Warwickshire News Mine

It follows approval by Warwick Area Committee. The projects include family counselling in Lillington, a local history project in Sydenham and a new Youth Café at St Paul’s Church in Leamington.

Councillor Sarah Boad, Chair of Warwick Area Committee, said: “The Community Development Fund aims to help communities, especially in more disadvantaged areas of the county, tackle issues of local concern.

“Competition for grants from the Community Development Fund is always high, but Warwick Area Committee is delighted to grant financial support for these eight commendable projects in Warwick district.”

The eight projects to benefit in Warwick district are:

Project: Family Counselling - Lillington
Organisation: RELATE
Funding: £5,000

RELATE applied for funding to provide a new Family Counselling Service that will aim to create lasting improvements in relationships and communications between individuals and families. The project will be based at Leamington Parents’ Centre at Lillington Primary School and will benefit families who have been experiencing a detrimental impact from issues such as unresolved disagreements and family break ups.

Project: Lillington Community Bench Project
Organisation: Lillington Community Action Forum
Funding: £5,000
This project is about working with young people in Lillington to divert their energies from anti-social behaviour into a creative arts project. The groundwork for this has already been completed – young people have consulted with Lillington residents and the community bench has been designed. This funding will go towards building and installing the bench near the Crown Way shops in Lillington. 

Project: Sydenham History Project
Organisation: Sydenham Neighbourhood Initiatives Ltd.
Funding: £4,610

Sydenham Neighbourhood Initiatives Ltd. applied for funding to provide new opportunities for people in the local community to get involved in a fun and interesting project that will encourage involvement from across the community. The project will aim to discover the colourful history that Sydenham had before the estate started being built and document people’s memories about the changes to the estate since they arrived.

Project: P.E.P.P.E.R.S. (Percy and Emscote Parent Peer Empowerment and Research Scheme)
Organisation: The GAP, Warwick
Funding: £4,993

The GAP applied for funding to develop a project that will recruit, support and develop parents through mentoring, skills development, training and support. The main aim of the P.E.P.P.E.R.S. project will be to engage with parents on the Percy and Emscote estates who don’t normally access such support. It will provide them with training and development that will enable them to better support their children’s development, gain qualifications in key skills, access a range of advice and counselling and offer them volunteering opportunities.

Project: Play and Stay
Organisation: Bath Place Community Venture
Funding: £4,700

This project will encourage local people, primarily from the Leamington Brunswick area, to develop, manage and run the Play and Stay scheme based at Bath Place Community Venture. The Play and Stay scheme currently provides strong but informal group support for all those who go along, equipping parents and carers with the skills they need so they can manage their children’s development.

Project: Quench Youth Café
Organisation: St Paul’s Church Youth Department
Funding: £5,000

St Paul’s Church Youth Department applied for funding to develop a youth café aimed at 11 to 18 year olds in the local community and schools. After consulting local young people, the church found that while the majority of teenagers had plenty to do with choices of midweek clubs, they struggled when it came to the weekend. Café ‘Quench’ will initially open on Saturday afternoons, serving snacks and drinks and offering activities such as free internet access, games consoles, workshops, band rehearsal space and more.

Project: Well Women
Organisation: The Link Project
Funding: £5,000

This project will aim to improve the physical and emotional well being of women living in Lillington by encouraging them to take part in community activities. A 30-week programme will be developed consisting of physical activity sessions, nutrition and healthy cooking sessions and creative activity sessions. There will also be weekly drop-in sessions, all with the aim of increasing women’s confidence and self-esteem.

Project: Urban Art
Organisation: Sydenham Neighbourhood Initiatives Ltd.
Funding: £3,599

This project will bring together young people in the Sydenham area to work on a piece of art that is relevant to them and also enhances the communal environment. It will be based at the SYDNI Centre, which has been subjected to an increase in vandalism in recent months. SYDNI volunteers were keen to find a way to engage local youths in a positive project and one young local person has already been involved in putting together a proposal for the Urban Art project.

Link to WCC