Caithness & North Sutherland Fund October 2012 Grant Awards

30th November 2012

The Caithness & North Sutherland Fund recently awarded its 4th round of grants for 2012. Six community groups were awarded funding totalling over �114k for community projects that help to improve the attractiveness of their area as a place to live, work and invest.

Chairman John Henderson stated �The Directors of the Fund are very pleased that the demand for funding assistance for good community projects continues to be high which clearly demonstrates that the community is playing a significant role in creating a sustainable future through achieving social, cultural, environmental and infrastructure improvements to their area�.

The Caithness & North Sutherland Fund launched in October 2011 and recently held its first Annual General Meeting where the Fund�s Chairman and Board members reported on the Fund�s first year of activity to the Caithness & North Sutherland Community. In its first year, the Fund has awarded funding assistance totalling �273k to community projects with a total value of over �1.2m.

At the AGM, Chairman John Henderson concluded �In its first year I think the Fund has quickly found its feet and has made a substantial impact on community projects in Caithness and North Sutherland. I am confident that we can build on this, be a key player in helping to develop the area and meeting our objective of making Caithness and North Sutherland an attractive place to live and work�.

The awarded projects for the Caithness & North Sutherland Fund�s October 2012 assessment round are:

Bower Community Centre � BCC Energy Efficiency Improvements Project
�25,180.00 awarded towards the costs of fitting new PVC double glazed windows and PVC doors throughout Bower Community Centre including replacement of flat roof.

Reiss Killimster & Sibster Hall Committee � Reiss Hall Refurbishment Project
�29,220.00 awarded towards the costs of renovating Reiss halls existing toilets providing new toilet facilities including disabled toilet provision.

Ormlie Community Association � Young & New Mothers Support Groups Project
�21,938.36 awarded towards 1 year operating costs for the existing Young & New Mothers Support Groups project activities in Thurso & Wick and to expand the project to include additional monthly sessions in Tongue, Bettyhill and Melvich.

Tongue & Farr Sports Association � Clear Water Project
�24,800.00 awarded towards the costs of updating the North Coast Leisure Centre�s pool facilities in order to enable physical therapy provision and expand its programme to bring health and wellbeing to the wider community.

Melvich Gaelic Choir � Caithness Cultural Representation � International Pan Celtic Festival � Co. Carlow 2013

�5,000 awarded towards the travel and accommodation costs for the Caithness & North Sutherland participating organisations and artists to attend the International Pan Celtic Festival 2013 in Co. Carlow in April 2013.

Wick Coastal Rowing Club � Wick Coastal Rowing Club Project
�8,000.00 awarded towards Wick Coastal Rowing Club start-up costs and costs for the construction of three craft to enable WCRC, a community rowing initiative, to organise rowing tuition, races and events.

The closing date for applications for the next Caithness & North Sutherland Fund assessment round is the 25th of January 2013.

For further information on Caithness & North Sutherland Fund, please see www.cnsf.org.uk or contact the Fund Coordinator on enquiries[AT]cnsf.org.uk Tel: 07841 204 982