Lockerbie’s Hallmuir Ukrainian Chapel has been awarded a grant of greater than £50,000 by South of Scotland Enterprise.
The funding will probably be used to pay for very important repairs to the grade-B listed constructing and make landscaping enhancements.
It should additionally assist to develop a small customer centre and lift the profile of the location, with work being undertaken in collaboration with the South of Scotland Vacation spot Alliance.
Mike Ostapko, a consultant from Hallmuir, stated: “It has been an extended course of to get to the place we're at the moment, and we have now confronted a number of unprecedented challenges alongside the best way.
“Closing our doorways to guests through the pandemic made fundraising notably troublesome, however we knew we couldn’t hand over on such an vital pillar of our native Ukrainian neighborhood in Dumfriesshire. We're happy to have now obtained funding from SOSE to get restore work underneath strategy to restore the chapel.
“It has proved a essential location for assortment of donations through the ongoing Ukraine battle and we hope it can proceed to be an vital venue for years to return.”
The chapel has been present process repairs and developments in phases since 2018, however progress has been hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic and a sequence of winter storms.
It didn't qualify for any authorities grants or subsidies, which left the chapel lower than midway in the direction of its goal of £80,000 final summer time.
Nonetheless, in October 2021, Mike together with different representatives approached the enterprise company and secured a grant for £52,777.
Its chairman, Professor Russel Griggs, stated: “Supporting community-led initiatives just like the Hallmuir Ukrainian Chapel is as vital to SOSE as supporting companies.
“The chapel is an asset to the native Lockerbie neighborhood, and it's important that we do all the pieces we will to assist protect buildings resembling this, that are steeped in historical past and serve a vital function to the those that use them.
“Our funding will assist to make sure the protection and longevity of the constructing in order that it stays a key a part of the area people for years to return.”
The constructing was first re-purposed as a chapel by Ukrainian prisoners of conflict after WW11 when greater than 400 Ukrainian troopers have been despatched to work on close by farms and in forestry.
It has remained a venue of nice significance through the years to the numerous Ukrainians who selected to remain within the Dumfriesshire space after the conflict and nonetheless recurrently hosts church companies.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the chapel additionally turned a focus for gathering humanitarian support for these in want.
“This funding will allow the restoration of the chapel constructing and the opening of a customer centre so that folks can find out about their vital work and historical past.”