Community groups in Lochaber will be able to provide vital services and support for thousands of local people thanks to National Lottery funding.
The latest round of funding from the National Lottery Community Fund will benefit 303 projects across Scotland who will share £7,690,005.
One project to receive an award of £5,472 is Shopmobility Lochaber.
The Fort William-based group provides free hire of wheelchairs and scooters to disabled and mobility challenged individuals living in and around the most rural parts of Lochaber.
This vital service ensures they have the freedom and ability to go out as and when they please without having to rely on friends and relatives.
Sixty-eight-year-old Billy Adamson from Ballachulish has used this vital service for over 17 years.
Billy had one leg amputated below the knee in 2001 and the other in 2006 and since then, he has used Shopmobility to access shops, restaurants, the hospital and medical centre in Fort William.
While Billy is able to walk, without the use of a mobility scooter he cannot access all the places he needs to go in the time that he has available before catching the limited bus service home.
Billy said: “When my occupational therapist told me about Shopmobility Lochaber, I wasn’t sure at first.
“But I soon found out how much my life would change because of the crew at Shopmobility. Without them my life would be dull, and I’d be stuck in the house all the time.
“In 2017 one of my lungs took a fit so I need the scooters more and more. It’s great to know that I can go out anytime I wish, weather permitting, and come over to Fort William and use their scooters to do shopping, doctor’s appointments and fun.
“Shopmobility staff are very friendly and very helpful.”
Commenting on the recent funding, Julie Wileman, project coordinator, Shopmability Lochaber said: “We have been very lucky with our grant awards and we would not have been able to continue operating without this grant and other forms of support.
“We cannot thank the board members and staff enough for everything they do for local grassroot voluntary organisations, within the Highlands.”
Another project to benefit from the latest funding round is Knoydart Farm.
Often called “Scotland’s last wilderness”, Knoydart is a peninsular with no road access. This means that all food is bought in on a small boats and is vulnerable to pricing premiums as well as delays from bad weather.
The farm aims to produce healthy, affordable food for the isolated rural community of 100 people and has received £5,880 in funding to help them towards this goal.
Benjamin Nunn, project coordinator, Knoydart Farm said: “Knoydart is over reliant on the food logistics chain that flows and ends up at Mallaig – before then making an extra hop over here.
“Couple this with growing awareness of chemically-grown fruit and veg, and the carbon footprint of bringing produce all this way then sending the waste back over on the ferry, it wasn’t the hardest thing to see that Knodyart could benefit from locally produced, organic, healthy food. And so, the idea of Knoydart Farm was born.
“The funding has allowed us to build a very large polytunnel that will kick start our community vegetable growing project.
“This means that next year our residents and visitors can start eating affordable fresh and healthy food grown here in Knoydart, rather than relying on food imported from off the peninsular that comes at a price premium and is often not fresh.”
The volunteers plan to grow their first crops for sale in the village shop for locals and tourists.
The farm’s youngest volunteer is two-year-old Dillon. Dillon doesn’t speak much yet but when asked about the project he said: “I wanna play spades,” which according to his father means digging down at the farm.
The National Lottery Community Fund distributes funding on behalf of National Lottery players who raise more than £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK.
A full list of projects is available at www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk