Eleven groups across Leicestershire handed nearly £20,000 funding boost thanks to Central England Co-op
Posted by rob smyth | Published: 09/01/2019
Eleven projects in Leicestershire are celebrating after sharing nearly £20,000 in the latest payout from Central England Co-operative’s Community Dividend Fund.
A wide range of groups, organisations and charities were handed grants, with a total of £40,000 handed out to 26 good causes across 16 counties.
A total of £5,000 has been handed to St Matthews Big Local to help the community hub completely rebuild its toilets to help more than 2,000 residents and 200 volunteers who use the building all year round.
Simon Johnson, Charity Manager, said: “Without this financial support, as a small charity, we would not have been able to achieve this within our existing funds.
“Our toilets facilities are used by the young, elderly and members of our community with limited mobility. With this kind of support the facilities will be fit for purpose for many years to come.”
Leicester Transport Heritage Trust will use £1,000 to fund a special project to support people with dementia. The project will see the creation of special memory boxes in the shape of buses and packed full of memorabilia.
These will then be taken around hospitals, care homes and memory cafes to help people battling with dementia remember Leicester’s rich road transport heritage.
Mike Greenwood, Director of Archives and Research at the Leicester Transport Heritage Trust, said: “This is wonderful news. We are very grateful to the Central England Co-op Community Dividend Fund for their grant which will be really helpful in our quest to help improve the wellbeing of people living with dementia in our local community.”
Waterloo Community Garden, in Market Harborough, works with schools to show how to grow and harvest food.
It will use £2,765 to pay for various items from new gates to benches to help ensure the project continues throughout 2019 and beyond.
Vista works with over 12,500 children and adults impacted by sight loss across Leicestershire. It produces a range of publications in audio format so people can listen at home. A grant of £3,460 will now be used to produce and distribute the Leicester Mercury to subscribers for the next 12 months.
Sibbertoft Reading Room, in Market Harborough, has been awarded over £2,000 to pay for the replacement of vital heaters.
Saffron Athletics Club will use £1,600 to pay for vital new equipment sourced from America to help improve standards for its members.
Shepshed Volunteer Centre has been handed £1,650 to pay for supplies to support its wellbeing garden.
The 42nd Leicester (Glenfield) Scout Group will have a brand new car park created thanks to a grant of £1,000.
Great Glen Hedgehog Preservation Group has been handed £250 to pay for a new gazebo that will allow the group to showcase its efforts to raise awareness about hedgehogs and their needs.
The 8th Leicester Brownies will spend £100 on new resources that will provide all members with a new book that will help them take part in a range of different activities and gain several new skills.
Central England Co-operative Chief Executive Martyn Cheatle said: “We are delighted that these great projects and good causes have been handed a grant for the fantastic work they do in the community.”
The fund guarantees that at least one per cent of the Society’s trading profit is reinvested in local communities in a bid to help projects to thrive across its trading area of 16 counties from the Midlands to the east coast.
People can apply for funding by visiting https://communities.centralengland.coop/
Notes to editors
Picture caption: Members of groups in Leicestershire celebrated being handed their grant from the Central England Co-operative Community Dividend Fund at Glenfield Food Store.
About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK.
It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with the Society’s principal areas of activity being food, funeral services, travel shops, and property investment.
Central England Co-operative has over 400 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2018.
Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility. It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence. The Society supports a number of charities including Dementia UK and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop
For more information visit www.centralengland.coop, follow Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140
Email –publicrelations@centralengland.coop