Kerrera one of 5 Scottish finalists for Big Lottery Village SOS project
published this on 7:38 pm, Wednesday, 11th November, 2009Business| News| Tourism activities | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
Jim Mather, Argyll’s MSP and Enterprise Minister, has warmly welcomed the news of the enterprise that has brought the Isle of Kerrera Development Trust to the shortlist of five Scottish finalists (two from the Highlands), in the Big Lottery Fund’s Village SOS project.
This project is a partnership between the Big Lottery and the BBC and is a sort of rural economic regeneration incentive, with 6 rural communities across the UK eventually chosen to develop new business ventures, create jobs and improve the quality of life for local people.
The 28 UK-wide projects on the shortlist will each be funded to develop their business plans. Kerrera’s Development Trust proposes to build a multi-purpose community centre, with accommodation above for visitors to the island.
The centre is designed to bring together the dispersed population of the island which shelters the wonderfully located west coast town of Oban. The Centre’s facilities would include a community hall with commercial kitchen facilities for meetings and functions. It’s existence would accentuate the experience of living on and visiting Kerrera for residents and visitors alike.
The ‘assistance’ part of what will be offered to the winning 6 projects will see each given a Village Champion. This person will live and work within the community, monitor and record progress and contribute to a series of television programmes on the projects which BBC 1 will transmit.
Mr Mather says: ‘This is one more excellent example of a small west coast community who are seeking to improve facilities on their island and have achieved success in moving on to the next stage of the Big Lottery Village SOS competition.
‘Kerrera Primary School closed some time ago and with it went a point of focus of the community. This ambitious project could provide much more by providing a social hub for the island and islanders as well as much needed facilities for visitors to Kerrera. While Kerrera is Oban’s offshore island sheltering Oban Bay it offers a unique contrast to the bustle of the ferry port across the water. I am sure that the Development Trust will be conscious of what can be improved and what should be preserved.
‘I congratulate them in what they have achieved so far and wish them every success in the next stage’.
The five Scottish finalists are:
- Assynt Community Association in Sutherland,
- Catrine Community Trust in East Ayrshire
- West Wemyss Eco Energy Development in Fife
- Eskdalemuir Community Energy Supply in Dumfriess
- Isle of Kerrera Development Trust in Argyll & Bute.
The photograph above, showing Gylen Castle on Kerrera is cropped from copyright holder, Bob Jones’ photograph and is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.
Related Posts
The Latest News from ForArgyll delivered via email, weekly or daily. You know it makes sense!
Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping | | Print This Post
Loading...
November 12th, 2009 at 11:34 am
What a superb photograph looking south from Kerrera over Seil to Scarba and Jura. It indicates many of the attractions of the west coast. Pity about the scaffolding that was in place to stabilise the ruins of Gylen Castle which would almost suggesrt that Kerrera already had a branch of the Hilton chain.