Busy year for Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund

1st Whitworth Guides using the new camping equipment

2017 is proving to be a busy year for the local Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund with 15 new groups receiving funding for their many and varied community projects.

Celebrating this year are Whitworth Sports Council who took the largest individual grant award of £10,000 to help transform Leavengreave Playing Field.

The entire community of Whitworth will benefit from a grant of £1,878 which has contributed towards the cost of a Community Public Access Defibrillator at the Riverside to be used in times of cardiac crisis in the area.

Other groups in Whitworth sharing in the success were Whitworth Historical Society who will be improving their outdoor space, 1st Whitworth Guides who have purchased new camping equipment and Whitworth Playgroup who will be purchasing new outdoor sports and play equipment.

Whitworth Town Council has also received grant support to help deliver their Civic Sunday procession and annual Rushcart Festival over the summer and their St George’s Day celebrations in April 2018.

Spodden Valley Revealed, a unique new heritage trail for Whitworth, provided by Mid Pennine Arts Ltd received £1,936 for their cause.

Pennines in Bloom has created a trail around Watergrove Reservoir with wooden animal carvings to discover along the route. They have been aided in their task by a grant of £1,800 and local school pupils who have helped decide which animals should be featured.

Birch Community Group received £1,951 to offer boxercise gym classes, whilst Wardle & District Bridleways Group, were given £800 towards providing safe gates, mounting blocks and warning signs in Wardle.

Littleborough also has a number of successful projects with the Coach House Trust, Ebor Studio Group, Friends of Harehill Park and Littleborough Arts Festival all securing funding for their schemes.

These highly deserving local projects all fought off stiff competition to scoop their share of the £35,000 annual funding ‘pot’, which is provided by Hastings Funds Management UK (Hastings) who manage the Crook Hill wind farm. It is administered by national charity GrantScape.

A spokesperson for Littleborough Coach House Trust commented: “The Trust found the process of applying for a grant to be straightforward. The forms were simple to understand and to complete. The information needed in order to submit an application was not onerous. GrantScape structures the grant application process in a manner which does not exclude or put-off smaller voluntary organisations.”

The Crook Hill Fund was launched in 2015 and already 28 groups have benefited sharing a combined total of £70,000. Annually, the Fund will distribute £35,000 each year for the expected 20-25 year lifetime of the wind farm.

GrantScape’s Fund Manager, Liz Payne, said: “Since its launch in 2015, the Fund has proved to be incredibly popular and well received by the very active community network across this area. Once again, the Fund has supported lots of interesting and deserving schemes. Let’s hope 2018 continues to be just as exciting.”

Groups located within a 5km radius of the wind farm can apply for amounts between £250 and £10,000.

Groups wishing to make an application can do so using a simple online application form which can be found on the GrantScape website or contact Liz directly on 01282 543775 if they would like to discuss a potential project or need help making an application.

Groups have plenty of time to make an application as the next deadline isn’t until March 2018.