Tundergarth Kirks Trust secures £40,000 for major church repairs
Tundergarth Kirks Trust has been awarded £40,000 to carry out major repair work to the iconic 1900 church. The Trust was successful in securing £20,000 from Annandale and Nithsdale Community Benefit Company, administered by Foundation Scotland. Long term financial supporters of the Trust, the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation, then offered to match fund the grant by donating a further £20,000.
“We are extremely grateful to both Funding Scotland and the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation for helping us to keep the doors open at our wonderful church. The roof repairs and repointing work is eye-wateringly expensive and we simply do not have the funds available. We are a small trust who depend on the kind of generosity shown here, in order to undertake these imperative repairs.”
– Lori Carnochan, Chair, Tundergath Kirks Trust
Specifically, this money will be used to undertake extensive roof repairs, as well as repointing work, after major water intrusion caused significant damage over the winter months. Scaffolding has been erected on the site at Tundergarth in preparation for the work to begin in the coming weeks. In the meantime, 20 heavy-duty tarpaulins have been installed to ensure the building is watertight until the repair work begins. As well as external repairs, the church also requires significant work internally, to remove and replace damaged walls and timber. The Trustees are working hard to secure further funding to enable them to carry out the necessary work to keep the building in good repair.
Tundergarth church is one of three iconic sites at Tundergarth, alongside the Air Disaster Remembrance Room and the Old Kirk Ruins. The nosecone of the Boeing 747 crashed in the field across the road from the church and over 100 bodies were found in the surrounding fields.
These sites are visited by thousands of people who come to worship or to remember the 270 victims killed in the terrorist attack, when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie on December 21st 1988. The attack remains the deadliest terrorist attack on UK soil and the second deadliest attack against America.
Tundergarth Kirks Trust has also been caring for the Air Disaster Remembrance Room, where over 50,000 people have signed the visitors book. In an ongoing effort to commemorate and educate, last year the most comprehensive collection of victim colour photographs, presented on six banners, were installed alongside computers which allow visitors to learn about the attack, the victims and the local survivors.
“We are so blessed to have the support of these community partners to allow us to continue our work to preserve and care for these iconic historical sites.”
– Lori Carnochan, Chair, Tundergarth Kirks Trust
