Darnhill Festival Association bags £2,000 from Tesco community grant scheme

Darnhill Festival 2017

The Darnhill Festival Association is delighted to announce it has bagged £2,000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme.

The money will be used to transform the space next to the playground behind Argyle Parade into a vibrant and attractive community garden filled with sensory plants and native flora.

Sessions will be held with local young people and the youth service to redevelop the space for the whole community.

The project will culminate with a launch at the annual Darnhill Festival, on Saturday 7 July 2018 from 12pm. The theme for the festival this year is the ‘natural’ festival and attendees will be invited to take part in planting part of the garden as well as sampling teas and infusions made with locally foraged items.

Kathleen Chorlton, Secretary of the Darnhill Festival Association, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this grant from Tesco, and put it to good use in transforming this unused space into a cherished community garden. As with all of the Darnhill Festival Association’s activities, we want to make improvements to our estate and bring our local residents together. We look forward to unveiling it at the Darnhill Festival on 7 July.”

Alec Brown, Tesco’s Head of Community, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers. It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Voting ran in stores throughout January and February with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout.

Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions are awarded funding.

Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said:  “Bags of Help continues to enable local communities up and down the UK to improve the local spaces and places that matter to them. The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area. We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.”

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp