Point FC to get new stand

Sport and recreation on Lewis have received a boost with the news that Point Football Club have raised the money for a new stand at their Garrabost ground, in time for the coming season.

Point FC, who won the league last year and came second this year after losing to Westside in the play-off, are about to order a new 100-seater stand from a company in Sussex after receiving a £20,000 donation for the capital project from community wind farm charity Point and Sandwick Trust (PST) and another £20,000 from the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund.

The stand costs £37,000 and the project will cost more than £40,000 once groundworks have been included. The club will also be putting money towards it and are looking forward to having it in place for the 2020 football season, following building regulations approval, as a replacement for their current stand which is rusting badly and becoming a ‘health and safety issue’.

Iain MacSween is secretary of Point FC and Point Sport and Recreation Association, the charity formed 25 years ago to improve the old pitch and adjacent building.

He said the new stand would make a big difference to the Point FC experience – for players as well as supporters – and would complement the Ionad Stoodie community centre, next to the pitch.

‘After about 10 years of struggle we managed to get all the money together for what is Ionad Stoodie now. That was in 2007, as part of the improvements to the whole area.

As an afterthought, there was some money left over and we bought a 50-seater stand,’ he explained.

‘It was just a standard stand. It wasn’t galvanised which became a major problem over the years with the Lewis weather and lately we had to remove the sides from it and it was becoming a health and safety issue. It was rusting from inside. We knew it had to be replaced and we decided to go a bit bigger, take a step up, and first of all make sure the replacement would be galvanised.

‘We’ll obviously have to put some our own money in and we’ve got funding which will make the whole thing feasible.

The £20,000 cheque is handed over to Point FC. From left are, Roddy Munro, vice-chair of Point Sport and Recreation Association, Point manager Angus ‘Stoodie’ Mackay receiving the cheque from Point and Sandwick Trust board member Donald ‘Buck’ Macdonald, PST board members Catherine Anne Smith and Jane Watson, and former Point player Kenny Nicholson.