Christmas lights in Grantown to get an extra sparkle
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The festive lights in Grantown will be sparkling even more this Christmas thanks to a windfall from a wind farm cashpot.
The Grantown Initiative has received £3033 from the latest payout from Berry Burn Community fund for upgrades and replacements for the town's winter festive lights.
Fund leaders have approved grants totalling £95,690.32 helping to finance seven projects in the designated fund area in Moray and the Highlands.
The other winning projects are all in Moray:
• Forres Area Community Trust £35,146 for various surveys required for the redevelopment of Forres Town Hall.
• Forres Mechanics Football Club Ltd £30,000 towards replacement floodlights for football pitch to meet current football authority requirements.
• Moray Firth Credit Union £11,125 to employ staff to manage and continue vital services provided.
• Findhorn-based Wild Things! £10,000 towards additional accessible minibus to enable expansion of capacity to meet the growing demand for health and well-being services.
• Moravian Orienteering Club £5,275 to produce five new orienteering maps for the BBCF area.
• Moravian Orienteer Isobel Howard £1,110.00 to attend Junior World Orienteering Championships in November 2022 and British squad training and selection races/international competitions 2023.
This latest round brings the total contribution to date towards local causes in the area from the Berry Burn Community Fund to £1,587,726.75.
Dr Jana Hutt, chair of the Berry Burn Community Fund, said: “We were delighted to receive so many good applications and were able to award a record amount of funding to community projects.
"It is great that local organisations have regained the confidence to undertake new projects in the wake of the Covid pandemic disruption of the last few years.
"We congratulate all the successful applicants."
The community fund receives an index-linked annual budget of £207,000 from international renewables company Statkraft whose 29-turbine Berry Burn wind farm lies between Forres and Grantown.
The fund is overseen by 11 volunteer fund members, living and working within the wind farm's operational boundary and the annual budget is spread over three awards rounds held during the year.
Due to the imminent retirement of some of the members of the fund there will be vacancies from March next year.
Full details of the role of a fund member and an application form can be found at www.berryburncommunityfund/documents
Applications are invited from individuals living in the following community council areas: Forres, East Nairnshire, Grantown, Cromdale & Advie, Speyside, Heldon, Findhorn & Kinloss, Finderne and Dyke Landward.
The closing date for applications is 26th January 2023.
The date of the next Berry Burn community Fund awards meeting is 27th February 2023, with the closing date for applications 23rd January 2023.
All details of how to apply, application form, and contact details for the Administrator, can be found online at www.berryburncommunityfund.co.uk
