ONE of Scotland's oldest male choirs has received nearly £5,000 through a community grant thanks to a nearby wind farm.
With roots dating back to the 1930's, Stonehouse Male Voice Choir has received £4,600 from Banks Renewables' Kype Muir Community Partnership Fund (KMCP).
The funding allowed the choir to transform its image by creating 20 sets of sleek uniforms in their very own bespoke tartan. They now hope the new-look uniforms will attract more members to the historic group.
President of the Stonehouse Male Voice Choir, Richard Mitchell-Lay has been with the group since 2012 and said: "We've been wearing the same uniforms since the 1980's and we recognised it was time to embrace a more contemporary and modern look.
"The funding allowed us to do just that, and we're delighted with the new look. To now have our very own tartan is especially important and something we can pass down through the years. We've been getting great feedback on how we all look, and people are even starting to say we're sounding better!
"To be working closely with a developer like Banks has allowed us to unlock what may seem like a small thing but has given us so much more confidence on stage."
The new uniforms offer a bold, modern look with an open-collar black shirt and trousers paired with the choir's own custom tartan waistcoat designed by Scotland's leading manufacturer of tartan Locharron.
The group say they are taking a fresh approach to their music, shifting from traditional choir styles towards more recognisable, contemporary pieces. With this modernised image and repertoire, the choir hopes to draw in younger members so that it may continue long into the future.
Richard added: "We're a group of 20 and over the years our choir has been getting smaller and trying to pay for uniforms of this quality out of our own funding would have been too great a task.
"We're very thankful for the funding and hope it will play a huge role in strengthening the choir's longevity going forward."
The Kype Muir Community Fund is an initiative by Banks Renewables that provides funding to groups and communities in the surrounding area of its Kype Muir Wind Farm project.
Robin Winstanley, sustainability, and external affairs manager at Banks Renewables said: "It's heartwarming to see how much of an impact the new uniforms have had on the choir. Local groups like this are at the absolute core of the South Lanarkshire community and it is important they are supported.
"To see the different ways wind farms like Kype Muir can play a role in supporting the local community through community benefits is rewarding - Stonehouse Male Voice Choir is a prime example of that."
George Smith, Chair of the Stonehouse Community council and the KMCP said: "It is great to see the Male Voice Choir resplendent with their new tartan waistcoats setting a trend away from the usual Blazer and Flannels.
The tartan itself is a lovely clean looking design and of course, unique to Stonehouse Choir as it was patented by them.
Long may the Choir continue to represent the village of Stonehouse and once again the Community Council thanks Banks for the funding to make this possible."
The fund is part of Banks Renewables' Connect2Renewables initiative, in which the family firm commits to maximising the economic, social and environmental benefits of all its wind farms in South Lanarkshire.
Kype Muir and Kype Muir Extension are set to deliver community benefits equating to more than £770,000 each year made available to surrounding communities.
The 41 turbines of Kype Muir and Kype Muir Extension will have a combined installed generating capacity of over 150MW of electricity per annum. This is enough to meet the electricity needs of more than 120,000 homes, or more than 200,000 people or a city larger than Aberdeen.
To find out more about the Kype Muir Wind Farm Community Fund visit: https://www.banksgroup.co.uk/kmcp
For additional information about Stonehouse Male Voice Choir please visit: http://www.stonehousemalevoicechoir.com/
To find out more about Banks Renewables, please visit https://www.banksgroup.co.uk/renewables/
About Banks Renewables
- In October 2023, the Banks Group announced that it had agreed to sell its Banks Renewables to Brookfield, a leading global asset manager with $850bn of assets under management.
We are members of RenewableUK, Scottish Renewables and the Independent Renewable Energy Generators Group (IREGG)
In order to achieve net zero the UK will need to deploy substantial amounts of low carbon infrastructure across the UK for several decades
Banks Renewables is a leading independent sustainable business, generating electricity at a consistent, low cost and supporting the UK's transition to net zero
As a family business we believe in placing people and planet at the heart of what we do - this is what we call development with care
We are constantly looking for better ways to deliver renewables projects which tackle climate change, help to drive down energy bills for the consumer and help to improve the UK's energy security over the long term.
We care about what we do and the way that we do it, including long term relationships with local communities. Last year over £1,000,000 of community funding was awarded to 100+ community groups and environmental projects
We believe in being a good neighbour, with a long and proud track record of playing a positive role in our local communities
Our Connect2Renewables initiative is an industry leading approach to support local businesses and communities. We are committed to bringing local businesses into our supply chain to create local jobs and establishing local panels to guide investment
Our projects protect, encourage and enhance the local environment while tackling climate change
We work in partnership with landowners to provide additional value to existing business, enable agriculture and developments to proceed
There is clear, longstanding support, for renewable technologies in the UK amongst the general public
Key facts
Banks Renewables was incorporated in 2006
We have secured planning permission for 14 windfarms and currently operate eleven onshore wind farms across Scotland and the north of England with a combined installed generation capacity of 282W
Our ten wind farms are: i) Armistead; ii) Hazlehead; iii) Heysham South; iv) Hook Moor; v) Kype Muir; vi) Lambs Hill; vii) Marr; viii) Middle Muir; ix) Moor House and x) Penny Hill xi) Kype Extension
We expect our ten onshore wind farms to generate around 596Gwh per year
We have also obtained planning permission for two solar arrays and are developing other renewable and flexible energy projects too
We have planning permission for 200MW of renewable electricity generation, with a further 347MW in the planning system
We have displaced 776,990 tonnes of CO2 from operational projects to date
The 547MW we have in various stages of the planning and build out process is enough to provide electricity for around 400,000 homes or a city larger than Leeds or Glasgow.
About The Banks Group
For more information about The Banks Group please see: www.banksgroup.co.uk
The Banks Group develops, land for a variety of uses including property development, renewable and flexible energy generation and storage, mining, transport and plant services.
Banks Mining has successful worked and restored 116 surface mines throughout the north of England and Scotland. We no longer mine coal and we are applying this expertise to mining other minerals and are currently mining gypsum and pursuing other mineral extraction projects throughout the UK.
Banks Transport operates a fleet of HGV tipper wagons efficiently and safely delivering a range of materials to our customers.
Banks Plant Solutions provides plant and equipment service, maintenance and management for the businesses across the North East of England, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.
The Banks Group is a family business, employing people across the north of England and Scotland. It was established by our chairman and chief executive Harry Banks OBE, DL, FRICS in 1976
The core values of our business are to undertake all our projects in a sensitive and careful manner. We call this approach development with care. We aim for our developments to make a positive long-term impact on the environment and the local communities that host our developments
