Welcome Hosts initiative £3k funding gap plugged

Hawick's Welcome Hosts greet visitors to the town.

A £3,000 funding gap for an initiative which has welcomed thousands of visitors to Hawick was plugged this week.

Hawick Welcome Hosts greet visitors to the town over the summer months and encourage them to stay longer and see more – boosting the town’s economic well-being in the process.

The cost of the Welcome Hosts scheme is £20k a year and organisers Future Hawick this year raised £16k through its own devices.

It had been hoped a £4k application to the council’s Neighbourhood Support Fund would cover the rest but in the end only £1k was granted.

This week, Derick Tait, of Future Hawick, made an application to Hawick Common Good Sub-Committee to cover the remaining £3k.

He said: “This year has been as successful as previous years. We are currently standing at just under 3,000 visitors to the town welcomed so far since the beginning of June. If we are to continue to September we are £3,000 short.”

Hawick and Hermitage councillor Watson McAteer expressed support for the application saying it was “money well spent” but suggested that in future it would be “beneficial” for a around-the-table discussion on future funding applications.