Community Fund Closes with another £14,000 Awarded

THE 2023 Tameside Community Inspiration and Innovation Fund closed with another bumper pay-out.

Ten groups from the borough’s west neighbourhood – comprising Hattersley, Hyde and Longdendale – shared £14,000, taking the total awarded over the four events to more than £40,000.

Held at Hyde Chapel, the event was opened by Cllr Vimal Choksi, Tameside Council’s executive member for towns and communities, and strongly supported by ward councillors who included Betty Affleck, Shibley Alam, Phil Chadwick, Andrea Colbourne, Jim Fitzpatrick, Jacqueline North, Peter Robinson and Hugh Roderick.

The successful groups were Ark of Hope, £2,000; Community Bike Kitchen, £950; Croft Millennium Green Trust, £1,751; Hattersley Community Big Garden, £1,600; LEAP, £2,000; Mottram Parish Church, £1,000; POP, £1,680; Prime Active Communities, £950; Sandwich Angels, £1,000; Wildflower Community Garden, £1,560.

To qualify for a grant, community groups and charities needed a project based around one or more of four themes: Keeping people safe, preventing and reducing youth anti-social behaviour, strengthening communities through green spaces, supporting poverty and vulnerability.

Cllr Choksi said: “The south neighbourhood event at Hyde Chapel provided a fitting end to what has been a highly successful programme.

“I would like to thank the entire community safety team for their dedication in making the four events go so well. They did an amazing job in working with so many groups and stakeholders to make sure there was the widest-possible participation and the scheme’s benefits reached all areas of the borough.

“The whole idea of the community inspiration and innovation fund was to help the groups and charities that do so much worthwhile work in our borough. With more than £40,000 awarded, I think we can safely say we succeeded in that aim.”