Smiles all round as Murra Warra Wind Farm grants presented at Horsham Golf Club

After receiving 35 applications, the committee whittled down the choices until seven projects were selected to receive grant funding.

The grants ranged from $2,000 to $20,000 with Murra Warra Wind Farm having a total of $55,000 pool to utilise for the grants.

The largest of the grants went to the Horsham Motor Sports Group, with the club's Richard Wilkins revealing the funding would be the last piece of the puzzle at Blue Ribbon Raceway.

"We have lighting, we have parking, we have toilets, we have all weather access. One thing we haven't got is green grass," he said.

Mr Wilkens said the $20,000 grant would go towards a computer watering system so the raceway's infield would be lush and green.

Bear Hynam, representing the Wimmera Off Street Drag Racing Club, collected $3,335 and said the money would go towards a marquee as well as helping the organisation, in conjunction with Beat the Heat, to run a youth program.

"Not everyone plays football or netball, there's a lot of kids into cars. They're the ones that potentially could be disengaged a little bit from the community," he said.

READ MORE:

Beat the Heat Inc Victoria is a non-profit organisation dedicated to running programs for at-risk youths, like the Beat the Heat Youth Motorsport Mentoring Program in Warracknabeal.

"Let's mentor kids in a safe, structured way and teach them how to look after a motor car, but how to have fun in a car... rather than doing wheelies out on the road," Mr Hynam said.

The region's Girl Guides were also big winners of the Murra Warra grants, with Guides in Warracknabeal and Dimboola benefiting from the grants.

Representing Guides Victoria Dimboola, Janet Pilmore and Marian Smith said the $3,238 the troop received would go a long way to revitalising the Arura Campsite on the Wimmera River in Dimboola.

"After the flood in 2011, it got a bit dilapidated, however at the time we had to put our money into other things. (This grant) has made (the campsite) new again," Ms Pilmore said.

Kirsty Holland from the Warracknabeal Girl Guides said the $4,989 awarded to the troop would go towards a variety of projects as part of the Warracknabeal Guides' Outdoor Environment Enhancement program.

"We're going to put in a new, bigger water tank at the hall, so the girls can use the water in a vegetable garden...we're also going to re gravel and resurface our outdoor area."

Meanwhile the Centre for Participation's Robbie Millar was thrilled with the centre's new solar system.

"The grant partly contributed to a 30 kilowat solar power system on our centre.... a particular interest for our centre at the moment is our environmental impact.

"Currently, since the system has been installed, we've saved 1.7 tonnes of Co2, which is equivalent to just a tick over 7,000km in a car and that's only in the last month."

Although they were unable to make the presentation, Enterprise Rupanyup also received $5,000 for a solar power project at Rupanyup Retail Centre.

MORE NEWS:

First Warracknabeal Cubs and Scouts received $5,000 to go towards the troop's 'Revitalise Outdoors' program.

RES Group, who own Murra Warra Wind Farm, were represented by Susan Findlay-Tickner.

"It's very exciting for the Murra Warra Wind Farm to be able to hand out these grants... and show how much we appreciate the community," Ms Findlay-Tickner said.

Wimmera Development Association's Vernetta Taylor said it had been a pleasure to coordinate the grants.

"It's been wonderful to hear first hand how the grants are going to impact the community," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: