Get bids in and you could be in the money too, says Hawick youth centre

Sian Snowdon from Escape Youth Services in Hawick encourages people to get their applications in for the localities bid fund by the February 28 deadline.

Escape Youth Services was awarded £8,000 in the first round of the scheme to install a climbing wall for young people in the town to use.

Sian Snowdon, manager of the Havelock Street youth cafe, said: “We applied for £8,000 for a traverse climbing wall, and we were awarded the full amount.

“We added a bit of our own funds to top that up, and we got an exciting new wall to put in our games hall for the young people to utilise.

“I’d encourage other groups and individuals to give it a go and apply.

“It’s a pretty straightforward process and can obviously fund some exciting projects to improve local communities.”

Applications for shares in this year’s £296,000 kitty are being accepted until 5pm on Thursday, February 28.

An assessment panel will meet to look at the applications submitted, and those deemed to tick all the right boxes will then be put to a public vote.

Councillors recently approved an updated version of the scheme, relaxing its entry criteria.

Changes include that the fund will no longer be restricted to new projects, the cap for constituted groups has been raised from £10,000 to £15,000, staffing costs of 50% of the worth of the total application will now be considered and plans involving structural changes to buildings are eligible.

For further details, go to www.scotborders.gov.uk/localitiesbidfund