Four community groups have been awarded a total of £6,454* following a meeting of the Letchworth Committee on 9 March.
Made In Clay was awarded £2,169 towards the purchase of additional shelving to house the work created as it waits to be fired or dries out. As a community-orientated organisation the group creates access to creativity for those often excluded in society because of their additional needs or low income. The group currently have 50 people regularly attending each week and within the last year 120 people attended one-off events such as exhibitions and demonstrations. The grant will allow them to divert their reserves to the increase of running costs such as energy.
Debbie Bent from Made In Clay said: “Lots of people are really struggling at the moment. We want to keep prices as low as we can in order to make classes affordable to attend which means we don’t have an excess to improve the facilities or to weather any large increases in bills. We are very grateful for this support.”
Khalsa Youth Football Academy (pictured) was awarded £2,000 towards an additional Futsal project focusing on developing young leaders from different cultures and backgrounds aged 14 to 18. Futsal is similar to five-a-side football and played on a hard court, usually indoors. Due to over subscription on a recent young leaders’ project, the Academy want to provide another safe community hub which offers a platform for youngsters to play and become coaches and young leaders.
Bal Singh, from the Academy said: “We are delighted to be awarded this grant to help continue our work developing our participants in the community. Futsal and social education is an excellent way to develop young people and inspire communities.”
Garden City Samba was awarded £1,285 to provide online training resources in Brazilian carnival percussion music for existing and new band members. The group will use the grant to produce addition skills videos to keep members engaged and provide free instrument training to encourage new people to join. The group currently has 32 members and they have seen numbers increase as people look to join community groups after lockdown. Garden City Samba entertain the local community through performances.
Alison Fairchild, Secretary, said: “We are really so grateful for this support, it will help us to keep our members engaged and move the band forward musically. Anyone interested in joining the band can access resources on our website and get a flavour of the kind of music we play.”
Letchworth Garden City Bowls Club (pictured) was awarded £1,000 towards repairing the ditch around their bowls green at Norton Common. The ditch is an essential requirement of the playing area under the rules of the game, and without repair presented a health and safety issue that would have made the green unusable for formal matches. The club provides gentle sport and recreation opportunities to the local community.
Sue Sinclair, Club Secretary, said: “We are extremely grateful to the council for agreeing the grant. Maintaining the bowling green in a good and safe condition is important so that players and visitors can enjoy participating in or watching matches, which is a really pleasant way of enjoying an afternoon with friends and meeting new people. We are always pleased to welcome new members and will be holding an open day on Saturday 9 April between 10am and 3pm at the upper green at Norton Common.”
In addition, the committee extended its allocation of £2,000 to Wilbury and Icknield School Parents Association (WISPA) for a portacabin to store environmental project work including TerraCycle recycling streams, as it hadn’t been spent within a year.
Councillor Daniel Allen, North Herts Council’s Letchworth Committee Chair, said: "It’s fantastic that Letchworth has such a diverse range of active community groups, offering interesting activities for local people of all ages – from pottery to football, Brazilian percussion music to traditional bowls!”
More information: Community grants
*subject to completion of the necessary formalities
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