ANNUAL REPORT 2019
Largs – 31st JANUARY 2020
In May 2019 the members of the Kelburn Wind Farm Community Fund met to decide how they would distribute the 2019 fund of £52,000 amongst the 22 successful applications.
Mr Alistair Green – Chairman said:
“Once again we have had an impressive, very interesting and varied range of applications across the communities of Largs, Fairlie and Cumbrae which we unanimously agreed to support.”
“From Largs the applications included:
The Viking Festival and the exciting new Advice and Care Centre, opened by St John’s Church of Scotland in Largs town centre, awarded the highest grants of £6000 and £5500 respectively.
From Fairlie there was only one application in the year but the committee granted £5000 towards new toilets at the village hall which is run and maintained by a small voluntary group.
From Millport; Cumbrae Community Development Company received the highest award of £5000 towards the year-round project of work to keep the island public toilets open. A new applicant, Cumbrae Community Radio received £4000 for outdoor broadcast equipment to cover community events.
“In 2019 we received a total of 22 applications seeking in excess of £100,000. As in previous year, due to the excessive demand on our funds we had to strictly adhere to our application guidelines. However, no application was refused and it was also agreed to award £2k to Largs Events group for equipment (the application having been held over from the previous year)
“In the previous 8 years we have made 177 awards distributing in excess of £365,000 to worthy community led projects across the area. This is entirely due to the generosity and support of both the wind farm owner TRIG and RES, who undertake the day-to-day management of the Kelburn Wind Farm. The names of the successful applications and their projects are below.”
LARGS
Viking Festival - £6000
The continuous significant role of this international festival in promoting the town, particularly through daytripper business and as a cultural, community well-supported week of expensive events requires infrastructure and expenditure to provide major spectacles such as aeronautical shows.
St John’s Church - £5500
St John's seeks to create a community hub in the centre of Largs. It has rented a town centre retail unit in which to create a place where people can drop in to seek support and advice from qualified people from agencies including North Ayrshire Council, the NHS and Christians Against Poverty. Potential areas of support include those journeying with mental health issues, giving advice to people with debt problems and bereavement counseling.
Larggs Golf Club £1000
The grant is a contribution towards a £6500 cost of creating an indoor golf studio to not only cater for membership but to encourage young players to take up the game.
First Responders - £1500
This well established voluntary group applied for funds to enable them to replace the Automated External Defibrillator which is in their response vehicle, and has been used to save many patients..
Largs Colts - £1000
The youth football club which looks after a wide range of boys and girls teams requested funds to supply training equipment for all of the youngsters and coaches.
Barrfields Theatre Users Group - £3000
Another volunteer group from the town’s healthy theatre community which has been developing modern facilities for local and visiting entertainment companies will use the grant towards a £5000 auditorium sound project.
Sail Training Association - £4000
They are investing in an £8000 project for a growing fleet of boats which are available for weekly training and participation at events. Four Optimist trainer dinghies, are a single-handed boat for children, up to the age of 15 and is one of the most popular dinghies for introducing children to sailing.
Royal Observer Corps - £1200
The organisation which maintains the historic wartime bunker are seeking to further promote the site for public visits through a new display trailer, which is also available to other community organisations for outdoor events.
Rotary Club - £800
Largs Rotary who do a lot of work and collaboration with Largs Academy pupils received a grant to send two local students on a Euroscholar visit to Brussels.
Ocean Youth Trust - £1000
The grant was awarded towards the £2000 cost of placing disadvantaged local youths on an educational sailing week from Largs.
The Rainbow Group - £1500
The money was awarded to the local voluntary committee which rents a church hall to work with those with learning difficulties and disabilities. They outlined how the money would be used for trips and visits to broaden the horizons of an otherwise static group of people.
Firth of Clyde Rowers - £1000
The Largs and Fairlie club has grown considerably in recent years providing a healthy pursuit in canoes on the Clyde and in competition. Having acquired several vessels over the years they required covers to maintain the conditions of the boats.
Largs Youth Theatre - £2500
The Windfarm Committee awarded 50% of the costs to allow the Youth Theatre which caters for drama tuition and performance for those between 5 and 18 to take part in a national scheme whereby tutors and youngsters travel to skill workshops and enter a large scale competition, leading to a major show.
Largs Events - £2000
Community group Largs Events was granted money towards purchase of outdoor equipment to host entertainment in the town in relation to festivals and Yuletide night etc.
(This grant was ringfenced from the previous year for clarification of details).
FAIRLIE
Community Association - £5000
Unusually, there was only one application from Fairlie and it was felt worthy to give a grant of £5000 towards the estimated £7815 costs of modernising the village hall toilets. A small group of village volunteers ensure the continued use of the hall.
CUMBRAE
Millport Bowling Club £1000
Disabled access was a recent priority for the popular club. The accesses needed upgrading.
Cumbrae Development Company £5000
The well publicised take over of the island’s public conveniences which were under threat of closure has led to an ambitious £25k modernisation, and the Windfarm Committee were happy to contribute to the cost.
Millport Pipe Band - £1000
The long established island pipe band who turn out throughout the year to support local ventures and events were seeking a contribution to new uniforms for the band members who comprise all ages.
Millport Model Railway Club - £1000
The club has been a regular recipient of our grants as they develop and maintain, voluntarily, the local attraction of the model railway in the Garrison grounds.
Cumbrae Community Radio - £4000
This new island enterprise with community presenters and staff sought £6,780 to purchase modern equipment and cabling for outside radio broadcasts, following the success of the studio programmes.
Sonoro Community Choir - £1000
Having established themselves under musical director Rhona Gourlay over the past three years this new applicant looked for funding to a new digital piano which would be portable for the series of island concerts and community events throughout the year.
Country & Western Festival - £3000
As one of the major attractions in the tourist season the festival organisers sought £3000 to purchase weather proof cabling and equipment to support the popular marquee and outdoor musical events during the festival which attracts large numbers to Millport.
Community Gardens Group - £1000
The voluntary group maintaining the gardens in the Garrison grounds, Millport, were given £1k towards a £3k project to improve the accessibility of the Community Garden. Parts of the garden are already wheelchair-accessible but they want to increase the paved area around the beds so that wheelchair or mobility scooter users can get access.
Members of the Kelburn Wind farm Initiative are:
Alistair Green – Chairman, Joan Rae, Elisabethe Marshall, Patricia Nicol, Rev Jonathan Fleming, Alan Hill, Alex Gallagher and David Boyle. Administrator – Drew Cochrane.
KELBURN WINDFARM COMMUNITY FUND:
Funds are only available for use or purpose of supporting local environmental, educational, amenity or other appropriate registered, not for profit initiatives within the area of benefit which are consistent with the principles of environmental, sustainability, energy efficiency, conservation and social sustainability. The recipient of funds shall not own, have a commercial interest or derive any commercial / personal financial benefit from the project.