We have shared out £42,000 between 24 community groups and charities through our Community Dividend Fund

We have shared out £42,000 between 24 community groups and charities through our Community Dividend Fund

Twenty-four projects are celebrating after sharing £42,000 in the latest payout from our Community Dividend Fund.

Grants of between £100 and £5,000 are handed out every three months to a wide range of applicants.

The fund guarantees that at least one per cent of the Society’s trading profit is reinvested in local communities in a bid to help projects to thrive across its trading area of 16 counties from the Midlands to the east coast.

In Northamptonshire, Action for Asperger’s, based in Corby, has been awarded £4,050 to pay for the creation of special bags filled with sensory toys as part of its work offering specialist autism counselling for all ages.

The toys are used to relieve heightened emotional states and are for people aged from five up to 100 years old.

In Leicestershire, Farndon Fields Primary School, in Market Harborough, will use a maximum grant of £5,000 to completely transform its outdoor space. The work will see the creation of mud kitchens, den making areas, a sensory garden and an allotment for children to grow their own vegetables.

Burton and District Mind has been handed £2,600 to buy sofas, chairs and tables to revamp its group therapy room.

In the West Midlands, women, girls and disadvantaged groups will now be able to learn to train and work safely after not for profit social enterprise OLDP Community Interest were handed £2,800 to buy a scaffold tower.

Barbara Quarless, from the project, said: “The funding will help make a change in the lives of women and girls at grassroots level in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Birmingham.

“It will help us to offer support, training and equipment to women to start a career in the built environment where they are significantly underrepresented in the workforce.”

Droitwich Spa Meeting Centre has been awarded £2,500 for a new scheme aimed at helping people living with the illness bring back feelings, memories and abilities associated with their favourite tunes.

The grant will help pay for everything from MP3 players to earphones with the aim of making living with dementia easier and happier.

The fund has also supported local sports teamd, playgroups, village halls and a range of important charities and good causes.

Central England Co-operative Chief Executive Debbie Robinson said: “We are delighted that these great projects and good causes have been handed a grant for the fantastic work they do in the community.

“Community Dividend Fund grants like this showcase how by being a member and shopping at your local Central England Co-op store allows us as a Society to continue to invest and fund vital projects in the area.”

People can apply for funding by visiting https://communities.centralengland.coop/