Cash for projects to help families and Coupar’sY Hall

A Coupar Angus community group is celebrating after having been awarded two substantial grants that will support a pair of projects.

The first award is for £4860 and will fund the establishment of a ‘cub hub’ that will support parents and young families with children aged from newborn babies up to eight-years-old.

The year-long project came about after young mums in the town said that there weren’t any groups available for them in the area.

The group will meet from 1.305.30pm on Tuesdays in the Y Hall on Union Street and is open to mums, dads, grandparents, carers and guardians.

The early part of the afternoon will be for pre-school children, before there is a short break while parents collect their older children from school.

The group then meets again to allow parents to enjoy some one-to-one time with their older children.

Up to eight families at a time can take part and the group will meet throughout the school holidays.

The initiative is free and although a project worker, Susana Damiao, has been appointed, it will be up to the families involved to decide what activities they would like to take part in each week.

The second grant is for £9850, which will go towards developing the Y Hall as a community centre for local people.

The cash boost will enable Coupar Angus Youth Activities Group (CAYAG) to pay for a project worker to look at how the B-listed building can be utilised for community use and what work needs to be carried out.

According to a spokesperson for the group, various surveys and reports - including conservation statements, an options analysis, a stone analysis and a structural engineering report - need to be carried out in order to determine the best way forward.

CAYAG’s Saranne Davies explained: “That work will tell us how much work needs to be done and how much it will cost to get the building renovated.”

She added: “We very much welcome these grants and we are thrilled to be supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

“We are really looking forward to starting some new groups in the town that will benefit the community that lives here.”

Local MP Pete Wishart said: “CAYAG received a grant of nearly the maximum £10,000 which Awards for All Scotland can make.

“The grant will be used to improve and develop the building this fantastic organisation uses to support the great work they do with local people.”