Windfarm fund pays out

TEN community organisations in Galloway have been awarded over £80,000 from the Glenkens and District Community Fund.

The fund is provided by Blackcraig Wind Farm and Greencoat from its Windy Rig Wind Farm, and is administered by Foundation Scotland.

In the latest round of grants, Loch Ken Trust received £8000 towards the salary of its community ranger service and an additional £13,943 to support its water safety programme for three years.

Meanwhile, the Galloway Fisheries Trust was awarded £15,000 to support its “Habitable Headwaters” project, to enhance the climate resilience of the Urr Water by planting native hardwood trees around the upper River Urr and removing non-native Sitka spruce.

Crossmichael and District Community Council was awarded a grant of £2472 to purchase a container to provide a secure and waterproof place to store the village’s flood management equipment.

The trust also made several awards to organisations which support young people and families: £10,000 was awarded to Local Initiatives in New Galloway (LING) for the upgrading of accessible play facilities; and £4818 to Crossmichael Primary Parent Council. Springholm Playgroup received £620 to purchase tablets for nursery attendees and Glenkens Community and Arts Trust Limited received £17,646 to support the ‘CatStrand Young Creatives programme.

Other awards included £3423 to the ROKPA Trust towards the costs of improving its facilities at Lothlorien and Moniaive Folk Festival received £4150 as a contribution towards the costs of holding the 2026 festival.

Commenting on the latest round of funding awards, chair of the Glenkens and District Trust, Fiona Smith, said: “Once again we were delighted with the range of applications from our hard-working community groups. We faced some difficult decisions due to the amount of funding available, and while we had to scale back some awards, we know that the impact the funded groups will make will benefit the whole community, across generations.”