Winning a community minibus in the big Press and Journal competition would “mean everything” to a Highland town.
Invergordon Football Club have joined the race for the much sought-after bus – with club chairman Edwin Skinner promising to share it with other groups in the town if they win.
Applications to allow community groups to be in with a chance of winning the smart 17-seater Ford Transit have flooded in from all over the Press and Journal’s circulation area since the competition opened.
The bus could be heading anywhere in the north or north-east, with more than 50 groups in the running for the prize.
The minibus itself is worth more than £37,000 and has been donated by North Sea firm Nexen Petroleum.
The bus has been visiting several spots across the Highlands over the past few weeks to show people what they could be winning – and yesterday it arrived in Invergordon at the football club, who are hoping to win it.
The club runs teams from primary one age children right up to an adult team.
They have always been able to support a bustling junior section – which led recently to the reformation of a senior team playing in the north’s amateur leagues.
Club chairman and coach Mr Skinner has been involved with his beloved team since the 1980s – and said that the winning the P&J minibus would “mean everything” for the Ross-shire town.
He said: “It would make a huge difference for us. We take teams all over the place, right up to Orkney with the seniors, all over Sutherland.
“The juniors go through as far as Buckie twice a year for tournaments twice a year, Forres as well.
“We also go down to Blackpool so this bus would mean everything for us it really would. It would save us thousands of pounds in travel costs every year.”
Mr Skinner said that if the club won he would be keen to share it with a number of other groups throughout the town who are helping collect tokens for the bus, including the WRI, scout groups and Ross Sutherland rugby club.
Tokens for the competition can be found in the P&J everyday until August 28.
Groups need to collect at least 50 tokens in order to enter the competition.
The bus will be won by a lucky community group somewhere in the newspaper’s circulation area in September.