Donations

Are you a Heritage Hero?

The total donations from sponsored items so far.

£5,849
raised
35
donations
£543,000
goal
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Our heritage is all around us here in Orkney, from neolithic times right up to today, where we are laying down our renewables discoveries as part of that heritage. Our social heritage is all around us too, as well as dispersed across the world, like the Orcadians of Hudson Bay.  Mostly we celebrate our heritage, as we do at Skara Brae or Maes Howe or the Earl’s Palace, or the cathedral.

One building we really should celebrate is the Hall of Clestrain, unique in so many ways. The first grand Palladian villa ever built this far north, for the Honeyman family who ran their large agricultural estate in Orphir and Graemsay for many years. A grade A listed building, it risks losing its battle against the elements if conservation work is not done soon.  The birthplace of Dr John Rae, the now celebrated Arctic explorer, needs urgent works if it is to return to its community’s use as an activity and visitor centre.

So are you a heritage hero? Can you help us in the John Rae Society raise the £350,000 it will take to conserve and restore the building, using renewable energy in the process, to full public use?

Here’s how you can help us do it, with a small donation or a large one, and remember that every penny matters to us!  Our Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum donations each entitle you according to the amount donated to a listing on our Heritage Heroes Board. This will be kept on the JRS website until the building is complete, then it will be a real board in the entrance to the building!