Sultan was so generous
Trustees and users of a community venue in Hamilton have paid tribute to the Sultan of Oman following his death earlier this month.
The tenth-richest royal in the world, whose wealth was estimated at $700m, made a donation to the town’s St Mary’s Church for a restoration project.
St Mary’s For All is within the Auchingramont Road church and the Sultan contributed £25,000 to a fundraising appeal that developed the old premises into a modern venue with a coffee shop, hall, meeting rooms and social spaces.
The gift in 2015 came about as a result of the sultan having previously served in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and the regiment’s historic link to Hamilton.
St Mary’s Episcopal Church was, in fact, originally built to cater mainly for Cameronians officers from England and their families who were based at the barracks, which used to stand on Bothwell Road.
Chair of the St Mary’s For All Trust (SMFA), Alison Plummer, said: “We knew of Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said’s association with the Cameronians, and during the fundraising campaign to establish SMFA we wrote to him to ask if he would be interested in sponsoring part of the project to preserve regimental artefacts on display at St Mary’s.
“It was a highly speculative request but as it turned out the sultan retained a great fondness for the regiment, and through the Embassy of Oman in London arranged his generous donation to our appeal.
“It was with sadness that we heard of his death on January 11 and would like to take this opportunity to highlight his, perhaps surprising, contribution to preserving our unique piece of Hamilton history and creating our modern, vibrant community venue.”
St Mary’s For All officially opened in November 2015 and is now home to a wide range of community organisations and groups and offers venue space for social events, conferences and meetings.
The Arab world’s longestserving ruler, who had a reputation for quiet diplomacy, died at the age of 79 on Saturday, January 11.