The Isle of Luing’s Atlantic Islands Centre project secured match funding of £754,900 from the Big Lottery Fund in the last couple of weeks.
Now it is getting down to the business of raising £60,000 of the match funding it needs.
The Isle of Luing Community Trust has launched an appeal that seems to have accelerated away from the starting line.
The Buy A Slate Appeal has, in a single week, received donations of over £4,000 from residents of the island. One has donated 1,000 West Highland slates which will be used to roof the Centre.
Everyone who Buys A Slate for £5 will have their name inscribed on it and entered on the Slate Roll of Honour which will be displayed in the Centre.
Donations can be made in cash, by cheque, BACS transfer, or online on the Trust website; or on the new Atlantic Islands Centre Facebook Page.
The appeal is already popular online with people buying slates for members of their family.
A Concert for the Centre with many local singers and musicians taking part is to be held on Saturday 23rd June in Cullipool Hall. This will be the first of a variety of fund raising events being planned for the Centre.
Norman Bissell, Vice-Chair of the Trust, says: ‘The Big Lottery funding of over £0.75 million is a huge vote of confidence in the Trust, in the people of Luing and in our ability and determination to build a sustainable future for the whole community.
‘It will enable us to provide facilities for islanders and visitors which we have never had before. It’s now up to us to raise the rest of the funding and we are greatly encouraged by the response we have had so far. Let’s keep it going.’
Note: The Atlantic Islands Centre will provide welcome facilities for residents and visitors, including a café restaurant, a heritage gallery, an arts and crafts shop and exhibition space, work spaces, and a community hub with modern ICT facilities for learning and leisure. It will also provide jobs, training and volunteering opportunities which will help welcome visitors to this lovely and historic slate island.