Sent in by Caroline Brown of the Annan Harbour Action Group
Annan Harbour Action Group has been going just 3 years but already has made big changes down at Annan Harbour. We are now wanting to dredge the harbour and are looking for community support.
So we are going for Crowdfunding. This is a new idea, going for small donations from lots of people . Our target is £6,000 by 25 June 2014. And by demonstrating the support of the community, it makes it easier to get further grant funding. We have been given £22,500 from the European Union Fisheries Local Action Group and we have to find the same again, to cover the costs.
Support through the Crowdfunder makes it easier to make our case to larger funders. They will be more confident, when they know we have the support of the local community. Donations start at £6, so just a little can go a long way.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/AnnanHarbour/
If we make our target, or if we get more than the £6,000, we keep it all. If we don’t get our target, we get nothing. So it makes us work really hard to try to get the message out. Everyone who gives passes the link to their friends and contacts and asks for their support too. And that way, the project is seen by more and more people.
We have been very busy and active since we started just 3 years ago. We are about to run our 4th Annan Harbour Festival on 17 May starting at 11am. It is a great day, with boats sailing in from the Solway and Silloth Lifeboat and Nith Inshore Rescue in their rapid RIBs. This year as well as the stalls and music and the childrens activities, a Coastal Rowing competition will take place for the first time on the Solway.
The Group has built a St Ayles Skiff, the design used by Scottish Coastal Rowing Association, which manages rowing races across Scotland.
We also installed a slipway, so that boats can launch from Annan, which has good access from the M6, M74 and A75.
We are looking to clear the harbour of about a metre of silt so we can use the harbour for all kinds of leisure activities, including dinghy sailing and training, canoeing and rowing.
Just a little from you and your friends and contacts, and we could make this happen
