Hi everyone, in our last post, we said we were picking ourselves up to re-focus and re-submit to the Scottish Land Fund. And WE HAVE DONE IT, first making the deadline of 9 June for submission, then working with our Scottish Land Fund case officer to refine our budget and provide extra information. The completed case officer's report is now in the hands of the commissioners for a decision in a month's time. We should hear by Mid September if our hard work has paid off!
What's new: we teamed up with our local entrepreneur for design a modest eco-cabin to be placed on the church grounds to provide the revenue we will be needing for the project (see picture above). Our offer is now including a lot more about climate literacy in our heritage strategy. drawing on Eigg’s internationally recognised renewable energy grid—a symbol of self-sufficiency and ecological responsibility. We have been discussing setting a new "green pilgrimage" concept around the historical figure of St Donnan with the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum. And we have been working with BARD architects on a new design for the church - more ambitious in the scope of the building and site usage, including a stand alone archive. See our new plans on our front page!
What we are now asking the Scottish Land Fund, is the price of the acquisition of the building and surrounding land, together with the cost of bringing water, setting out a no-electricity biorock foul water treatment system, and a vehicular access track on the north boundary together with a small disabled car park area. This will allow us to do all the preparatory work for the repair and extension phase to set up the Solas Eige centre in 2026 and 2027, hopefully completing the work in time for the 30th anniversary of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust!
In the meantime, St Columba's church is being successfully used for this year's exhibition: "Eigg, a very special landscape" and we are continuing with our fundraising with a variety of activities!
