Lochcarron primary pupils will have a new set of goals to play in after a Skye tree surgery business donated the remaining money the school needed to complete their fundraising and purchase the equipment.
The school had been raising funds for new goals through a sponsored 5K among other activities which brought in donations from the community, family and friends. PowerArb stepped in to provide £700 to complete the funding package, which had also been bolstered by generous aid from local businesses.
Lochcarron Food Centre gave £250; KG Cameron gave £175 and Mountain and Sea Guides (Applecross) £50. PowerArb are based in Portree but work all over the UK and were recently clearing trees around power lines in the Lochcarron area.
Managing director, Alex Latton, said: “We always try to give something back to the local community wherever we work. People local to Lochcarron have been great with us. We’ve been working near houses and at weekends doing essential works and our work can be quite loud, but they’ve been really supportive and when we saw a chance to give something back we took it.”
Alex, a former local footballer himself, added: “When we’ve worked in other places we’ve done different things. In Portree, we cut back the trees in the nature walk, which was becoming unwalkable and totally overgrown, as well as clearing the path at the Mill Pond. I was happy to send the team out to do this and they were glad to complete the work, but the chance to help Lochcarron reach their funding target and get the football goals was particularly satisfying. It was great to see the kids’ reactions and we received a whole stack of thank you letters.”
The students at the primary school were delighted with the donation, as the thank you letters illustrated.
One pupil, Patrick, wrote: “I’m looking forward to having new goals to play football with and, hopefully, I’ll become a better defender.”
Archie added: “We are glad to get new goals because we use one goal with two tyres and it’s annoying when I am in goals and I miss the save.”
Pupils were keen to say that they play football any time they get the chance, and pupil Maura added: “Now we are going to be able to get the goals we will be able to play football most of the day!”