Covesea Lighthouse ©insideMoray
A Moray landmark has taken another major step towards becoming a key tourist attraction by becoming the first to succeed in obtaining Community Covenant Grant Scheme cash.
Covesea Lighthouse was purchased by the local community last year after receiving grant funding of over £300,000 to purchase the site from the Northern Lighthouse Company.
Now the Covesea Lighthouse Community Company (CLCC) has been awarded a further £250,000 that will allow the purchase of a nearby pump house and adjoining land to be used as the new home for an RAF and Fleet Air Arm heritage centre.
The new centre will focus on the history of nearby RAF Lossiemouth which during its 75-year history was also a Royal Navy Air Station. The site will display artefacts from the existing RAF Lossiemouth history room, opening these up for the first time to the general pubic.
Development manager for the CLCC, Franziska Smith, said: “The people of Lossiemouth have been working for the past 12 years towards the development of an aircraft viewing and interpretive facility that will enable local people and visitors to the area to have safe access to view the activities on the RAF base.”
The move was welcomed by the commanding officer of the RAF base support wing, Wing Commander Sean Orr, who added: “This facility will inform the local community plus thousands of tourists each year about the armed forces community from the past and present.
“It will celebrate the extremely close relationship and integral nature of the unit and its personnel to the local area.”