Charity Farm appeals for donations after fire

A charity farm is appealing for assistance after a deliberate fire on Friday morning tore through one of their cabins.

The blaze broke out at Lamont Farm Project and damaged the building close to the horse stables, which had housed five rescued cats.

The extent of the damage means the farm will likely lose the cabin, so the charity is looking for donations to help rebuild.

Chairperson, Trisha Craig stressed it doesn’t need to be money, “any donation is helpful to us, like time, or a bit of wood or anything, or a sweeping brush, they’re like gold dust.

The fire was spotted by a neighbour at 3:45am, but luckily no animals or people were hurt as the horses were moved to safety.

Melted panels on the floors and ceiling, mean the building will likely not be able to be repaired, which is particularly difficult for the small charity.

Trisha said: “losing a cabin? Not ideal. Losing my animals? Soul-destroying, so we’re focusing on everybody’s safe.”

The Lamont Farm Project rescues and rehomes animals in Erskine, but damage from smoke means it has been closed over the weekend.

The cabin doubled as the staff room, as well as a space for photographs from when the farm opened over forty years ago.

A lot of the memories were lost in the incident, but Trisha said: “memories will always be there, my animals will not, so right now I’m just focusing on the same as all of the rest of the volunteers that none of our animals were hurt.”

Lamont will hopefully reopen to visitors on Tuesday with their 10:30-16:15 summer hours, but in the meantime their raffle sale and GoFundMe page for donations are open on the project’s Facebook page.

Support from the local community has already been appreciated by the farm who said on social media: “another big thank you to everyone, you have given us hope and restored our faith in that there are so many kind people out there.”

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