Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell is encouraging constituents to take part in next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
However he doesn’t expect them to take part in track and field events, but in Celebrate, a joint scheme originated by the Scottish Lottery Distributor’s Forum.
It is offering funding for events and projects which celebrate Glasgow 2014 or that are inspired by Scottish links to the 71 nations and territories which make up the Commonwealth.
Now the four Scottish Lottery distributors, Big Lottery Fund, Creative Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund and sportscotland have come together and created Celebrate – to offer Lottery funding support to communities across Scotland as they celebrate and are inspired by this landmark event.
Celebrate has a budget of £4 million and will make grants from £500 to £10,000 to communities across Scotland to come together to hold arts, heritage, sports and local community celebrations of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Celebrate will also support communities to celebrate the diversity of the Commonwealth and create a legacy of community and Commonwealth connections.
The application form can be found on the Celebrate website at www.celebrateit.org.uk/
Local MP David Mundell said: “Next year’s Commonwealth Games will put Scotland on the international sporting map and with it many exciting opportunities. Celebrate is just one of those and I hope communities across my constituency will be able to take advantage of this fund to hold their own celebrations for next year’s Games.
“I would strongly encourage people to get involved and start planning now as this is a great opportunity to find funding for the sorts of community events people are well versed in holding locally. The Olympics showed there is a great interest and appetite in this part of the world for getting the whole community involved in these kinds of events and I know that local people really appreciate the hard work individuals put in to organise these kinds of celebrations.”