Posts Tagged ‘successful projects’

Are you doing your bit for Climate Week?

Posted on 22nd March 2011 by

Not only is this week the beginning of spring, it’s the start of Climate Week.

Climate Week is a national occasion running from the 21st-27th March, which is campaigning to raise our awareness and ambition to tackle climate change.

To do your bit to tackle climate change, your group can hold an event in your newly developed Community Spaces project to help raise awareness about the ongoing issues surrounding our climate.

The event could be a talk, workshop, training session, a party or any other kind of activity.

For more information about the kind of events you can run or what you can do to help combat climate change, visit the Climate Week website.

Let us know what you’ll be doing for Climate Week!

Extra funding available from WREN

Posted on 18th March 2011 by

WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Limited) has announced that it has made some key changes to their Main Grant Scheme. Funding is now distributed through the following schemes.

Small Grants Scheme (grants of £2,000 to £15,000).
Main Grants Scheme (grants of £15,000 to £50,000).
Biodiversity Action Fund (grants of £75,000 to £250,000).

WREN provides grants to environmental organizations, voluntary and community groups, charities and not-for-profit organizations for community and environmental projects in areas close to WRG landfill sites.

To find out more information about the application process, visit the WREN or EMGIN website.

Community Spaces closed for new applications on January 7th, 2011.

Lets get outside and love our parks!

Posted on 15th March 2011 by

It’s getting to that time of year again where we can all enjoy the spring weather and get outside and love our parks!

To celebrate the beginning of the warm weather, Love Parks Week is celebrating its fifth birthday and is aiming to get over 1 million people out into their local park!

Love Parks Week is an annual celebration of our parks and green spaces. It is organised by Community Spaces partner organisation, Green Space.  Love Parks Week raises awareness of what our parks have to offer, and is a campaign to save these valuable community assets.

This year, Love Parks Week is running from the 23rd-31st July, so there’s plenty of time to plan how you are going to celebrate Love Parks Week in your newly developed Community Spaces project.

For more information on how to organise your own event, visit the Love Parks Week website.

A little boost to give your project that extra mile

Posted on 4th March 2011 by

Community Spaces wants to help ensure that your project will continue to be a valuable asset in your community for many years to come and to help your group do this we have allocated an additional pot of funding (a Sustainability Grant) to every project that has been successful with securing funding from the programme.

The maximum Sustainability Grant payable is related to the size of grant you have been awarded and is included in your offer of delivery grant letter.

What will it fund?

The Sustainability Grant can be used for a variety of things and we encourage groups to be innovative and creative with the ideas they submit. The idea is to use the funding to ensure that the project you have delivered is well used within the community and that it will continue to be valued. There are three key areas that can be covered by the Sustainability Grant: 

•  Events and activities

•  Training/Group capacity building

•  Equipment and tools to help volunteers maintain the site

Some examples of how groups have used their Sustainability Grant can be found below:

Stoke Gabriel Pre-school

This group is running Chainsaw Carving Woodshops as many of the locals admired all the carved woodwork in the Community Spaces project. Find out more about this project by following this link.

St Mary’s Church Parochial Church Council

This group has used its Sustainability Grant to hold a series of ‘Fun Days’ at the churchyard. At one of these events children were invited to bring their tteddy bears and let them abseil from the church spire. This teddy bear abseil day proved hugely popular and has now become an annual event. The group has also started up ‘Autumn Watch Days’.  

If your group has used its Sustainability Grant in a creative way, please tell us about by leaving a comment. If you are struggling with ideas, then let us know too – I’m sure we’ll be able to help get you inspired…

A night of celebrations for Holbrook Parish Plan Group

Posted on 2nd March 2011 by

Holbrook Parish Plan Group have been celebrating as one of their youngest members wins the Young Achievers Award.

The community nominated Emily Staton for the award because of all the dedication and hard work Emily showed when the group was fundraising for a new playground. When Emily was just 14 years old, she led a small group of teenagers to conduct a survey and present the results to the Holbrook Parish Plan Group requesting a refurbishment of a very dilapidated play area in their village.

Emily then led a presentation at a Parish Plan meeting to 80 residents, gaining full support from everyone attending. Following Emily’s hard work and perseverance, the community group secured £49,999 from Community Spaces to refurbish the tired and neglected play area.

Emily’s mum, Sue Staton said her daughter was over whelmed when she won the award. “It was such a great achievement for her. Emily was in complete shock that she had even been nominated, so when she won the award, it was a fantastic surprise. It is something she will treasure forever. Everyone in the community is so proud of her.”

Community group campaigns for their own urban oasis

Posted on 2nd March 2011 by

The Barnfield Estate Resident’s Committee have been working tirelessly to create their very own urban oasis in the middle of their Woolwich Common estate. The patch of green land, which is surrounded by social housing, acts as a back yard for most of the local residents and is in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods of South East London.

To read about the groups project visit from the Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund, Peter Wanless, visit our website.

A rewarding finish for a devoted mother!

Posted on 24th February 2011 by

 

A fantastic story on our website today about a mother of two who worked against the clock to secure £47,000 from Community Spaces.

Tracy Evans tells us how she juggled family life, application writing and event organising to secure the much needed funding for a new playground to be built in her busy community at St Margarets at Cliffe.

To read the full story, visit our website.

A grand opening for Avenue House Estate Trust

Posted on 22nd February 2011 by

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Michael Bear opened one of only 33 large projects funded by Community Spaces at the weekend.

Avenue House Estate Trust received £100,000 from Community Spaces to redevelop and restore their Victorian garden that was endanger of closing to the public.

To read more about the story, visit the news section on our website

Parents for Playgrounds

Posted on 17th February 2011 by

Readyforten

Robinsons Fruit Shoots are offering communities £15,000 to redevelop their tired and unloved playgrounds.

Parents can nominate any playground that they think is in desperate need for some TLC. The winning playgrounds will get a complete revamp by leading play experts.

You can find all the information about how to nominate a playground here.

The campaign closes for nominations on March 16th.

One group, four awards!

Posted on 11th February 2011 by

Community Spaces

Here at Community Spaces, we love to hear about community groups that have been recognised for their great achievements.

However, it is rare when we here about a group that has won four awards in the space of two years!

The Iremongers Pond Association was created two and a half years ago when they obtained the lease for Iremongers Pond in Nottingham. Over the past couple of years, the group and local volunteers have put a great deal of volunteering time and effort into improving the pond and it’s surroundings for both fishing, walking and natural enjoyment.

Back in November, the group received just over £21,000 from Community Spaces to create a walkway around the pond so people can enjoy walking safely around the area.

The group’s hard work and community involvement has meant that the group have won four community based awards.

The first award they won was the National Association of Neighbourhood Management, Cleaner and Greener Innovations Award back in 2009. 

Following this, the group went on to be in the highest awarding category for the East Midlands in Bloom competition for two years running.

Then, 2010 saw the group win a Green Flag Community Award, and already this year, the group have been awarded the ‘Clubmark for Angling’ award that recognises quality, well-managed angling clubs.

However, it’s not just community awards that the group are being nominated for. They have recently been short listed for the NVCO photo competition.

Julian Taylor, chairman of the Iremongers Pond Association took a photo (pictured above) of Bill Roughton, the groups secretary when he was cleaning out the pond, and it has been shorted listed for the photo competition.

Congratulations to the group for all their success and we look forward to seeing the finished project when it launches in May.