For some time, people visiting the Aline Woodland have been asking if we can make it easier to make a donation towards the maintenance and upkeep of our beautiful community-owned asset. With much appreciated support from funders, we’ve been working toward erecting voluntary donation ‘stations’ around the site.
The children’s play area is a much loved facility visited and enjoyed by families from all over Lewis and Harris and people visiting our islands from all over the world. We recently installed signage which includes information and guidelines, options for making a small donation by text or by scanning a QR code (suggested voluntary donation £2) and a secure money box for good old fashioned cash.
The Coach Parking area is now fully operational and we have erected signage by the roadside for drivers and in the coach park with information and guidelines for users including for visitors in camper vans who want to stay over-night. There is now a donations box in the coach parking area for cash, text and QR code with simple pre-set donation amounts of the suggested £10 per stay for coaches during daytime and for those parking overnight. We simply ask visitors using the site for overnight camping to keep their stay to between 6pm and 10am and to respect this resource by taking any rubbish away with them when they leave.
Our volunteers are now working to complete a new, covered information stand in the main car park. It will feature a large map with information panels about the site, the wildlife and flora, features of the woodland, and the boardwalks, tracks and paths (including the Hebridian Way which passes through part of the woodland). There will also be a donations box and cashless options (by text or QR code) to enable visitors to support our fantastic community asset.