An Inverness-shire shinty club is hopeful that work on its long-awaited new clubhouse will start late in the summer.
Lovat Shinty Club has been raising funds towards redeveloping their ageing facilities for the past few years.
John MacRitchie, president of the Kiltarlity-based club, estimated yesterday that the club was 90% of the way towards having all funding in place.
Progress has been made elsewhere as the club has now advertised for a contractor to take on the construction of the new facility.
The club had set a target of £440,000 to build the new pavilion, with some of the money raised through a public appeal.
The remaining funding is subject to ongoing talks with various funding bodies.
Mr MacRitchie said: “We’re still progressing with getting the funding in place.
“We’re hoping to have everything in place so we can start the physical work, it’s a case of getting all our ducks in a row.
“Hopefully by the end of August we’ll be able to get started on the work, that’s what we’re aiming for.”
The fundraising campaign was kick-started by an anonymous donation by a Highland businessman worth £100,000.
However, Mr MacRitchie said it has been a long process to get the rest of the package in place.
He said: “It’s been a bit of a long struggle.
“I’ve said it before but it is now quite difficult to access this kind of funding nowadays.”
Lovat has enjoyed success on the pitch in recent years, including ending a 63-year wait by winning the sport’s most prestigious trophy, the Camanachd Cup, in 2015.
But its current pavilion is in extremely poor condition and cannot cope with the club’s expanding sporting and social offering.
It is hoped that new facilities could attract some of the sports’ cup competitions to the village, while the new pavilion would also be used for community purposes, with NHS Highland among those expressing an early interest in the facilities.
