AERO Space Scientific Educational Trust (ASSET) is delighted to announce that it has received confirmation of support from Rural Perth & Kinross LEADER Programme 2014-2020: The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.
It has received an offer of a grant of £30,000 for the Kinross High School (KHS) Build-a-Plane project, it is being announced today.
This will match £30,000 of funding ASSET raised through its recent crowdfunding project to support the KHS Build-a-Plane activity.
The ASSET Build-a-Plane project aims to give local Kinross High School boys and girls a chance to help assemble a real plane from a full-size kit, which will make a clear link between the project and STEM education from the outset.
The project will begin in November this year when ASSET will take delivery of a Eurofox kit plane from Slovakia.
It will be housed at Kinross High School where a team of school-children will learn about all aspects of flight including assembling and subsequently flying the two-seater plane in the summer of 2018.
In addition, Air Service Training Ltd, Perth College, University of the Highlands and Islands, will be involved in providing pupils with workshops covering hands on engineering skills development, health and safety briefing, a hangar visit and aeronautics theory.
In recent months, ASSET has been working on raising funds through a crowdfunding campaign; by setting up a local volunteer group; attending a number of local community events including – the Kinross Farmers Market; the Portmoak Family Day and Fife Airport Open Day – to raise awareness of the B-a-P project and its longer-term plans to create a flight and space themed visitor attraction.
An art competition has been launched ‘Flight to the Future’, which will be open for entries until December to encourage wider community engagement across Perth & Kinross and nearby regions.
In addition, a well attended Astronomy Day was held at the Loch Leven Community last month in partnership with Cosmos Planetarium and the Astronomer Royal for Scotland.
Alisdair Stewart, chair, Aero Space Scientific Educational Trust, said: “We’re delighted that Rural Perth and Kinross LEADER is supporting this inspirational effort for pupils at Kinross High School.
“Thanks to LEADER, the Build-a-Plane project can now get underway.
“Without this generous support from LEADER, the wonderful opportunity we now have to engage children in the physics and engineering of flight would have stalled. It really is going to be a fantastic project for Kinross High School, and will no doubt inspire boys and girls who might not otherwise have done so, to make better informed subject choices and have a wider horizon of career aspiration.
“Once the finished plane has been certified, students will be given the chance to have a free opportunity to experience the sheer joy of flight. Thus, we will inspire some engineers and pilots of the future at a time when these skills are in high demand and short supply.”
Explaining the importance of the Rural Perth & Kinross LEADER support, Jackie Brierton, Rural Perth & Kinross LEADER chair, said: “The award of £30,000 towards this community project is one of a number benefitting from a portion of £3.8 million of LEADER and Scottish Government funds available for the development of rural communities and rural enterprise until 2020 in Perth & Kinross.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for us all and we are pleased we have been able to support it.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
About the Rural Perth and Kinross LEADER Fund
The new LEADER (Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Économie Rurale), Rural Development programme for Perth and Kinross was launched on Thursday 14 January 2016.
Approximately £3.8 million of EU and Scottish Government SRDP (Scottish Rural Development Programme) funding is being invested in the local area between 2014 and 2020, bringing a boost to communities and the rural economy.
The funding will be directed towards the priorities identified in the Rural Perth and Kinross LEADER Programme Development Strategy and Business Plan, with the aim of helping to create a long-term legacy of vibrant, healthy and inclusive rural communities.
The priorities include Community Capacity Building, Rural Broadband, Youth Initiatives, Farm Diversification, Rural Enterprise and there are Open Challenge and Co-operation Projects Funds, also.
Funding is allocated by the Rural Perth and Kinross Local Action Group, (LAG). This independent body consists of representatives from local businesses and public sector and third sector organisations.
Anyone can apply: www.PKLeader.org , Facebook @PerthKinrossLEADERFunding, Twitter @P_KLeader #PKLeader
About ASSET and Aero Space Kinross
ASSET is a Community Benefit Society, community-led, controlled and operated for the benefit of Kinross-shire and the community it serves. Aero Space Kinross is a tremendous opportunity for the residents of Kinross-shire and beyond that will bring huge economic, educational and tourism benefits to the area, as well as providing locals, Scots, and visitors alike with a unique flight-themed science and space centre.
Aero Space Kinross is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Community Benefit Society, Aero Space Scientific Educational Trust. Scottish Charity No. SC045931
For more information on how to support and be a part of this unique experience go to: http://www.aerospacekinross.com and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aerospacekinross
For further project and community share offer information, please contact: Alisdair Stewart: alisdair@aerospacekinross.com
For further press information, images and interviews please contact Fiona Stewart: Fiona@aerospacekinross.com Mob: 07940560453.
MEDIA RELEASE issued by Interwoven PR. You too can share your stories (aka press or media releases), on this site. Email here for more information.
Check out twitter.com/scotsbulletin for your very own media releases feed…
Check out too twitter.com/allEducationPR and twitter.com/allCharitiesPR.
Stay connected with our various twitter feeds: Charities, Drink, Education, Energy, Fashion, Film, Food, Gardens, Legal, Motors, Music, Outdoors, Property, Science and Sports. And not forgetting Finance, Theatre, Travel, Festivals, Visual Arts, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling.
Interwoven PR contact details…
Contact: Fiona Stewart
Phone: 07940560453
Email: fiona@interwovenpr.com
Website: http://www.aerospacekinross.com
