wanting to have a range of services so people can come out in their communities and bond with each other to build stronger and more resilient communities.

“Because times are not going to get any easier are they? They’re just going to get harder for people.”

Miss Davidson hopes to go around different areas in the Highlands and find out what they can benefit from so she can provide the missing services.

She is also keen to work with services already in the area to add to what they provide.

“It’s a lot of work, but I’m really excited about it all,” she said.

Fox For All

She is hosting free Easter fun days across Alness, Dingwall, Inverness and Tain, for families to enjoy face painting, an Easter egg hunt, and Fox’s Tales.

The tickets were reserved overnight, but, the charity founder is planning to host more events in the future.

Miss Davidson runs a number of events across the Highlands. Image: Lisa Davidson / Fox & Friends.

But first, she is aiming to get Fox For All – the service aimed at helping ASN families – up and running as soon as possible.

She said: “I’m really keen to get it on the go because a lot of additional needs families are telling me the only thing their child gets is schooling.

“Additional needs adults are wandering around with their carers at the weekend because their carer has taken them out of the house to give their mum and dad a bit of respite – but there’s nowhere to go.

“There are only so many cups of coffee you can drink on a weekend in Tain.”

She has launched a JustGiving page to raise £5,000 to get the project up and running.

Learn more about Fox & Friends or find out more about volunteering here.

Conversation