His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has helped a village in Cornwall, UK, buy its Methodist chapel.

According to previous reports, residents of Godolphin Cross near Helston had written a letter last November to Shaikh Mohammad, appealing for funds.

The small village had wanted to buy a chapel and turn it into a community centre.

The Cornwall Live website reported that the group needed Dh428,175 (£90,000) to buy the chapel that they intend to convert into a community centre, and had raised Dh118,937 (£25,000) towards it.

Richard Mckie, from the Godolphin Cross Community Association, said: “We are extremely appreciative.”

While the exact sum of the contribution made by Shaikh Mohammad was not revealed, Mckie said, “it has pushed us across the line”.

Valerie Wallace, a resident, was responsible for the idea as a last ditch attempt, with the group having failed to raise sufficient funds elsewhere.

“We thought nothing of it and then we began to get phone calls from Abu Dhabi,” Mckie told the Cornwall Live.

“We thought we were being hoaxed but it was no hoax.”

The Godolphin Connection

Shaikh Mohammad founded the Godolphin stables in Dubai, 1994. Today, Team Godolphin span across four continents, from its home in Dubai to Europe, Australia and America.

The village in Cornwall was called Godolphin Cross, and lies near the estate of the Second Earl of Godolphin, who bought a horse called the Godolphin Arabian.

The Arabian horse was foaled in Yemen in the 18th century, and he went on to have famous descents, such as Seabiscuit and Man O’War.

Source: gulfnews.com