A Moray youth group is cooking up plans for a purpose-built community kitchen after securing £100,000 in government funding.
Volunteers at the Elgin Youth Cafe said they were “delighted” yesterday after the mammoth pledge was officially announced.
The cafe is run by the Elgin Youth Development Group and targets young people who are not in employment, education or training.
Members will now plough the money into reshaping the building’s Inkwell music rooms into a custom-made kitchen suitable for disabled people.
Fiona Birse, the cafe’s development manager, will today meet architects to drive the plans forward and she hopes to start work on creating the kitchen after Christmas.
Mrs Birse said: “We are currently fundraising to renovate the Inkwell rooms at our cafe, as part of a social enterprise project.
“The £100,000 will cover a third of the money required for that, and it will give us a good footing for taking it forward.
“It really is to be used by the whole community, and we’re desperate to get it going.
“We will run cooking classes for young people and disadvantaged older people, and it will be purpose-built so that disabled people will be able to use it as well.”
Mrs Birse added: “We are all absolutely delighted we’ve got the money, it’s nice to see funds like this going north.”
The grant was awarded as part of a £1.7m package of funding distributed among community groups throughout Scotland.
The Scottish Government’s social justice secretary, Alex Neil, announced a total of 21 donations, paid out as part of the body’s town centre communities capital fund.
The funding has been allocated towards projects which will help make town centres across the country more attractive.
Mr Neil said: “The £1.7m fund will give enterprising communities the chance to take forward improvements to their area.”
Earlier this year, the Elgin Youth Development Group was awarded nearly £30,000 to help pioneer a project aimed at bringing the area’s youngest and oldest people together.
The windfall was offered by the Change group, a government body set up to look after the interests of Scotland’s older residents.