Future of Lockerbie's Hallmuir Ukrainian Chapel secured by South of Scotland Enterprise funding

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Lockerbie’s Hallmuir Ukrainian Chapel has been awarded a grant of more than £50,000 by South of Scotland Enterprise.The funding will be used to pay for vital repairs to the grade-B listed building and make landscaping improvements.It will also help to develop a small visitor centre and raise the profile of the site, with work being undertaken in collaboration with the South of Scotland Destination Alliance.Mike Ostapko, a representative from Hallmuir, said: “It has been a long process to get to where we are today, and we have faced several unprecedented challenges along the way.“Closing our doors to visitors during the pandemic made fundraising particularly difficult, but we knew we couldn’t give up on such an important pillar of our local Ukrainian community in Dumfriesshire.

We are pleased to have now received funding from SOSE to get repair work under way to restore the chapel.“It has proved a critical location for collection of donations during the ongoing Ukraine conflict and we hope it will continue to be an important venue for years to come.”The chapel has been undergoing repairs and developments in phases since 2018, but progress has been hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic and a series of winter storms.It did not qualify for any government grants or subsidies, which left the chapel less than halfway towards its target of £80,000 last summer.However, in October 2021, Mike along with other representatives approached the enterprise agency and secured a grant for £52,777.Its chairman, Professor Russel Griggs, said: “Supporting community-led projects like the Hallmuir Ukrainian Chapel is as important to SOSE as supporting businesses.“The chapel is an asset to the local Lockerbie community, and it is vital that we do