Press Release
Over £40,000 to support community groups
The Council’s Grants Unit awarded £41,138 to 25 community groups between June and August this year.
In June the Unst and Yell Playschemes received £1,000 each towards the cost of running a range of summer activities for primary one to seven pupils. Both groups came together over six days to take part in a wide variety of fun away days, with the grant money helping to pay for activities and transport. At the Yell Leisure Centre, 60 kids were treated to a performance of the “Bell and Bullock Cabin Fever Show”. Captain Bullock and Polly, his permanently peckish, giant parrot, asked the children to join them on a quest for treasure, birdseed and romance. After the show the children divided up into groups to learn some circus skills, go for a swim in the pool and take part in craft activities based around the theme of pirates.
Youth Development Worker Lesley Gray, who helped to organise the events said:
“It is always exciting for the kids to go on a trip with their friends and get to experience something new. The theatre group that came up from south were great at getting everyone involved in the story and the circus skills were really popular.
“The grant money we are awarded allows us to put on these events, which are really good at keeping the children entertained during what can seem like a very long summer holiday.”
Two busloads of children were taken to the Voxter Open Day to enjoy a fun-filled day of crafts, treasure hunts and fishing, but it was the water slide that proved the biggest hit. “It was a struggle to get them off the water slide, they just loved it so much” said Mrs Gray. “The kids were also amazed at the peerie fish they were able to catch in their nets”.
31 children from the north isles also had the chance to go on a day away to Scalloway castle and pool. “This was another really successful day out. Some of the kids found the castle a bit “spooky”, but I think this only added to their enjoyment of the day”, said Mrs Gray.
“We do a lot of fundraising throughout the year, but the £1,000 grant money we received goes a long way to helping us to pay for trips like this. It is well needed to pay for the travel and accommodation costs that soon mount up with such a large group.”
Delting Football Club (Junior Section) received £2,000 to assist with the running costs of the club’s junior teams. Club Secretary Peter Peterson said “We have teams at every age group travelling to competitions across Shetland during the year, so transport is our biggest cost. As we want to encourage youngsters to take part, we try to keep player contributions as low as possible. We have done a lot of fundraising this past year and are using the community minibus as much as we can to cut our costs. But the support we get from the Council is very much appreciated and makes a huge difference for our club”.
Community groups can now apply online for grant aid assistance through the Council’s website:.
http://www.shetland.gov.uk/community/grantaid/