Community Groups Benefit From Caithness And North Sutherland Fund Grants

3rd March 2021

The CNSFund has committed over £79k to community groups in Caithness & North Sutherland in its recent grant rounds. Funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a wide range of community-led projects throughout the Dounreay travel to work area are to benefit from the grant support.

Strathnaver Museum has been granted £30,000 towards the costs of installing professional interpretation designs that will create new, innovative exhibition displays and improvements to access and visitor flow, as part of the museum's major redevelopment plans. Strathnaver Museum Project Manager Fiona Mackenzie said "We are delighted to have this support from CNSF to install professional interpretation which will establish Strathnaver as a world class visitor attraction. By creating new displays and better visitor facilities we will improve access to the collection and enhance the visitor experience, helping to tell the story of north west Sutherland for everyone to enjoy."

Other grant awards included £24,216 to Farr North Community Development Trust to help with the costs of establishing the new development body, which has been recently formed following a community consultation. The grant will be used towards the community trust appointing a manager and development officer in order to take forward numerous development priorities identified in local community plans.

Advocacy Highland was awarded £11,283.50 to establish a Young People's Advocacy Pilot Project in Caithness & North Sutherland that will help to support young people aged 11-16yrs old who are in need of advocacy support.

Wick Gala Committee saw £5.356.80 awarded to help refurbish the Wick Riverside Boating Shed roof to protect and improve the community building that will enable the gala body to continue to make use of the facility as a safe and secure base to run the annual gala as well as to support other community activities.

Reay Golf Club was granted £5,000 to refurbish its clubhouse exterior that will preserve and enhance the golf club building to provide an attractive and modern recreational facility for the community and visiting golfers to enjoy.

Farr High School Parent Council was awarded £4,029.80 to help deliver a creative project involving local children to design and construct iconic sculpture signposts to install at each of the North Coast Campus schools. The purpose of the sculptures are to represent and promote the culture and heritage of the North Sutherland school campus.

Gillian Coghill, CNSFund Chairperson said "We commend the efforts of these community groups who are working hard to deliver improvements for our communities, particularly during these challenging times. We continue to look forward to supporting worthy proposals that meet our improvement aims, to help ensure Caithness & North Sutherland is an attractive place and in turn has a sustainable future.''

The CNSFund distributes money to community projects that increase the attractiveness of Caithness and North Sutherland as a place to live, work and invest. Applications are assessed on a quarterly basis and information on how to apply can be found at the CNSFund website, www.cnsf.org.uk

Other funding sources for Caithness can be found HERE