A spate of applications from groups across the Isle of Harris secured almost £5,000 for the community from the local proceeds of the Western Isles Lifestyle Lottery.

The aid came to the rescue of villagers and visitors attending Leverburgh village hall who had been forced to cut their visits short due to the hall’s broken heating system, leaving it too cold for use during the winter months.

It is a popular community facility and the committee are actively sourcing funding to install a new infra-red heating system. However, numerous groups needed to make use of the building in the immediate term and a temporary space heater was needed.

Morris Macleod of the Leverburgh Hall Committee said, “Thanks to a £400 grant from Western Isles Lottery, South Harris Bowling Club can now utilise the hall each week until the end of March 2025. Membership of the Club was declining due to the cold facilities and it is hoped it will now increase again.  An Lanntair can again use the space for children’s workshops and a local wedding was able to go ahead as was a successful Craft Fair.  Leverhulme Memorial School Centenary Celebration Ceilidh Dance can now go ahead as can an RNLI fundraising dance prior to New Year”.

In addition, a grant of £370 was awarded towards the North Harris Firework display event in October.

A grant of £1,000 was awarded to the upgrade of the Leverburgh Christmas lights again this year. The Switch-On Event was well attended and the village hall was utilised to its full capacity.

A grant of £1,000 was also awarded for the upgrade of the Tarbert village Christmas lights which are making a significant difference to the locality. Chris Sutton, organiser of the lights and Switch-On Event said “We are all very grateful to the local Lottery Team for this important funding every year”.

In a separate scheme, throughout the summer Jocelyn Wardrobe and Tania Macleod have been hard at work at successfully re-establishing the Tarbert In Bloom project. Remarkably, they have extended their remit to include the ongoing cleaning and tidying up around the whole village, encouraging local volunteers to become involved and liaising with local councillors to spruce up the area. They are enthusiastically continuing their efforts and, to date, awards of £2,285 have been secured from the Western Isles Lottery funds.

Jocelyn said: “Without Western Isles Lottery Funding ‘Tarbert in Bloom’ would never have been able to achieve all we did in our first year. Without hesitation we were awarded funding to replant 25 pots with spring bulbs. They provided such a colourful display throughout the spring in Tarbert, which then became summer planting to carry them right through to October.

"Another major funding project was the purchase and planting of 25 hanging baskets which hadn’t been seen in the village for many years. They were much admired by locals and tourists alike. The support that Western Isles Lottery has given us has inspired us to continue, and we are very much looking forward to 2025 and the chance to make Tarbert bloom once more."

Current applications approved include the request for the cost of Pickleball equipment. Borrowed equipment allowed for a successful trial with a regular turn out of ages ranging from 6 to 70 plus. The Leverburgh village hall committee aim to set up a day-time seniors group and an evening group for juniors and adults. Kenny MacLeod of the committee said “This would also be a new activity for tourists”.

In addition, Tarbert’s indoor bowling club are in dire need of a new bowling carpet and have applied for funds to purchase one.

Janet Paterson of the Western Isles Lottery said: “We are delighted that there continues to be a number of supporters in the Harris area who have made these improvements possible. The proceeds of every ticket purchased with a Harris postcode gets returned directly to the Harris area each month so, the more who join in, the more funding that becomes available. Smaller projects such as these make such a difference to a community and we are delighted to be able to support all these applications.

To join the local Western Isles Lottery, simply log onto www.westernisleslottery.co.uk or for those who maybe do not have access to the internet, you can contact the Support Line on 0300 30 20 444 (local rate applies) and an assistant will help you.

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