Cumnock Heritage Centre Supported by Wind Farm Funding

Image: Cumnock Heritage Centre

A HISTORY of vintage vehicles in Cumnock has been boosted by support from wind farm community benefits.

Cumnock Heritage Centre holds a massive collection of old vehicles, offering the perfect chance to reminisce or learn something new about what used to be on the roads.

The centre was the brainchild of Jim Smith, who had built up an impressive collection of vintage vehicles and memorabilia from over the years.

After building up from properly opening in 2022, the charity in charge of the collection recently applied to The 9CC Group for funding support to repair part of one the centre's buildings, to ensure the vast collection could be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

Jim Smith from Cumnock Heritage Centre said: "We made an application to The 9CC and we were awarded £5,000.

"We allocated this first £5,000 to this part of the building, which leaked a bit of water ingress.

"It was previously used as a commercial vehicle spray booth, and had extraction chimneys on the roof.

"We spent the money on removing these chimneys and recladding the building, and I'm pleased to say we've not seen any dampness in this part of the building since then, so that's fantastic."

Various groups and causes have benefited from the grants distributed by the 9CC Group, thanks to cash flow from the various wind farm developments in the area.

These include Drongan Grassroots, Patna Action Group and Doon Valley Railway (DVR).

Cumnock Heritage Centre holds open days every Friday, as well as the second and last Sunday of each month.

In between, they facilitate visits for groups looking to see their impressive vintage car collections.

The centre host everything from old caravans, emergency services vehicles and buses.

Jim added: "When I retired, I decided I wanted to put something back into the community, and because I had a collection, I thought it would be a good idea to put them all in one building and we could invite the public to come and share a trip down memory lane.

"It's for everybody and anybody.

"I could see right away that the audience was there for us, and it would be easy to build on that."

Article provided by Stuart Reid - Newsquest

Cumnock heritage centre supported by wind farm funding | Cumnock Chronicle