Fight to restore historic paddle steamer boosted by £122,000 grants
THE paddle steamer Maid Of The Loch has been awarded grants worth £122,000.
The funding from Forth Valley & Lomond Leader and Scottish Enterprise will pay for project management support in the final stages of developments and fundraising for the £5.5 million project to return the historic steamship to operational condition on Loch Lomond.
Leader is a European grant scheme with addiwill tional funding from the Scottish Government
John Beveridge, chairman of the Loch Lomond Steamship Company, the charity that looks after the Maid, said: “Expertise is required to produce further structural calculations and drawings for the Maid’s refit, obtain the planning requirements for the waiting facilities on Balloch Pier, prepare a procurement strategy and make a start on drawing up tender documents.
“Leader and Scottish Enterprise have also agreed to fund a post that develop and expand our social media presence. To have two public bodies supporting our project is really good news for us.
“It shows our plans are on course and have the backing of recognised authorities.”
Julian Pace, Rural director at Scottish Enterprise, added: “We are delighted to support, along with Leader, the development proposals, for it is recognised a fully restored Maid Of The Loch would be a key tourism asset, not just for Loch Lomond, but for the rest of rural Scotland for future generations to come.”
The Maid Of The Loch project has raised £4.5m, which is more than 80 per cent towards the total.
Mr Beveridge added: “Our supporters are very excited we are now so close to getting this beautiful lady sailing again”.