Sometimes you just can’t give money away

 

SOMETIMES YOU JUST CAN’T GIVE MONEY AWAY

Former £161m Euromillions jackpot winners Colin and Christine Weir have set up a Charitable Trust, however their dreams of helping their local golf club have run into trouble.It was back in July 2011 that Colin and Christine Weir won an astonishing £161m Euromillions jackpot, obviously it has changed their lives forever, but they are doing their best to help change other people’s lives too.This has included the formation of the Weir Charitable Trust which has been given £5m to help local Scottish groups and charities and has included a £3m donation to the campaign for Scottish independence. However the generous couple have run into problems in their desire to help secure the future of their local golf club.The club has been struggling financially because they have to pay North Ayrshire Council £45,000 a year for the lease of their clubhouse. With the club celebrating their centenary in 2013 Colin, 66 and Christine 58 decided in December 2012 to donate £70,000 to the club allowing them to purchase their clubhouse and avoid those huge costs.It all sounds a great and generous donation and the council approved the sale last June. However it’s now April 2014 and the sale still hasn’t gone through. The donation lies frozen in the bank and the club still have to make those costly payments to the council.The sale can’t go through because the land does not have any title deeds as for centuries it has been owned by a local Common Good fund that is administered by the council itself. They have now applied to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to have the deeds granted. Until that approval is received, the donation made by the lottery winners, who have declined to comment on the situation, remains unused.Routenburn club secretary Jim Thomson said: “It is very frustrating. The money is in place but we are still waiting for the court to give the sale the okay.” The sale of the clubhouse has also met with objections. Last June, two councillors failed in a bid to block the sale, claiming it could be sold for more to developers.There are so many things one can do with a Euromillions windfall...to be able to do it, purchase your Euromillions lottery tickets online at Lottery24.com.