Island Haven Trustee 'humbled' by help offers
The Chairman of Trustees for the Island Haven project has said he is “humbled” by the number of people who have volunteered to help raise money.
The project’s official fundraising drive was launched earlier this month and a Facebook group to exchange ideas has more than 100 members.
The ambitious scheme aims to provide accommodation in Truro for islanders and their supporters while they receive medical treatment on the mainland.
Tim Guthrie told Radio Scilly that a Grand Raffle that was organised is currently on hold due to licensing requirements.
“There has been an issue over a raffle, which needs to be licensed and various things need to be done correctly and I understand that is under way and the Local Authority will be sorting that out for us hopefully next week. There is another option; perhaps the raffle won’t be as grand but there are options for private raffles which we’ll talk through with the Licensing Authority next week and hopefully get that under way.”
Collection pots have been placed in local businesses and volunteers will be in Hugh Street on Thursday with donation tins.
Tim also gave an update on the project, saying he hopes it will gain charitable status in the next couple of months.
“The Charity Commission is currently looking through our application. We also have a parcel of land that we’ve been offered by the Treliske Trust on the Treliske estate and we are currently talking to some architects to get some concept drawings done. Once we’ve got all that in place I think we’ll be ready to have a pubic meeting to let everybody else know exactly where we are.“
Tim urged anyone wishing to be involved in the project to contact him on 423523 or drop in for a chat at 5 Hugh Street. He is particularly keen to hear from people from the off-islands and anyone who can spare time to collect money in Hugh Town on Thursday.
Find out more about the Island Haven and donate to the project at www.theislandhaven.co.uk.