Green-fingered children at an after-school club and a charity providing vital support to young families are among four groups in Warwickshire to share a slice of £4,000 funding.
Stockton Community Garden Project has received £400 from The Wigley Group to replace a greenhouse used by children after it was sadly destroyed by storms in February.
Home-Start South Warwickshire also received £1,108 to fund volunteers to support three South Warwickshire families who require social or physical support and are currently on a waiting list for help.
The funds have been donated in the latest round of the Wigley Community Fund, which was set up by Warwickshire property firm The Wigley Group to support causes within a five-mile radius of its HQ in Stockton.
James Davies, Chief Executive Officer of The Wigley Group and chairman of the Wigley Community Fund, said: “We have always been keen to support a number of charitable organisations through events held or supported by our own staff, and others such as our annual Golf Day.
“The Wigley Community Fund was set up as we wanted to help support the many good causes close to our home in Stockton, and it is our pleasure that we have been able to help these latest four groups with funding.”
Stockton Community Garden Project is run by a group of older residents in Stockton every Tuesday at Stockton Primary School, and teaches children the skills to grow their own vegetables and learn about the food they eat, whilst also providing a chance for different generations to mix.
When their greenhouse was destroyed by storms, the community rallied together to raise £1,000 through an online appeal, with a £400 shortfall met by The Wigley Community Fund.
Group member Howard Collerson said: “When the storm came it blew one end of the greenhouse completely off so we were all devastated.
“We could have bought another greenhouse with the initial money raised but it wouldn’t have been as good and it would have been too small, so the Wigley grant was vital to us and will make a huge difference to the children.”
Home-Start South Warwickshire was set-up in 2019 by Marie Ashford and Mel Pritchard and helps young families through challenges ranging from mental health, post-natal depression, loneliness, or domestic abuse, but has sadly seen demand rise.
Their grant will allow them to send three additional trained volunteers to families with children five years and under, to provide two hours of support each week at their own homes.
Community partnerships manager Jemma Bonner said: “This year our referrals have tripled as we come out of the Covid pandemic and more people are aware of our services.
“We have a number of people on our waiting list and not enough trained volunteers to match with them.
“We are so thankful for this funding as we would not be able to survive without these types of community grants, and for an organisation like us this donation is huge.”
Elsewhere, Long Itchington Cricket Club received £1,244 to purchase four new picnic benches to increase the club’s capacity for spectators at Whitehall Farm.
And Proactive Young People - a not-for-profit community organisation which supports young people and adults aged 11-25 into employment - received more than £1,000 to fund a new website to enable them to reach more people.
Applications for the next round of funding open in September, with details available on www.thewigleygroup.com/about/csr/wigley_community_fund.aspx.