Alloway Railway Tunnel receives donation from National Lottery Community Fund
The Alloway Railway Tunnel Project has been awarded a further £12,610 thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund
The funding will be used to transform the dilapidated, graffitied old tunnel into a vibrant, safe space enjoyed by Ayrshire's community.
It comes after they were gifted £25,000 from the People’s Postcode Trust in June last year.
After hearing about the additional funding, Shelagh McLachlan, trustee of the Alloway Railway Tunnel told West FM, “We were absolutely delighted. It will have such an impact on our project.”
“It will enable us to keep going and roll out all the plans we’ve got for 2024.”
The funding will have a major impact on the success of the project to transform the Alloway Railway Tunnel from a dilapidated tunnel that was defaced with graffiti into a safe, inspiring place, with a beautiful hand painted mural by one of the UK’s top muralists and visionaries, Chris Rutterford.
Ron Ireland, Chair of the Alloway Railway Tunnel charity, said “We are delighted to receive this fantastic level of funding raised by the players of the National Lottery.”
“The feedback we received was amazing! They loved our project and thought it was interesting, exciting and a really valuable asset for our community.”
“We are keen to involve the community as much as possible and we’ve been working with a variety of groups to organise outreach mural art workshops in their local communities across Ayrshire.”
“We will also be offering the community another opportunity to paint alongside Chris Rutterford, with more public sessions scheduled for the ‘Cutty Sark’ in Ayr, in September. The work generated from these workshops will be incorporated into the mural.”
“Chris will be visiting some Ayrshire secondary schools to work with pupils in S3 studying for their Nat 5 Art and Design qualifications and helping them to learn new skills in mural painting.
“The funding will also help us to create some short heritage films that will be accessed via QR codes on the mural, enabling visitors to interact digitally and get more information about Ayrshires vibrant history.
“Finally, we have plans for some community activities including guided walks starting at the tunnel in the springtime.
“It’s an exciting stage of the project and this new injection of funding will help us connect with more people and communities and ultimately boost local prosperity.”
Great progress has already been made in the tunnel with cleaning, painting and preparing the tunnel walls. Work on the mural off site has also moved forward with the first hanging of the mural due to take place in March.
Chris Rutterford, Muralist said, “I’m really chuffed with how the mural is growing and grateful to the National Lottery for showing faith in our project and letting us take it further forward."
“The public workshops we held in the Robert Burns Cottage last September were incredibly productive.”
“Since then, I’ve been beavering away in the studio to frame the community murals we made with a gallery of spectacular feature elements. Can’t wait to unveil the first section of this groundbreaking mural in all its glory!”
The first section of the tunnel is set to be revealed between the 14-15 March 2024.