Castle Cary community groups celebrate grant boost

There was cause for joint celebration as the organisers of four special community projects in Castle Cary and Ansford area met for the first time on Monday, having all benefited from special grants awarded by The Somerset Community Foundation last year.

As well as direct support for Help the Aged activities in the area, grants totalling £6,000 have enabled new sports, dance and circus skills workshops to be introduced by The Castle Cary Out of School Club and provided support for a new mobile Youth Club –called the ReAct Bus – operated by The Linx Project. Children of 8 to 18 years of age, who have learning or behavioural issues, are now also able to undertake practical environmental conservation activities as a result of the financial injection awarded to The Carymoor Environmental Trust.

Along with Justin Sargent, Director of The Somerset Community Foundation, representatives from all four charities visited the Head Office of Crown Pet Foods in Castle Cary to say a personal thank you to the senior management of the company which had provided the grant funding.

“We’re absolutely delighted,” says Steve Baker from The Linx Project, a small local charity managed by local churches to provide activities for disadvantaged young people in the area. “Thanks to the grant support, our mobile youth club project has got off to a great start and is proving very popular with children between 11 and 18 years of age. Youngsters can just drop into the ReAct Bus to enjoy a range of diversionary activities and learn more about the risks of drug and alcohol mis-use, sexual health and much more.”

Frances Stuart of The Carymoor Environmental Trust, says the grant has meant a great deal to the Trust as it seeks to broaden involvement of youngsters in its pioneering habitat creation and land restoration work. “Our grant has helped us to improve the availability of the Community Officer and also to cover some of the costs for bringing small groups of children over to our site to give them a practical insight into the challenges and fulfilment of conservation work. We’re really pleased that up to 50 additional young people will benefit from this new initiative thanks to the contribution made by Crown Pet Foods.”

For the Castle Cary Out of School Club, the grant award has helped the group to make the most of their recent move into purpose-built premises, which has created scope for a wider range of stimulating activities for 4-14 year olds, both after school and during the school holidays. As well as helping towards the cost of sports, dance and circus skills workshops, the grant is also helping the group to introduce new IT equipment.

The local Age Concern group is using the new grant to support its range of core activities in the area, ranging from information and advice and a special befriending scheme to support for volunteer technicians and Somerset Advocacy.

“Although we have provided some direct support for local educational and sports activities over the past few months, we’re delighted that our earlier decision to work with The Somerset Community Foundation has proved to be so beneficial for the selected charities,” says Alex Chadwick from Crown Pet Foods. “It is particularly pleasing to see that our support is delivering very real benefits to both younger and older members of our local community who are being helped by the various charitable groups.”

The Somerset Community Foundation

The Somerset Community Foundation was set up in 2002 to provide a new, independent funding body to tackle poverty and disadvantage throughout Somerset. The Foundation supports a very wide range of charitable causes across Somerset, which means it can respond to the specific and changing needs of each community. In addition, it provides a flexible, professional and personal ‘donor service’ to a wide range of donors, enabling them to achieve their specific charitable goals within Somerset. At the heart of The Foundation’s approach is a strong belief in the importance of helping communities respond to their local circumstances in their own way.

Castle Cary Out of School Club

A registered charity set up to provide childcare and play activities for children aged 4 to 14 both after school and during school holidays. Each session provides for up to 24 young people to promote stimulating craft and play activities and promote social inclusion.

The Linx Project

A small local charity managed by churches in the area to provide activities for disadvantaged young people. The grant was awarded towards the running costs of a “portable youth club”, the ReAct Bus.

Age Concern – Somerset

A registered charity whose aims are to promote the wellbeing of people aged 60+ to make later life a fulfilling and enjoyable experience.

Carymoor Environmental Trust

A registered charity located on the edge of a working landfill site. The group carry out pioneering land restoration and habitat creation work and operate a site based waste education programme delivering to over 3500 visiting school children each year.