Harris Golf Club: open on Sunday or else....

Current newspaper reports carry news of the increasing, subtle and not-so-subtle pressures on organisations from secular grant-funding agencies.

Sportscotland which is the national agency for sport in Sotland are threatening to withhold financial assistance to Harris Golf Club unless the course is open on Sundays. This policy contrasts with that of other funding agencies which have attached no such stipulations or conditions regarding financial support.

Of the setting one writer has said: "The course, sloping to the Atlantic is one of the most spectacular on earth (Ian Wooldridge/Daily Mail), whilst another afficionada spoke of it as: "... the course, clinging to the side of a hill which runs down to the Atlantic Ocean and Scarista Beach, whose sands make Malibu look like a playschool sandpit."

As an irony in the affair, it has been reported that the land on which the course stands was originally donated by local crofters and the church. However a claim has been made that under equality legislation which covers accessibility to all, regardless of religion, belief gender, race, disability or age the funding could be denied.

Western Isles MP, Angus MacNeil is involved in the issue and is assisting the Club, which has 700 life members throughout the world.

Christians Together, 06/02/2009