Grant funding GALORE!

Grant funding provided by the Council has proven to be a vital lifeline for many community focused organisations in North Herts, helping to enrich the lives of local people they are in contact with. We caught up with a number of grant recipients from the last few years to see how the funding helped their work.

Ray Wilson, Director of Green Care Norton CIC in Letchworth, wrote in to tell us about receiving two grants totalling £4,550 in 2019 and 2020 from NHDC’s Letchworth Committee.

“I had retired from teaching and was looking for a new venture. I enjoyed working on my allotment and read a newspaper article about social and therapeutic horticulture for mental wellbeing. I thought, why not start up a project like this? NHDC supported me in acquiring a second allotment, so I had the land to do it and I then entered into partnership with settle homes and the Job Centre, who act as referral agencies for the people I work with.

“It was suggested to me at a meeting at settle homes that I could potentially secure start-up grant funding through NHDC, as I needed some quite big items in order to get going and make it into a year round activity. The funding helped pay for a social shed where participants can have a cuppa and a chat and get out of the rain. This also doubles up as a potting shed. It also helped us buy a large polytunnel and we are in the process of making one of the plots disability friendly, with wide paths, a patio and raised beds, so that it can be accessed by those with mobility issues.

“Our participants invariably suffer from loneliness or exclusion, mental health issues, or are unemployed. Working on the allotment plots growing food and flowers improves their mental wellbeing, gives them a social group and improves their future employment prospects. Furthermore, those who attend can eat what they grow and know that any surplus produce goes to food bank charities to help others.

“The next stage of the project will be to start up a cut flower business enterprise so that unemployed participants can get experience of how a small-scale flower business works. Any money generated will all go straight back into the project. The main difficulty in starting up such a project will be obtaining a small parcel of land big enough for a large polytunnel and garden area….but I will keep working on it! But if anyone reading this knows of somewhere in Letchworth that we could use, please let us know.

“We have a number of volunteers who work with us and are currently looking for more volunteers with previous gardening, handyman or woodworking skills to join us, so do get in touch if that is you.”

If you would like to find out more about Green Care Norton CIC go to their Facebook page or email greencarenorton@gmail.com.

Gillian Morland, Manager for the Coombes Community Centre in Royston, wrote in to tell us about the £50,000 NHDC Community Facilities Capital Project Fund grant the Centre received in 2018.

The Coombes Community Centre is the only Community Centre in Royston. Since it was built in 1977, it has become busier and busier and under normal circumstances, about 50 different regular groups use the centre, with over 1,500 people a week visiting the building.

Gillian said: “The small profit made each year goes back into maintaining the Centre, so saving £50,000, the amount of grant funding we received, would have been almost impossible. The capital grant has made a huge difference. The platform lift that was installed opened-up use of the upstairs rooms to more activities. Many groups who use the centre are retired and a lift is an essential asset to allow groups to meet in rooms that would otherwise be unobtainable for them.

“New toilets that use less water were installed upstairs and LED lighting was used to reduce energy costs. Finally, the kitchen in the under 5’s area needed updating and the floor was in need of replacement, so that work was carried out with the grant funding.

“Many groups use the Centre including Compassionate Neighbours for those who are lonely and Chair Yoga for people with restricted movement. We are a polling station, blood donor location, home of the Royston Rockets BMX Club and a centre for a local Repair Café. The National Childbirth Trust hold courses at the Centre and we have sports and meetings, gaming, social occasions, bingo for the Over 60’s and classes for French, Spanish and Italian as well much more!

“In the future, we have plans to further expand to offer a second sports hall and more rooms that can be hired by the community in Royston. Our roof faces south and is an ideal angle for solar panels which would support our energy needs for the future and be good for the environment so we are looking into this. We also have plans to improve our grounds with some wildflower areas, spring bulbs and trees.

“A community centre can be a wonderful asset for a town, as this one is for Royston.”

To find out more about the Coombes Community Centre either visit their website www.coombescommunitycentre.co.uk or email coombescentre@gmail.com

Sally Ozaydin and husband Tom Wright wrote in to tell us about the Ickleford Community Larder which recently benefited from a £2,000 Coronavirus Community Support Grant:

“We started the Community Larder shortly after the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown. Many local people were struggling to make ends meet and since there was a strong sense of local community, we knew that the villagers would pull together to support each other.

“The Coronavirus Community Support Grant helped us buy food to supplement our larder basics, pay insurance, pay for food hygiene courses and storage boxes.

“The Larder works via the organisation Fareshare, where supermarkets allow us to collect the food that they would otherwise throw away - food that has passed its best before date but is still fine to eat. This can include things like bread, bananas, oranges, apples, broccoli and potatoes. We then give this food out to people that come to us. This is the food rescue side of the Community Larder.

“We also have what we call our ‘Larder Basics’ - tinned beans, soup, UHT milk and pasta etc. People who are struggling can ask to have these too.

“We have a team of volunteers who do things like filling crates, accepting donations and handing out the food. The food rescue is for anyone, and anyone who asks for larder basics can have them too. The people that come are of all ages and backgrounds - from struggling single parents to the affluent - who are there for the food rescue, as it is environmentally friendly to rescue food.

“We originally started in Ickleford Village Hall but have now moved to St Katherines Church and we are planning to expand and rescue even more food.”

The Ickleford Community Larder is open on Sundays from 2pm to 4pm at St Katherines Church in Ickleford. To find out more, go to their Facebook page.

Carrie Washington, Director of BEEE Creative CIC, wrote in to tell us about the £850 received from the NHDC Royston Committee in 2019, to develop community focused dance workshops.

“BEEE Creative stands for social change by improving access to dance participation for local people in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; producing high quality, ambitious and insightful dance interactions. We do this to maximise the local cultural offer, so that anyone, any age or background, has the opportunity for lifelong learning and enhanced sense of wellbeing through dance.

“We applied for NHDC grant funding to develop creative movement workshops at Royston and District Museum and Art Gallery for families with pre-school children and for older adults, with a focus on engaging with exhibitions at the Museum and as a celebration of the Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020.

“The project built on previous dance projects at the museum and the main emphasis was on providing access to a fun activity, with opportunities to connect with other people. It gives people the chance to develop physical wellbeing, learn new skills, get to know other people and a lot of the time just have a bit of a giggle - which makes everyone (the dance artist included!) feel just that little bit better.

“We have run 64 creative dance workshops with the grant funding, split across sessions for families with toddlers and pre-school children, and for adults. From April through to July this year, these have been delivered online through Zoom due to the lockdown and coronavirus pandemic.

“We are grateful for the support of North Herts District Council and the staff at Royston Museum for making these dance sessions possible.

“When lockdown happened there was an appetite from the regular participants to keep dancing and keep connecting. So, having never heard of Zoom before March, we launched ourselves into a steep learning curve of how to deliver dance activity online. We had a bit of trial and error getting sound levels right and sorting settings so everyone could see the dance lead but we got there! It has truly been a highlight of the dance artist’s week leading both the family dance session and adult classes online. It has given everyone involved a focus point and a little bit of structure in the lockdown weeks where the days just seem merge.

“In the immediate future we will be navigating what a return to dance in a physical setting may look like to remain safe for everyone involved. There is potential that there will be an element of blended delivery, as we have actually gained participants from further afield during lockdown, who all want to continue. We have also got plans to work in collaboration with an animator to combine dance and local stories to create animated films. We plan to do this by making the local community co-producers of the work.”

Want to find out more or take part in a BEEE Creative Zoom dance workshop? Click here or email for details carrie@beee-creative.co.uk