Heriot Community Fund secures future of Heriot Country Kids
Greencoat Carcant Wind Farm (Heriot) Community Fund secures future of Heriot Country Kids, an after school club providing an essential service to a rural community
Heriot Country Kids (HCK), a volunteer-led charity, provides essential wraparound care for children in Heriot, Stow and Fountainhall, contributing to both the viability of Heriot Primary School and the sustainability of the wider Heriot community. A local parent said:
“I don’t know what we’d do without after school club. My wife couldn’t work, which would leave her without work and us trying to manage on one salary at this time when costs are rising.”
HCK offers children a safe and nurturing environment, where they can make new friends from the wider area, as well as having lots of fun. After School Club staff encourage emotional and social development, creativity and imagination and get kids outdoors and active. In this remote rural community, with no other viable childcare options, a parent highlighted the importance of the Club to them and their children:
"… we are such a rural community, no accessible bus service and a single track road joining the village with the outlying communities and school, that for kids living in Heriot, beautiful as is it, they can be quite isolated from each other. Kids living in our rural community, through access to the club, are provided with a really important opportunity to socialise outside of the formal school day.”
A grant of £30,000 over three years from the Greencoat Carcant Wind Farm (Heriot) Community Fund also allows HCK to continue its important role in contributing to wider life of the Heriot area. The Club organises the annual Heriot Bonfire & Fireworks night, which attracted 500 local residents from Heriot and other villages in the Gala Water valley last year. The Club are also looking forward to working on the Heriot Community Garden project this summer.
Greencoat Wind UK provides an index-linked amount of £9,200 each year for the Heriot area as a community benefit from the nearby Carcant wind farm. Constituted and not-for-profit groups can apply for up to £10,000 for projects and activities which benefit people in the Heriot area. The Heriot Community Fund Panel knows the local area, and the local priorities and makes sure that the fund contributes as much as possible to community life:
“Greencoat Carcant Wind Farm (Heriot) Community Fund exists to encourage community activity, promote community spirit and build community cohesion. Fund panel members, who are themselves members of the local community, saw the value in helping to preserve the essential service offered to local children and families by Heriot Country Kids. Other groups operating in the Heriot community area who would like to apply for funding are encouraged to get in touch with Foundation Scotland, who will advise on fund priorities and the application process.”
Lindsay Coulton, Community Funds Adviser, Foundation Scotland
The next application deadline for the Heriot Community Fund Round is 2nd October 2022. Full details can be found on the Heriot fund page.