Community / Three charities’ unexpected funding boost as challenge raises more than £100k
AT LEAST £100,000 is set to be shared between three local charities as an intrepid fundraiser prepares to travel on foot from the south of England to Rome.
The funding bonanza will benefit Mind Your Head, the Shetland Bereavement Support Service and the Walls Swimming Pool Association.
It is all thanks to Jonathan Raymond, who bought the island of Vaila in 2023 and is now based there.
The 53-year-old will follow the ancient pilgrimage route Via Francigena, which runs through mainland Europe, and expects to complete it in around 59 days.
As he prepares to set off on his challenge, around £100,000 has been raised so far.
The staggering amount will be shared equally between the three charities.
Walls Swimming Pool Association chairman Jim Robertson said the donation will be a “gamechanger” for the charity.
The pool has been closed since the Covid pandemic but there is an aim for the facility to reopen this year.
A wind turbine is also set to be installed in the near future which will help with the cost of electricity bills.
Robertson said there has been times when it looked like permanent closure was inevitable for the pool.
But with the assistance of a local crofter regarding land for the turbine, and an engineer – who has helped with equipment indoors – things look on the up.
The potential funding boost of more than £30,000 appears to be the icing on the cake.
“It really has turned things around drastically for the pool,” Robertson said.
The pool has been popular in the past with people both in the area and elsewhere in Shetland, partly due to the fact that it is private.
This has benefitted people who have additional support needs, for instance, or folk who perhaps do not have the body confidence to enter a public pool.
Meanwhile the funding for the Shetland Bereavement Support Service has been warmly welcomed too.
Project coordinator Ellen Hughson said as a “small charity, funding is always an issue for us”.
“We do not charge for our service, so fundraising, donations and funding bids are an ongoing challenge to ensure we can keep the service going,” she added.
Hughson said the team were “thrilled” to have been picked to receive some of Raymond’s funding.
She said it will enable the charity to recruit more support workers, provide specialist training and continue to run the service in Shetland.
“Bereavement affects everyone, and for some it can be overwhelming, devastating and traumatic, which is when our service can help,” she said.
“We support adults and children with our one-to-one specialist bereavement support, we provide memory boxes for families in Shetland, and we have just started a bereavement support group ‘Life After Loss’ which meets fortnightly in Lerwick.
“We have a waiting list of people looking to access the service, proving this is a much-needed service.
“We are delighted to have been chosen by Jonathan, and thank him for his tremendous support. We wish him well on his epic trek across Europe, and look forward to following his progress.”
Over at Mind Your Head, chief executive Anouska Civico said Shetland’s mental health charity was “shocked to say the least” when news of the fundraising challenge came through.
“To raise £100,000 is some task but somehow he has managed to do it and continues to raise more,” she said.
“I’ve spoken to him and he’s extremely humble about what he is doing for the charities and I’m not sure he totally appreciates the impact this kind of money will have.”
Civico said that, in the current climate, grant funding is becoming increasingly difficult to secure.
“This year we have not managed to receive all the money that we require so are looking at what impact this will have on services, so a donation of this size won’t cover all we require but it will certainly help,” she said.
“I think all charities would say we all need ’a Jonathan’ to do something like this to help us all out in what is a testing time for the voluntary sector.”
People can still donate to the fundraiser here.
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