A total of 13 walkers have helped raise close to £1,000 for the ‘Light Up Portree‘ campaign by undertaking hikes across the Portree and Braes Community Trust‘s boundary last Saturday.
The first group of walkers successfully completed a 10-mile challenge over rough terrain from the Storr to Portree. The second group then continued for over 20 miles to Sligachan – the first walkers to reach Sligachan completed the route in an impressive eight-and-a-half hours.
The Light Up Portree campaign is fronted by the Portree and Braes Trust community events group, who formed at the beginning of 2019 with a mission to bring the community together to deliver more fun, family-friendly community events throughout the year.
Trust development officer Fiona Thomson told the Free Press: “We’ll know the exact total in a couple of weeks, but we believe the walk alone has raised around £1,000 towards our total.
“Special thanks go to all the walkers, the staff at Jans for supporting us with signage and equipment, to all those who donated and to the volunteers who gave up their time to make sure those taking part were well looked after.”
Lorna Cormack from the trust’s community events group said: “The response locally to the campaign has been overwhelming. Voluntary groups, workplaces and tour agencies have been extremely supportive, and we are especially grateful for all the donations – large and small – from individuals. We have also been lucky enough to secure some major donations from local businesses, grant funding from Event Scotland and support from Highland Council’s ward discretionary fund.”
She added: “The community events group have ambitious plans for 2019 and beyond, and together with funds raised from the sponsored walk we have reached our initial target of £20,000.
“This sum is the minimum amount required to progress with plans to redesign the lighting display in Portree, host a celebratory Christmas lights switch-on event on 30th November and deliver a special Hogmanay event in Somerled Square.”