Drax sends funding power to Argyll projects

Grants will go to 48 organisations across the UK including 12 in Scotland with donations ranging from £750 to £2,000 for community-led projects that support STEM education and skills, promote safety and help the communities where these groups are based.

Some of the organisations receiving funding are based in Argyll and Bute, where Drax operates Cruachan Power Station.

Plans to build a new £500m underground pumped storage hydro plant at the site are gathering momentum. The project could support more than 1,100 jobs during construction while helping the UK grid achieve net zero.

One grant in Argyll and Bute is £2,000 to Taynuilt Primary School to help buy new equipment for lessons connected with science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Head teacher Berni McMillan said: “This funding will help us to provide valuable resources, ensuring we can further support our schoolchildren in science, engineering and other STEM subjects as part of their education and encourage them to become the STEM professionals of the future.”

Community-led group Adventure Oban will use its award to support a safer routes to school project encouraging walking and cycling. The funds will also help with software mapping costs. 

And the MacDougall of Dunollie Preservation Trust will use its grant at Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds to recruit a worker to help with its community engagement programme.

Scotland community manager for Drax Sarah Cameron said the grants from its Community Fund furthered Drax’s commitment "to being a good neighbour in the communities where we operate and will play a crucial role in advocating STEM learning and a variety of other schemes for young people across the West of Scotland”.