Scotland's Moorland Forum - New Grant

I am delighted to be able to report that the Trust's grant to provide the administration for the Forum will be renewed.

I am the Secretary and Alison is the Administrator of the Forum and these roles involve a large amount of work.  This input is funded by a grant from Scottish Natural Heritage.  I had expected that the existing grant would continue until 31st March 2011, but I was invited to re-apply for a grant from 1 April 2010.  This caused a flurry of unexpected activity prior to the deadline on 1 September, and a certain amount of 'sharpening the pencil', to make our application as attractive as possible.

The less good news is that the grant will only be for 1 year, rather than the three we had applied for.  However, I am grateful for the approval, as renewal was by no means certain in the difficult financial times that SNH finds itself in.  Claims that our budget was cut tight and submitted on the assumption of being given a 3 year term are likely to fall on deaf ears! 

Discussions will now take place on how best to fund the support of the Forum after the end of our one year grant.  I hope that we will be able to retain our involvement wherever the funding comes from.