Boost for Islands’ history group thanks to local lottery

The Harris Historical Society group receive a much needed boost from the local lottery to help them achieve their aims.

Last August Kenny MacLeod, a local of Harris, contacted the local funding organisation with his aim to set up a new South Harris Historical Society (Comunn Eachdraidh ceann a deas na Hearadh).

In his application for funding, Kenny explained that many of the older generation in the area had passed, resulting in some of the historical record already being lost.

It was hoped that the new society could buck this trend and preserve the history for the future generations.

A plea went out on the new group’s Facebook page for old pictures, artifacts and stories from the South Harris area and the response has been fantastic.

However, without the necessary equipment to collate all the information being received and to hold various talks and events in the area, the project was stalled.

Janet Paterson of The Western Isles Lottery said: “The Lottery Team were delighted to present the Society with a cheque for £812.52 to cover the costs of a Laptop, external hard-drive and a TV/Display Screen to enable them to take their plans forward as quickly as possible.”

She added: “However, it must be noted that the funds were raised by supporters of the lottery in the Harris area, over just a few weeks, so it is credit to them for supporting their own area to make projects like this happen across the Isle of Harris.”

Kenny MacLeod, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Western Isles Lottery and its supporters for the fantastic sum of money raised.

“This will give the society the chance to purchase new equipment to help us archive and preserve a great deal of history, photographs and information for future generations, giving our youngsters a chance to learn about days gone by from the older generations, keeping our history alive and bringing the generations closer together.”

This brings the total raised by Supporters of the local Lottery in Harris to £8,200 which has now been redistributed back into the community.

To support your local community, you can join the Lottery at: www.westernisleslottery.co.uk

OR telephone their ticket line on 0300 30 20 444.