Borders community projects share £62,000 handout from wind farm environment fund

Those payouts are being made as part of the £100,000 Covid-19 recovery grant programme launched by the fund in April, with almost £40,000 yet to be allocated.

Among the beneficiaries sharing that first round of grants totalling £62,632 are the Riding for the Disabled Association’s Borders group Riding for the Disabled near.

It’s been given £5,000 to pay for a path and hard-surfaced parking area to improve access at its base near Ancrum for children with complex needs and people in wheelchairs or with mobility issues so they can visit as spectators until lockdown laws are relaxed sufficiently to allow them to ride again.

Group trustee Susie Elliot said: “So many children and adults have been closed in for months and are anxious about going out.

“This Fallago environment fund grant will allow us to make a parking and outdoor seating area where participants can safely sit and chat while watching the horses.

“Their schools and therapists will be able to bring the children to a lovely outdoor location set up specially for them.

“This will be an ongoing legacy that we can build on for future activities for more children and adults with a disability in our community.”

A grant of £5,000 is also going to the Kalewater Community Company at Morebattle so it can buy a ride-on lawnmower and storage shed for use at its new community recreation area to encourage outdoor activities improving health and wellbeing and reducing social isolation.

A further £500 is to be spent in the village on floral displays by Morebattle in Bloom.

A Greener Melrose is being given £4,877 so it can resurface footpaths and level the parking area at the Drygrange community woodland, orchard and allotments, as well as providing rabbit-proof fencing.

Newlands Community Development Trust at Romannobridge has landed a handout of £4,760 to spend on work at the village primary school’s sports field including adding age-specific workout stations.

Burnfoot Community Futures at Hawick is getting £4,700 to cover the cost of adapting its community garden to incorporate social distancing and improve access for the disabled, as well as helping pay for staffing and equipment.

A community garden will also be spruced in Westruther using £4,992 awarded to the parish youth group there. That money will also be spent on improving foot and cycle paths around the village and to have five benches fitted as a tribute to key workers.

Five benches are also being bought by Darnick Village Development Trust, at a cost of £3,300, for use by picnickers and other visitors to the community woodland there.

Three further benches, two of them wheelchair-accessible ones for picnic use, are to be provided at Midlem Village Hall, using a grant of £1,975.

Jedburgh Golf Club’s grant of £3,943 will be spent on signage and overhauling its fairway lawnmower to enable it to improve access for walkers around the perimeter of the course.

Hawick Congregational Community Church’s payout of £2,620 will pay for a commercial dishwasher, personal protective equipment, sanitisers and deep cleansing to enable it to continue to provide affordable lunches for isolated townsfolk, many of them with disabilities and unable to manage alone.

Exceptional Parents, Incredible Children Peebleshire is to spend a grant of £1,991 on an electric cargo bike for use by up to four children with special needs at a time.

A further grant of £2,200 will pay for the provision of furniture and hanging baskets at the community garden at Tweedgreen in Peebles.

Other cheques are going to Lauderdale Cycling Club for £1,510, Yetholm Community Council for £500, Walkerburn Allotment Society for £546 and Innerleithen Community Trust for £750.

The 48-turbine Fallago Rig wind farm, supported by Roxburghe Estates, is run by Hermes Infrastructure and EDF Renewables, and its environment fund is administered by theorders-wide charity theBridge.

Fund chairman Gareth Baird said: “Covid-19 is having a huge impact on all our lives, but we have witnessed some truly heartwarming community spirit in the Borders since the crisis began.

“Through these grants, the Fallago environment fund hopes to help Borders community groups to reduce and repair the negative impact of social isolation and to improve wellbeing and quality of life right across the region.”

In Berwickshire, cheques are going to the Learning Space at Gavinton for £4,968, Eat, Sleep, Ride at Reston for £5,000, Eyemouth Community Council for £2,600 and Coldstream Gateway Association for £900.