Forty-three charities and community groups across Wigtownshire and South Carrick are celebrating being awarded grants from the Kilgallioch Community Fund in its latest round of grant making.
Grants in this round of funding range from the smallest grant of £2,145 to Wigtownshire U3A, to the largest grant of £22,182 for refurbishment of the fitness and conditioning suite at Newton Stewart Rugby Football Club.
Other successful projects include £16,000 for the replacement of the boardwalk at Aldouran Wetland Garden; £5,000 to Wigtown Festival Company to support year-round activities; £20,000 to South West Scotland Community Rail Partnership to contribute to the creation of a much needed car park at Barrhill Station; and £9,774 to Biosphere Bikes in Girvan to purchase containers to use as office, storage and maintenance space for their new bike hire venture aiming to support locals and visitors to Girvan to cycle the area.
Jo Wallace, Vice-President, Newton Stewart Rugby Football Club said:
“As a club we have been fundraising for a couple of years with the ambition of building new changing room facilities, and a bespoke strength and conditioning suite, for the comfort and development of all of our members.
This generous, and substantial donation from the Kilgallioch Community Fund has been a massive boost towards this goal.
Our senior first XV team have enjoyed much success in recent seasons and have catapulted up the leagues to find themselves in their highest ever standing. Now, more than ever, fitness is a vital aspect of the game, and the need for the strength and conditioning suite has never been greater.
We are delighted and immensely grateful to Kilgallioch Community Fund for the money they have granted us, and look forward to beginning work on this exciting project in the very near future.”
The fund, provided by Scottish Power Renewables from its Kilgallioch Windfarm, is administered by Kilgallioch Community Benefit Company, with support from grantmaking charity Foundation Scotland. Decisions are made by a Board of local volunteer Directors.
Neale McQuistin, KCBC Chair, said:
“I am absolutely delighted that the Kilgallioch Community Fund has been able to support so many important local projects across Wigtownshire and South Carrick. Given the uncertain times we are currently experiencing as a result of the coronavirus emergency, it felt particularly important to continue to invest in local organisations, many of which will be working with local suppliers and contractors to deliver their projects when the current restrictions we’re all living under start to ease. We understand timescales for projects will need more flexibility as a result but look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.”
Gillian Arnot, Senior Community Liaison officer, ScottishPower Renewables, said:
“We’re very proud to support such a wide range of great projects across Wigtownshire and south Carrick through our Kilgallioch Windfarm community benefit fund, which really is making a difference across the whole area. In these challenging and uncertain times, we hope this latest round of funding provides some comfort about our continued support for local people and communities. We want as many people as possible to benefit from this fund and encourage local groups and organisations to get involved and get applying. Who knows – you could be one of the lucky recipients next time round!”
Full details of all awards can be found at www.kilgallioch.co.uk
Kilgallioch Community Benefit Company have taken the decision, given the ongoing impact of coronavirus (Covid-19), to defer fixing dates for future rounds of funding in 2020 until late July. During this time the Board will continue to monitor the circumstances and impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) across Wigtownshire and South Carrick. This will enable the Board to develop a clearer understanding of impact on current grantholders and more widely across communities in the area of benefit, and as a result be able to work flexibly to respond to community need appropriately.
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