AN AWARD of £750,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Assets fund to Urras Coimhearsnachd Bhradhagair agus Arnoil (Bragar and Arnol Community Trust) has been welcomed by Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MSP Alasdair Allan.
The group plans to refurbish the former primary school in Bragar that closed in 2012 and was taken into community ownership in 2014.
The refurbished centre will include a café, kitchen, community space, exhibition space and a 10-bed hostel. It will help to improve the sustainability of the local economy, tackle social isolation and loneliness – particularly among older people – create employment opportunities, and help encourage young people to stay in the area and reverse the trend of falling population. The isles MSP has previously written in support of the project and met with the trust.