New employment and volunteering opportunities will be created in West Kilbride as the Big Lottery Fund today announces funding to help transform the village’s Barony Church building into a new crafts and exhibition venue.

The West Kilbride Community Initiative Limited receives £870,560 and is one of two groups sharing in the latest awards from BIG’s Growing Community Assets scheme. It is joined by the Upper Eskdale Development Group in Dumfries and Galloway which receives a technical assistance grant towards the design of a new community hub in the small rural village of Eskdalemuir.

Announcing the funding, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, Alison Magee, said: “When buildings are purchased and developed through our Growing Community Assets scheme they become much more than bricks and mortar to their community. Instead they become hubs of activity which instill a sense of pride amongst local people.

“Today’s funding will allow the people of West Kilbride to move a step closer to realising their own dream of creating a new crafts and exhibition venue which will help to generate local employment, provide training opportunities and provide a place for people to display their work. I am also delighted that the people of Eskdalemuir are able to take forward their own plans for a new community hub, which has the potential to reinstate a number of essential local services.”

The Barony Church in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, is to be converted and given a new lease of life, thanks to a Growing Community Assets award of £870,560. The project, run by the West Kilbride Communtiy Initiative Ltd (WKCIL), aims to develop the building to create a contemporary crafts, exhibition and activities centre which will provide accredited training and volunteering opportunities for local people. The building will become home to the community regeneration initiative, Craft Town Scotland, and will include retail and exhibition space, a community café and a classroom and studio for craft classes and workshops which will allow a year long programme of activities to be delivered for local residents and visitors to the area.

Maggie Broadley, Craft Development Manager, WKCIL, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have secured financial support from the Big Lottery Fund, which is hugely significant in making our ambitious plans to develop the Barony Centre a reality.”

She continued: “The craft exhibition and activities centre will deliver a vibrant, diverse and sustainable range of cultural, retailing, recreational and social facilities. Driven by the passion and foresight of local volunteers, the development will enable local people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to come together, learn new skills and forge new friendships. BIG’s endorsement will make a major contribution to realising the vision by unlocking further investment from other funders.”

In Dumfries and Galloway, the Upper Eskdale Development Group Limited (UEDG) is aiming to transform a former primary school into a community hub which will deliver a range of social enterprise activities. These include a café, community shop and a wood fuel supply business. Thanks to a Growing Community Assets award of £30,967, UEDG will be able to design and secure planning permission for the refurbishment and additional parking area for the proposed community hub.

Nicholas Jennings, Chair, UEDG, said: "This award is a huge boost to the confidence and enthusiasm of the Upper Eskdale Development Group. It takes us another big step forward to the creation of our Community Hub which will make our remote upland community more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.  Small remote communities like ours feel the pinch of economic changes, rising fuel costs and an ageing population more acutely than some larger more accessible communities but we are determined that through our own efforts as a community we can make our area a vibrant and satisfying place to live work and play.”

Further Information

For more information contact Landa Rolland at the Big Lottery Fund Scotland Press Office on:
0141 242 1458 or 07789 033457
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £23 billion has now been raised and more than 317,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

SCOTLAND

The Scotland Committee, led by Chair, Alison Magee, has been making Big Lottery Fund decisions on Scottish projects since March 2007. As well as taking devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee has and will continue to play a strategic role in the future direction of BIG in Scotland.  

The Big Lottery Fund is investing in Scotland’s communities through it’s Investing in Communities portfolio as well as the small grants schemes Awards for All and 2014 Communities.