Fund Update
Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund Awards Record Breaking Sum
2024 has been record-breaking for Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund as it awards the biggest annual total since it launched in 2015. The total awarded was a massive £54,084 which was shared by 15 local groups.
In just nine years since its launch, the Fund has seen 118 projects benefit from over £362,000 in grant funding.
One group who secured a grant this year is Artful Make It Happen who received £2,000 towards the cost of Wardle Village Fete 2024. The Fete celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and despite extremely bad weather conditions, around 400 members of the community attended. The annual event provides a free, family day out in Wardle Village which is quite isolated, and brings together the whole local community. Attendees had on offer donkey rides, face painting, a fun dog show, free arts and crafts, free bubble shows, fantastic appearances from Hope the Hedgehog (an 8ft puppet) and lots more.
Rebecca Hilton, from Artful Make It Happen, said: “Thanks to the grant from the Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund we were able to bring high quality arts to Wardle Village Fete to help celebrate our 10th Birthday in style! This support to our project this year ensured we could create a bigger, better offer that was still free and accessible to all.”
Also celebrating their £4,400 grant award is Stronger Together Carers, a group who aim to provide unpaid carers and those who are cared for, and anybody in the locality who is feeling lonely and isolated, a place where they can come and talk to like-minded people. The group provide activities and a hot, home cooked lunch, whilst offering emotional and practical support in a warm, safe space.
That safe space is the Ashcroft in Whitworth, and the grant from the Crook Hill Community Fund will assist the group cover hire costs for the venue, training for volunteers, as well as providing equipment for the activities they offer.
Kath Proctor and Angela Forster, who founded the group said: “Stronger Together Carers are absolutely over the moon to be given the grant. This will make such a difference to the people we support. It will give us security for another year as we can pay a year’s rental. The other money will allow us to have more activities for the people we support.”
Also now able to start making plans for their event are The Friends of Todmorden Town Hall who will receive £5,000 towards the 150th anniversary of the Town Hall which will take place in Spring 2025.
Mike Stephens, Chair of The Friends of Todmorden Town Hall, said: “The Friends of Todmorden Town Hall are delighted to have been awarded this money from the Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund. This makes possible our ideas to create a memorable 150th anniversary of Todmorden Town Hall, and we are now commissioning some of our community organisations to create outstanding events for the celebrations. We got off to a flying start with a successful project launch and are very grateful for this support for our endeavours.”
The other projects being supported this year are:
- Whitworth Historical Society
- Upper Calder Valley Renaissance
- Littleborough Brass Band
- Wardle Anderson Brass Band
- Wardle Football Club
- Littleborough Food & Drink Festival
- Calder Valley Line Community Rail Partnership
- Hare Hill Park Bowling Club
- Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home
- Ebor Studio
- Whitworth Leisure Centre CIC
- Rotary Club of Rochdale East
The funding for the Community Fund is provided by Crook Hill Wind Farm, which is managed by independent investment firm, Vantage Infrastructure (www.vantageinfra.com), with support of Partnerships for Renewables (www.pfr.co.uk). The Fund launched in 2016 with £35,000 to award annually over the 20 – 25 year lifetime of the project. Donations to the Fund are index-linked, so can be expected to grow in size in most years. Groups located within a 5km radius of the wind farm can apply for grants of between £250 and £10,000.
The next application deadline is 19 February 2025 and to find who, what and where are eligible and how to apply, please click continue, below:
