£21,350 WINDFALL FOR EIGHT NORTH NORFOLK COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS
Eight community groups are celebrating a combined £21,350 windfall, following the latest round of grants from the Victory Housing Community Fund.
A foodbank, Scout and Guide groups, a community sport hub and a young people’s mentoring project are amongst the organisations sharing grants ranging from £400 to £5,000 – bringing the total handed out by the Fund to £368,385 across 134 grants since it was established in 2008.
The latest round of grants were awarded by a panel of Victory residents, advised by the grants team at Norfolk Community Foundation, which administers the Victory Housing Community Fund.
The organisations receiving support were:
- The Benjamin Foundation, which received £5,000 to recruit and train volunteers for Ben’s Workforce, a service for people in North Norfolk aged over 65 who need someone to do small maintenance and repair jobs around the home
- Cromer and District Foodbank, which received £4,000 to contribute towards the employment costs of the foodbank’s part-time project manager
- Home-Start Norwich, which received £3,603 to enable it to recruit and train 12-15 volunteers to support families in their communities in north Norfolk
- Melton Constable Parish Council, which received £3,000 to help it transform a former allotment and surrounding land into a junior ball games area
- Inspired Youth Projects, which received £2,953 to deliver a mentoring project over six months to around 16 young people
- Blakeney Scout Group, which received £1,500 to purchase archery equipment to support activities for the new scout section
- Mundesley Community Sport Hub, which received £894 to purchase equipment for walking football and yoga activities
- 1st Wroxham Guides, which received £400 to purchase a laptop computer
“We are delighted to be able to give these grants to eight fantastic community organisations,” said Victory Housing Trust chief executive John Archibald. “Once again our grants panel of Victory residents were able to support a wide variety of projects, all of which are helping our communities here in north Norfolk to thrive.”
Full details of the Victory Housing Community Fund can be found at www.norfolkfoundation.com.
Case Study – Melton Constable Parish Council
Having successfully raised funds to install new play and exercise equipment at the village’s recreation ground, Melton Constable Parish Council’s next project is to transform an adjacent plot of land –a former allotment and a grassed area – into a junior ball games area.
The project will require around £15,000, and with the £3,000 grant from the Victory Community Fund, the Parish Council is now around half way to that target.
“Melton Constable is a community of young families,” said parish councillor Mary Hayes. “We are very fortunate that we have a growing number of children in the village, and it is very important to provide them with somewhere to meet up, and especially to take part in physical activities.
“As the play area has grown, the amount of space for youngsters to play ball games has reduced, and we saw the opportunity to create a dedicated ball games area so that the children could play safely, and without getting in the way of other users of the recreation ground.
“We have found that as we have improved the recreation ground and the play area, use of it has increased. It really helps the community feel of the village, encourages people to socialise, and reduces potential isolation.
“We are very grateful to the Victory Housing Community Fund for this latest grant, as well as the North Norfolk District Council Big Society Fund and the Melton Constable Community Association, both of which have supported our appeal. We are now half way towards our target, and we are confident that the new ball games area will be up and running soon.”