Community groups and projects received a huge boost as £5.6 million of National Lottery funding was distributed across Scotland.
Nationwide, 257 groups will benefit from a share of the National Lottery Community Fund’s latest payout today.
Among the country’s biggest beneficiaries is the Dornoch Area Community Interest Company (DACIC), which received £65,000.
The bumper sum will go towards refurbishment works and the setting up of a programme of community activities, including a community transport scheme at the Dornoch Hub.
DACIC chairwoman Joan Bishop said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding from The National Lottery.
“This provides ‘the last brick in the wall’ funding to allow us to start work on the refurbishment of the redundant Dornoch Police Station into a community, creative and business hub.
“The work is due to start later this month and be completed by the end of January 2021.
“We will also now be able to appoint a community activities co-ordinator and set up a youth club, after-school coding club, healthy eating and cookery workshops, and dementia-friendly art and craft sessions – thus ensuring the community benefits from the new facilities at the Dornoch Hub from day one.”
In Aberdeen, a handful of groups shared £30,000, including LGBT support group Four Pillars, which receives £10,000.
The money will help the organisation support the city’s LGBT community through the current difficult period, with an emphasis on befriending services and the provision of supplies to help the most vulnerable.
Beneficiaries in Aberdeenshire included the Princess Royal Sports and Community Trust in Banff, which received £9,554 towards the repainting of their community sports facility to create a more welcoming environment.
Meanwhile in Moray, the Moray School Bank, a group of volunteers who help provide new school uniforms and warm winter clothing to children living in financial hardship in the region, received £10,000.
