Muaitheabhal Community Trust awards £4,000 to St Clement's Lodge for centenary refurbishment

Muaitheabhal Community Trust (MCT) has awarded £4,000 to St Clement's Lodge in Tarbert, Isle of Harris, to support a refurbishment of the Lodge building as it marks its centenary this year.

Donnie Morrison (Muaitheabhal Community Trust) presents a cheque for £4,000 to the team at St Clement's Lodge, Tarbert

The building is used for Lodge business, but for many years it has also served as a community space, offered free of charge to local groups who might otherwise struggle to find somewhere to meet. The pipe band and local dancers are among the groups who regularly use the hall, alongside other community meetings and activities.

The building is an older one and has never had a full renovation, though it remains perfectly useable for the groups who rely on it. This project will refresh the building inside and out, and it is that continued use by the wider community, rather than the needs of Lodge members alone, that has driven the work.

Donnie Morrison, Board Member of Muaitheabhal Community Trust, presented the cheque to representatives of St Clement's Lodge.

Donnie Morrison said: "What stood out with this application was that St Clement's Lodge isn't just a Lodge building, it's a community space. Groups like the pipe band and local dancers use the hall free of charge, and it's that wider community use that made this such an easy grant to support."

Henry William MacInnes, on behalf of St Clement's Lodge, said: "This isn't just about the Lodge, it's about the groups who use the building week in, week out and never pay a penny to do so. The hall is an older building and has never had a full renovation, but it's always been perfectly useable, and this funding means we can make it a better space for the community for years to come."

The refurbishment project is expected to cost in the region of £8,000 in total, with Lodge members also giving their time to assist tradesmen with the work.