Vital funding given to village community services

The Charnwood Borough Council grants see £3,300 going to Wymeswold Memorial Hall, £4.500 to Syston and District Volunteer Centre and £4,000 being handed to Age Concern Syston.

The Wymeswold building, on Clay Street, is used by a playgroup, exercise classes, clubs, parish council meetings and social gatherings while the Syston centre, on School Street, is a venue where elderly people gather to socialise and community groups meet.

The money is part of a £117,000 allocation being made by the authority to 39 organisations through its VCS Covid-19 recovery scheme.

It will help with the additional cost of personal protective equipment and cleaning, reopening of buildings and restarting or adapting services to meet current government guidelines.

Councillor Leigh Harper-Davies, the Council’s lead member for communities said: “We received a wide range of high-quality applications for the VCS Covid-19 grants and it is fantastic to be able to support so many different projects.

“We know funding can be difficult for these organisations and the voluntary sector was particularly impacted when many groups had to stop delivering services earlier this year due to the pandemic.

“These groups and projects deliver a variety of important services in our communities and I hope the funding they’ve been awarded can help them adapt their services to meet the needs of our residents once again.”