It was a great start to 2018 for a North East community after winning an award from an energy company to insulate the community hall roof.

The award was made to Mintlaw Public Hall by NorthConnect, the developers behind an electricity superhighway connecting the north east and Norway. NorthConnect is investing £10,000 this year in thirteen projects from a popular community fund managed by Foundation Scotland, an independent Scottish grant-making charity.

Twenty applications to the fund were received in total, and Head of Permitting & Agreements, Richard Blanchfield said those that weren’t successful or didn’t manage to apply this time should not be despondent, as the NorthConnect Legacy Fund will run a second round of funding in 2018.

Mrs Joan Whyte, secretary to the Trustees of Mintlaw Public Hall commented: “We are delighted to receive this award. Our plan to improve the insulation at the Hall met the Fund priority of supporting sustainable energy use extremely well, and we hope that the work will reduce our electricity bill significantly.”

Richard Blanchfield added: “Applications to this round of funding totalled over £26,000 and I am delighted that the Fund Panel has been able to support thirteen of the applications, covering most parts of the Fund area of benefit as well as very different types of community activity. We hope that the awards made will have a lasting benefit for local people.”

The thirteen successful applicants were:

• Hatton Cruden School - £670 to purchase equipment in order to host a monthly Community Café at the school.
• Aberdeenshire Sailing Trust - £1,000 to contribute to the purchase of an outboard engine for a rescue boat.
• Peterhead Sea Cadets - £1,000 to contribute to the purchase of waterproof jackets for the cadets.
• Boddam Community Council - £1,255 to contribute to the cost of ground explorations to determine the necessary repairs and works required to improve drainage at two playing fields in Boddam.
• Crimond Community Centre - £500 to contribute to the cost of updating the kitchen facilities in the Centre.
• Boddam Primary School - £750 to fund health and wellbeing initiatives at the school across two years, including healthy snacks and visits from relevant experts.
• Mintlaw Academy Therapeutic Garden - £400 to contribute to the cost of installing secure fencing around the therapeutic garden.
• Hatton Area Residents Association - £500 to contribute to the cost of enhancing the play park with new equipment for younger children.
• Cruden Bay Community Association - £1,100 to introduce secure controlled access to Mill Park all weather pitches through digital locks and a website booking system.
• St Fergus Primary School Community Garden - £575 to help extend the community garden in order to promote a range of learning opportunities accessible to families year round.
• Make It Happen (Peterhead) - £550 to contribute to tutor costs and materials to enable the group to run its language cafe for a term.
• Longhaven School Parent Council - £500 to support participation by school pupils in the J Rock extracurricular event on 26 March 2018.

If given the go ahead, the strategically important NorthConnect interconnector will have a capacity of 1400MW, will be approximately 655km in length and will allow electricity to be traded between UK, Norway, and continental Europe. The interconnector will be routed from Simadalen in Norway, across the North Sea to Long Haven Bay, just south of Peterhead.