WREN Grants Make Dreams Come True - Both Big & Small!
Large grants, small grants - it doesn't really matter the value in £'s, but the difference it makes to the community which counts. WREN has just announced their latest Grant Awards for Cambridgeshire, which this quarter totals £146,756.
The villages of Offord Cluny and Offord D'Arcy, near St Neots, are joined by a Millennium Green, run by a Trust
They have just been awarded £12,080 for the creation of a hard surface path to enable all-year round access to the play area.
At the other end of the spectrum, £50,000 grants have been awarded to both Soham Scouts, for a new community building, and Isleham Parish Council for a new Multi Use Games Area.
Soham Scouts and Guides currently use wartime buildings, which are in very poor condition and past economic repair. A new purpose-built centre will provide not only the 170+ youngsters who attend the uniformed groups each week a much-improved home, but this will offer a venue for a number of other groups and functions.
Isleham are hoping to have success with their current fundraising to build a new community centre, but in the meantime, WREN has provided a grant of £50,000 to resurface and refurbish their existing Multi Use Games Area, to enable it to be moved to accommodate the new centre.
Other projects which received funding from WREN this round were Wisbech St Mary Sports and Community Centre, who have been awarded £14,894 to provide kitchen furniture and equipment for their new community centre, which is still being built; and St Andrews Parish Rooms, Whittlesey, who have been awarded £19,782 to modernise their dated kitchen and toilet facilities.
Sarah Gosling, WREN Project Manager for Cambridgeshire, explained: "Projects applying for grants from WREN are assessed by an individual panel of locally based experts in each county for their need, community benefit and support, sustainability and value for money. Each of these projects demonstrated individual benefits to their community."
The grants made under the Landfill Communities Fund (formerly known as the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme) look to improve community life by enhancing existing facilities as well as providing new facilities, including play areas & village halls. In addition, historic buildings can also receive funding for restoration work.