Knutsford Community Fund distributes over £107,000 of grants

A community fund launched by former Chancellor George Osborne has awarded over £107,000 of grants.

The Knutsford Community Fund has awarded grants to help support eight charities.

The fund provides the opportunity for philanthropists to pool resources with others to maximise charitable impact. 

The money is distributed by Cheshire Community Foundation to ensure that it gets to the places where it will truly make a difference.

The aim of the fund is to significantly increase the impact of existing local charities and to bring other charities into the town.

It was started thanks to the generosity of Portswigger, Pastest, Delamere Dairy, the Hogarth family, Monckton Properties Ltd (part of the Tatton Estate) and several benevolent families in the town. Mr Osborne, who was previously MP for Tatton, spoke at the launch event, held at Bentley Manchester.

Awards that have been allocated from the Knutsford Fund include:

The Welcome Community Centre – Awarded a £25,000 grant to support the annual salary costs for a Support Worker and a part contribution to the overall running costs of The Welcome. The Support Worker co-ordinates home visits to service users, manages volunteers, runs community activities and provides one-to-one assessment and advice, such as support with benefits/universal credit. http://www.thewelcome.org.uk/

Knutsford GROW – Operating in the Over ward, this group recruits volunteers and trains them to deliver gardening services to individuals who are unable to tend their own gardens, due to health conditions or frailty. The £7,915 grant pays for the salary costs of a professional co-ordinator who supports the volunteers with coaching and mentoring as well as the cost of gardening equipment. https://www.knutsfordgrow.org.uk/

Passion for Learning – Passion for Learning recruits and trains volunteers from the local community to work in schools with disadvantaged children, to improve educational attainment and raise aspirations. Following a successful partnership with Manor Park Primary, Passion for Learning is using their £9,123 grant to recruit and train 10 additional volunteers to work in other Knutsford schools, and will also cover the costs of books, games, craft and project materials which are bespoke to each child’s needs. https://passion-for-learning.com/

CVS Cheshire East - Awarded a grant of £9,765 for a pilot project to encourage young people aged 14-18 years into volunteering, with the aim of building confidence, gaining new skills and sharing existing ones. As part of the project, Abbeyfield Association would like a team of young people to teach their residents digital skills. This will help build confidence in young people, and learning new skills will be of great benefit to the older people living there, especially during these difficult times. https://www.cvsce.org.uk/

Cheshire Without Abuse. The charity has a vision of a healthy local community where everyone can live free from the fear of domestic abuse. Currently, they support around 1,500 adults and children from centres in Crewe and Macclesfield. A pilot project has been running a monthly clinic in Knutsford and feedback from participants has been that they would like this on a weekly basis, as it is in other areas. Their £17,779 grant will fund a part time worker, dedicated to the Knutsford area, based out of The Welcome. 150 advice clinic sessions and at least 200 peer support group places will be offered, with one-to-one support for those with more complex problems. https://www.mycwa.org.uk/

Just Drop In provides young people in the Macclesfield area with counselling and wellbeing services. It was recognised that young people in Knutsford were struggling to access free counselling support, so their £13,686 funding will provide digital counselling support as well as six face-to-face slots on Thursday evenings at The Welcome. http://www.justdropin.co.uk/

Healthbox’s project will help improve the mental health and wellbeing of elderly residents of Knutsford living with a mental health issue, isolated or shielding. 400 appointments will be provided to 50 people thanks to their £15,330 grant. https://www.healthboxcic.com/

Cheshire Wildlife Trust were awarded a £8,252 grant to support two six-week active conservation volunteering programmes for up to 15 people each, targeting those furthest from the job market, people struggling with health issues and long term conditions. The funding will pay for salary costs and volunteer expenses. https://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/

Zoe Sheppard, CEO of Cheshire Community Foundation, said: “We are delighted to have awarded grants from the Knutsford Community Fund to eight charities who are making a difference in their communities.

“Knutsford is widely regarded as affluent, but there are also pockets of serious disadvantage and deprivation where the life opportunities of adults and children are limited. Our fund aims to help address these issues.”

• For more information about Cheshire Community Foundation and the Knutsford Community Fund and how you can become involved, either as a donor or a supporter, call 01606 330607. 

Pictured - George Osborne launching Knutsford Fund earlier this year.