17 charities and community groups across Wigtownshire and South Carrick are
celebrating being awarded grants from the Kilgallioch Community Fund in its autumn round of grant making, totalling £117,256.08.
Projects supported in this round had a wide range of interest areas, but had
particularly strong representation from sports clubs and youth projects in particular.
First time applicants to the Fund, Stranraer Stingrays, which encourages young
people aged 8-17 to take part in competitive swimming, was awarded £10,000 to
help purchase timing equipment to support training and competitive opportunities
for its young members. Club Chair Jamie Nelson said:
“We’re absolutely over the moon at receiving this award from Kilgallioch Community
Fund. Up until now we’ve been relying on shouting “Go!” and using a stopwatch –
not always easy in a noisy pool with 30 young people! This equipment will not only
enable our youngsters to get a proper time and improve their training, but it will also
mean we can now host competitions, enabling our young members to compete with
others from all around the country and opening up new opportunities to them all”.
The Board was also proud to support a wide range of other projects, including:
£12,818 to the Fed Up Community Café, which provides a free hot food service in
Stranraer aimed at reducing social isolation, tackling food poverty and signposting
people to sources of support;
Galloway Mountain Rescue Team, awarded £8,400 for
new dry suits for its Water Rescue Team;
Potters Garden SCIO, a market/training
garden which supports people with learning disabilities, awarded £4,914 for
equipment for its new IT suite;
Barr Community SCIO, which was awarded £2,100
for a new website which will create a single resource which can promote community
life, information on all the groups in the village, and visitor activities, all in one place;
£5,298 to Cree Valley Community Council for its Newton Stewart Hogmanay
Hoolie planned for New Year’s Eve, this year.
The fund, provided by Scottish Power Renewables from its Kilgallioch Windfarm, is
distributed by Kilgallioch Community Benefit Company, with administrative support
from grant-making charity Foundation Scotland. Decisions are made by a Board of
local volunteer Directors.
Nick Walker, KCBC Chair, said:
“It was great to see so many projects put forward their ideas in this round. We were
particularly delighted to be able to provide support for some great initiatives for local
young people; and also to see community events, such an important part of
community life, starting to get back into the calendar. We look forward to receiving
applications to our next round, which closes on the 18th October”
The next deadline to apply is coming up on the 18th October. This deadline is for
both standard grants and large grants. The upper limit for standard grants is now
£20,000 so that more projects can come through the Fund using the simple one step
‘Standard Grants’ application process. For groups looking for more than £20,000 –
the first step is to fill in the Stage 1 Enquiry form. You can see all the awards made
and information on how to apply at www.kilgallioch.co.uk
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