Public vote decides £20,000 charity windfall (From Andover Advertiser)
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Have Your Say grants given out in Basingstoke
1:10pm Sunday 17th March 2013 in Basingstoke By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter
MORE than £20,000 has been given out to community projects and charities in Basingstoke and Deane.
The Have Your Say grants have been funded by Hampshire County Council and were awarded through a public ballot organised by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Basingstoke Voluntary Services. The grants are aimed at helping community groups and voluntary organisations to improve their local community, and the process gives local people the chance to decide which projects receive the funding.
A total of 27 groups were awarded a grant of between £200 and £1,000, totalling £22,847. The recipients include Helping Hands for the Blind, The Warren Youth Club, Basingstoke NeighbourCare, Basingstoke Multicultural Forum, The Friends of Whitchurch Silk Mill, Basingstoke in Bloom and The Café Project.
Basingstoke Food Bank was given a £1,000 Have Your Say grant. The service was launched in Basingstoke by charity Trussell Trust and operates from the Trinity Methodist Church in Sarum Hill every Wednesday and Friday from 10.30am to 2.30pm, giving out food to those in crisis. The system relies on food donations given by schools, churches, businesses and individuals. People in need of the food donations can collect them from the bank by handing over a voucher, which is given to them by a care professional, such as a doctor, health visitor, social worker or police.
In Whitchurch, the Whitchurch Association was awarded a £300 grant to help set up a new project for people with Alzheimer’s. The charity will launch a new service at the Gill Nethercott Centre, in Winchester Street, called Singing for the Brain, and has also received an anonymous donation of £700, plus £1,000 from the Whitchurch Welfare Trust, towards the project.
Harriet Titcomb, chairman of the Whitchurch Association, said: “At the moment, we are hoping to set up weekly Singing for the Brain sessions for Alzheimer’s sufferers and their carers.
“There’s nothing like this outside of Basingstoke. It has a proven success rate. There’s evidence to prove that Alzheimer’s sufferers remember words to songs more readily than other memory.
“There are also other benefits such as getting out of the house and meeting other people. It’s for their carers too – it must be very hard work and it will provide all sorts of relief.”
