A project building towards the centenary commemorations of a maritime disaster off Lewis has received grant funding.
The Admiralty Yacht Iolaire sank after hitting rocks near Stornoway Harbour on New Year’s Day in 1919.
A total of 205 lives were lost – of whom 181 were islanders returning home from World War I.
Stornoway Amenity Trust is organising a series of events under the banner of the Iolaire Memorial Project to build towards the centenary of the disaster.
The group has now been granted £8,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fun through their World War I Then and Now programme.
The commemoration will include a permanent memorial in Carn Gardens in Stornoway, a ceremony marking the opening of the meorial and a film.
It is being developed to preserve the memories and heritage of the disaster and the Western Isles’ part in World War I.
The project will work in partnership with Lewis’s main school The Nicolson Institute and the Stornoway Historical Society.
Tony Robson of the Stornoway Amenity Trust said: “The Stornoway Amenity Trust is delighted to be working closely with pupils from The Nicolson Institute and to offer the opportunity for pupils to learn more about the Iolaire Disaster and contribute significantly to the commemoration of an event that is rooted in their local history and, in some cases, their ancestry.”
“This will be a year-long project ending in February 2018. The outputs of the project will be shared as widely as possible in the Western Isles and online.”
Lucy Casot, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, said “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching every corner of the UK.
“Since April 2010, the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded over £70million to more than 1,300 projects – large and small – that are marking this global Centenary; with our small grants programme, we are enabling even more communities like those involved in The Iolaire Memorial Project to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”
A memorial to the disaster was erected in 1958 at Holm close to where the ship sank.
A pillar also sticks out of the water at the site of the wreck.
The victims of the disaster are remembered alongside islanders who lost their lives in both world wars at the Lewis War Memorial in Stornoway.