Glenkens projects spring forward with £159,000 funding awarded by the Glenkens & District Trust
PRESS RELEASE FROM FOUNDATION SCOTLAND
Glenkens & District Trust, working in partnership with Foundation Scotland, is delighted to announce a further seven awards in its spring round of funding, with a total sum of £158,966 awarded.
This round saw strong representation of two of the key priorities from the Glenkens & District Community Action Plan, an Asset Rich Community and an Economically Flourishing Community. Balmaclellan, Dalry and Kirkpatrick Durham communities all received awards to support improvements in their facilities which will help maintain these key community assets.
Jim Reid , Chair of Dalry Town Hall SCIO commented:
“The award from Blackcraig Windfarm Community Fund allowed us to leverage a grant from Scottish Government CARES Fund for our Net Zero project. The project will provide improved hall heating whilst offsetting energy usage by employing a PV Solar array and also enhanced heat recovery from our roof space. Moreover, as we move the project to completion, lessons learned by us can be shared with other local community spaces intent on the same journey”
The GDT Trustees were delighted to see that so many applicants were members of the Glenkens Community Spaces Network. The network is currently funded by GDT to provide support and shared learning opportunities to local village halls and other community owned assets. To join the network contact the Glenkens Community Spaces Network coordinator on becca.glenkens.anf@gmail.com .
The other strong theme related to enterprising community organisations, significant awards were made to some well-known local social enterprises, as well as several awards supporting the maintenance of local jobs and job opportunities - meaning more than ten paid roles will be supported by Trust funding in this round.
New Galloway Community Enterprise received £30,000 over three years to retain local employment opportunities and support the sustainability of the shop; and the Glenkens Food Hub, run by Propagate (Scotland) CIC, received £23,975 to support the continued delivery of the popular local food hub in the Glenkens area while it redevelops its business model.
Other supported projects involving paid roles included £22,333 awarded to Glenkens Community & Arts Trust (GCAT) Ltd to deliver youth-directed young people’s activities for the next two years, and a three year award to Loch Ken Trust’s Ranger Service. GDT provided some initial funding two years ago which enabled the Loch Ken Trust to test the service, which has gone from strength to strength and become recognised as a valuable service across the area. GDT has now made its most significant award to date - £60,000 over three years, to provide stability for this key local initiative.
Mungo Bryson , Chair of Loch Ken Trust, said:
“Loch Ken Trust is absolutely delighted to receive such a strong show of support from the Glenkens community and the Blackcraig Windfarm Community Fund...From this firm foundation, we will be looking to develop Loch Ken Ranger Service over the next three years into a service that we can all be proud of. We would encourage everyone to get in touch and get involved.”
The Education and Training Fund is proving to be a helpful source of support for local residents. Set up in autumn last year to provide bursaries supporting local people to access education and training opportunities, seventeen individuals have accessed grants amounting to just over £21,000. A further allocation of £20,000 has been made to this Fund in order to make this support available to people on an ongoing basis.
Finally, the Glenkens & District Trust is delighted that the funding pot available to local communities will be increasing during 2023 due to a new agreement with the owners of Windy Rig wind farm – more information on this exciting news will be shared on this very soon.
Congratulations to all the successful applicants in this spring round. For more information on the fund visit www.glenkenstrust.org.uk. The deadline for the next round of funding for community organisations is the 19th of September.
Chris Dempster, Community Funds Adviser Foundation Scotland