Westray Heritage Trust has now raised the £192,000 needed to build the extension to the Westray Heritage Centre. Last summer (2006) the Trust announced substantial grant awards from the Community Development Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund. To these have been added grants from Orkney Enterprise, The Gannochy Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Hugh Fraser Foundation, The Robertson Trust, Westray Community Council, John M Archer Charitable Foundation and The Manifold Trust.

Other funds came from Prize Draws, donations from Westray Rugby Club, the Robertson Ness Fund, a wedding celebration and many individuals. Donations will still be gratefully accepted to help furnish the new rooms – including the glass cover for the Westray Stone which will be a very important feature of the new entrance area.

The extension will give much needed extra storage and exhibition space. Designed by McVicar: Hong Designs to blend with the existing buildings in the area it will double the size of the Westray Heritage Centre which first opened to the public in 1997 with a display of photos and memories of School Days in Westray.

Each year since then the Trust has gathered information and photos on some aspect of Westray’s past and present. Subjects include the Wars, Noup Head Lighthouse, the North Isles Sports, Kirks, Sea Transport, Royal Occasions, The Houses of Westray, Fishing, Crafts, and Shops.  These photos and research are kept in folders for visitors to browse, so that each year, as the collection has grown, the Heritage Centre has appeared to shrink a little!

Books/booklets have also been produced on several of these aspects of Westray island life, the best known probably being  “Fae Quoy tae Castle ……” (on the houses). The latest, “Westray Flagstone – Guide to the geology of an island” by David Leather, hit the shops just before Christmas.

At the Heritage Centre there is a database of all the gravestones in the three Westray kirkyards including a photo of each stone. This information has now been used by the Family History Society to produce Monumental Inscriptions in Westray  (available from both the Family History Society and Westray Heritage Trust).

The building contract for the extension has been awarded to local contractor Daniel Harcus Construction.  The rain which has plagued Orkney in recent weeks/months has delayed the start of the work but Friday 20th January saw SSEB workers take down the electricity pole and re-lay cables, thus leaving the site ready for levelling and foundations.  It is expected that the extension will open in mid summer.

Meanwhile the same firm has been working on the Trust’s other property, the old croft house of South Hammer. By the end of January several of the buildings there will be wind and waterproof.

An award of £50,000 is now confirmed from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Added to this award is £14,400 from Orkney Enterprise.

This brings the total award to date to £112,203 towards the required total of £191,203.

On Wednesday July 12th Orkney Islands Council approved a funding application from Westray Heritage Trust for an extension to the Heritage Centre. The extension will allow more display space, storage, computer access and allow secure display space for the Westray Stone, which is currently on display in Tankerness House Museum Kirkwall. The Council’s contribution will be a grant of £47,803 and a loan of up to ten per cent the total £191,213 project cost.

Applications are in hand for the balance of the project costs and replies are anxiously awaited from the various funding bodies.

Architect plans for the building extension and gardens will soon be posted to this site, so please keep logging in.

If you wish to make a contribution to the building fund, please send your cheque to:

Westray Heritage Trust, The Heritage Centre, Pierowall, Westray, KW17 2BZ

or email us for more information:

enquiries@westrayheritage.co.uk

Here we will keep you updated on the progress of the South Hammer restoration project.

Daniel Harcus Construction has been working on the Trust’s other property, the old croft house of South Hammer. By the end of this month several of the buildings there will be wind and waterproof.

We are pleased to anounce that the official opening of the Heritage Centre will take place on the 12th of April 2008.

Newsletter No. 3  January 2008 

It is not by accident or sloth that this letter is arriving about 2 months later than last year. We intentionally waited until we could include some photos of the completed extension to Westray Heritage Centre and here they are ! You will see the flagstone dyke made with gifted flags recycled from a fence at Brough. Some garden work still has to be completed during the appropriate season but in January 2008 we have a lovely new building ready for the many things which overcrowded our office & store, and space for much more. The photo albums & recorded memories will all be in the Archive room where there are chairs and tables on which to spread out these albums. We hope many more photos and memories will be added.

 After the death of the late Capt John Burgher we received log books, steering wheel, and models of the SS Earl Thorfinn and MV Islander. Recently Tom and Betty Rendall gifted a model of SS Earl Sigurd built to the same scale.  Together with the model of SS Orcadia, made by William Harcus many years ago, and gifted to us by his son John, these boats can now be taken out of storage and be on view.  We sincerely thank all the people who have gifted items to the Heritage Trust. Please don’t throw away what you might consider “old rubbish” without enquiring if we consider it to be “treasure” !  The small TV room is equipped with screen and video & DVD player. Chairs will arrive soon. The new toilet complies with disability regulations and there is level entry at the new main door. There is now enough room to bring a car up almost to the main door. We realise that this will be a boon to those who find the path a long one and we are happy for people to be dropped off near the door but to keep the path clear for others we ask that cars are then parked in the car park across the road.
In the main hall the “graffitti” wall, originally in the barn at Gallowhill and more recently in “Seatters” has been hung again (see photo).  The link between the old and new halls will house the Westray Stone which will come home before the official opening late March or early April. As you will know from the last newsletter this building was funded from many sources, the largest of which were OIC Community Development Fund, Heritage Lottery and HIE Orkney. Smaller grants and donations, including one from Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company towards the installation of the heat pump, helped us reach the £192,000 needed. We are excited that the building has been completed to a high standard and will be ready for the 2008 exhibition This will be “All tangled up under the sea” and will tell of gathering kelp and tangles right up to the present day. All photos and memories gratefully received.  “The Factory” will be 40 years old in 2008 and has successfully employed many local people during that time. We will again display the Westray Processors information and photos that we gathered for the Fishing display a few years ago. We would love to have more!
 The main work on the new building and grounds has been done by Daniel Harcus Construction. Other landscaping has been completed voluntarily by local people and also by nine students from Cardiff University School of Architecture led by  Mhairi McVicar, who with her husband, Kevin Hong, designed the extension. Working in monsoon conditions on ground fast turning to black porridge this group built two replica tangle dykes (albeit much more solid than real tangle dykes) and a boat was gifted by T. Rendall of Bayview. Other items relating to the tangle/kelp industries will also be on permanent display in the grounds.  Meanwhile the two dwelling houses at South Hammer are wind and water tight! There was a long wait for the special sized ridge tiles. We feel we need time to breathe before planning further work there.  Visitor numbers rose during 2007 but few wanted to spend much money!
We have been so pleased to sell “Westray Flagstone” written by David Leather and which arrived just before Christmas 2006. If you haven’t yet bought a copy you are missing an £8 bargain.  Early in 2007 the Orkney Family History Society brought into print “Monumental Inscriptions in Westray” produced from the Kirkyard records we had made. Selling at £10.50 this A4 book has a map of the layout in each of the Westray Kirkyards and the inscription on each gravestone. An alphabetical index at the beginning makes it easy to find the one you are looking for. This is on sale at the Heritage Centre. Westray Heritage Trust receives £1 from each copy sold by the Family History Society. A grant from “Awards for All” is enabling us to replace our old filing cabinets, unsafe chairs and awkward tables. A grant from Esmee Fairbairn Foundation is paying for staff time over the winter to catalogue & store all the items we have accumulated over the years.
Needless to say, in spite of all the help from grants we have almost emptied our own coffers to complete the extension and South Hammer. We will be grateful for early payment of annual subscriptions or any donations. For the first time since we opened twelve years ago the entry payment is going up. From April these will be 
Adults £2.50. Concessions £2. Household Subscriptions £7 or £3.50 concessions. This covers everyone normally living in the same house for as many visits as they wish during the calendar year. Children will remain at 50p, with school groups free.
This year we are running a competition on the subject of seashore/seaweed.  More details will be available at the Heritage Centre and in the local shops.