Community Grants awarded in April 2023

Woodley Town Council awards community grants to support local community organisations

Woodley Town Council’s Strategy & Resources Committee has awarded the following community organisations a Community Grant to help support their continued work for the residents of Woodley.

We are pleased to be supporting the following local community organisations through our Community Grant funding:

• 1st Woodley Boys’ Brigade – £250 – to update and replace aging sports and camping equipment.
• Woodley Bowling Club – £250 – to pay towards new frames to display competition winners, the replacement of old light fittings to LED, and new metal shutters on the entrance. 
• Community Hopeline CIC – £250 – to purchase promotional material to be used across Woodley to highlight the organisation’s services and projects. 
• Woodley Festival of Music and Arts – £250 – to pay towards the cost of venue and piano hire, and adjudicator and other professional fees. 
• Woodley Volunteers for our Community – £250 – to cover the costs of hiring the Oakwood Centre for an event.

Members of the groups were invited to speak at the Council’s Annual Meeting on 16 May.

Dylan Harman, Captain of 1^st Woodley’s Boys Brigade said: “Thank you from all of us at the Brigade for the grant. This will go towards new camping and sports equipment. It is important to be able to take the boys camping and give them the opportunity to try new sports, which helps them to build friendships, improve their wellbeing and develop lifelong life skills.”

Stephen Treeves, Treasurer of Woodley Bowling Club said: “Thank you for this generous grant. As a self-funded club, this will help us to continue to run, providing local residents with the opportunity to play in a social environment.” Next year is the club’s 60^th anniversary.

Karen Smith, founder and managing director of Community Hopeline CIC, said: “This grant is very important and will help our volunteers to bring the Youthscope project to Woodley and help resource our parent support group to help them cope with children with mental health issues. Thank you very much for your generosity.”

Fiona Fisher and Angela Roberts from Woodley Festival of Music & Arts, said: “This generous grant is important to help us financially to put on the festival, which we are delighted is held at the Oakwood Centre each year, but also is a nod that we are doing something good for the local community. We hope to reach more children across Woodley.”

Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, thanked all of the speakers, congratulated them for their awards and wished them all the best. 

Separate to the Annual Meeting, Ronnie Goodberry, one of the founders of Woodley Volunteers for our Community, said: “I’d like to thank the Council for its generous grant, which helped us to celebrate our 1 millionth item collected. Thank you to the Council and all those in Woodley who volunteer and donate so that we can continue to support Woodley residents.”