WESTERN Isles Development Trust (WIDT) has agreed to work with Lewis and Harris and Uist and Barra sports councils to distribute the £60,000 donated to the WIDT by Transocean following the Trans-ocean Winner oil rig incident near Dalbeg, Lewis, last year.
The fund will be used to help young people and others in education who apply for support to allow them to access and participate in sporting events where the financial consequences of participating in such events may otherwise prove to be a deterrent.
The sports councils will be responsible for inviting and processing applications for funding under their own terms and conditions. The use of the fund will be kept under review by the WIDT. A total of £15,000 of the fund is to be transferred to the sports councils – £10,000 to Lewis and Harris Sports Council and £5,000 to the Uist and Barra Sports Council each year for two years and £7,500 split in the same proportions each year in the following two years. The WIDT will decide at a later date whether the balance of the fund should also be distributed through the sports councils.