Celtic to help kick off Petrov’s foundation
Wind-farm schemes donate £5m a year
CELTIC are to host a charity match to raise money for a foundation set up by former player Stiliyan Petrov, who retired this year after a yearlong battle with leukaemia.
The 3 3 - year- o l d was diagnosed with the disease last March and has undergone intensive bouts of chemotherapy treatment.
He is now in remission but retired from playing in April and has set up a foundation to support people facing the same situation.
The match on September 8 will feature some of Petrov’s former Celtic teammates along with other football legends and celebrity fans.
The Bulgarian, who played for Celtic from 1999 to 2006 before joining Aston Villa, said: “I am absolutely delighted this game is going to take place at Celtic Park. It will be a wonderful start for my foundation and I am really happy to be coming back to a place where I spent seven brilliant years.”
The match is being organised by the Celtic Charity Fund with proceeds going to Petrov’s nominated charities and a range of local community projects. Tickets have gone on sale. COMMUNITIES across Scotland are now receiving £5 million a year from wind farm operators, industry leaders have revealed.
Scottish Renewables hailed as “fantastic” the news that local areas were receiving this level of funding – and this amount could be “much higher” in future.
Schemes linked to wind farms have resulted in the Biggar Museum Trust receiving £620,000 from the Clyde Wind Farm Community Fund, while a similar scheme gave £100,000 to restore the Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy.
A group in Dunkeld and Birnam that supports locals to grow organic food received £13,000, and the Causeymire Wind Farm in Caithness gave funding to the Halkrik Playgroup and Toddler Group.
Scottish Renewables encourages every wind-farm developer to provide a benefit – via a cash grant or other means – to the local area.
The amount being paid out has now topped £5m a year
Joss Blamire, senior policy manager for Scottish Renewables, said: “It’s fantastic to see that onshore wind developers are working directly with communities to provide local causes in Scotland with more than £5m in voluntary funding every year.
“We believe this figure will be muchhigher as we encourage every developer to sign upschemes and newschemes become operational.”
Lang Banks, of environmental charity WWF Scotland, said: “It’s fantastic news that so many communities are already benefiting from Scotland’s rich renewable energy resource.”