Grant funding for Lewis projects 16/2/13
Lewis and Harris Auction Mart and Macaulay College will be embarking on new projects
this year thanks to grants from the Lewis Endowment Fund.
The mart will receive funding towards additional pens for 1000 sheep and up to 50
cattle.
Macaulay College will use their grant to start a new project – Back to Roots – which
will see their members growing fruit and vegetables to complement other activities.
The college is receiving support to buy polytunnels and windbreaks to grow a wide
variety of produce.
The Lewis Endowment Fund was established by the late Thomas Basset Macaulay who founded
Aberdeen’s Macaulay Land Use Research Institute; now the James Hutton Institute.
It makes annual grant awards to projects that will benefit Lewis, particularly the
development of agriculture and other land-based enterprises.
Professor Robin Pakeman, who manages the fund on behalf of the James Hutton Institute,
said: “We believe that the Fund can contribute significantly to crofting and other
groups on Lewis. There is a space for the Fund in contributing to the early stage
of projects to help get them off the ground or to provide facilities that would be
difficult to fund from other sources.”