SMUHA galley shed among funding winners

SOUTH Mainland Up Helly Aa has received £15,000 to put towards the construction of a new galley shed after winning votes at a south mainland participatory budgeting event at the weekend.

The cash-strapped Cunningsburgh Village Club also received a much-needed boost of £11,180 to put towards a new heating system and re-wiring.

Disability Shetland was the the other winner, bagging nearly £4,000 to buy an all-terrain wheelchair for use in the south mainland.

The Shet£and South Decides event took place at the Cunningsburgh Hall on Saturday, with £30,000 up for grabs from Scottish Community Choices Fund.

It was organised by the three south mainland community councils, with over 20 groups and organisations vying for the funding.

Nearly 500 people came along and voted for the three projects they thought deserved a slice of the funding.

One of the organisers Pat Christie said: “We found that the market stall style event is far less daunting for groups and meant that the public had a chance to ask questions and speak to those involved.

“There was a real buzz in the hall and our feedback showed us that a lot of people were swayed in their voting choices after having spoken to some of the groups.”

Kerry Geddes, clerk at Gulberwick, Quarff and Cunningsburgh Community Council, said she “would have liked to have seen the money spaced out more so that as many groups as possible could benefit because all the projects were so good”.

“But I am hoping that by attending on Saturday then all groups will have had a chance to get their message out and perhaps have started conversations that could lead to different funding opportunities,” she continued.

Dunrossness community councillor Raymond Mainland added: “The groups all put a lot of work in to their bids and they had obviously done a lot of lobbying as there was people of all ages and from all parts of the community there.”