More than 50 community groups across Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Stockport and Tameside have had their work boosted thanks to support from Locala Health and Wellbeing’s Community Fund 2022/23.
A total of almost £80,000 was allocated this year from the Community Fund which is part of Locala’s work as a not-for-profit social enterprise, meaning any surpluses are invested back into services or into community projects.
The Game Changerz , Kirklees
£1500
Provide multi-sports clubs, youth hubs and a safe place for young people. Funding will go towards teaching young people the essential skills for cooking food on a budget which they can then share with family and friends.
Young At Heart, Kirklees
£2446
Supporting the elderly, socially isolated and those with mental health problems. Funding will help provide weekly get-togethers with friends, where they play games, do crafts, go on excursions and chat.
Friends of Ravenshall
£1500
Group of parents, carers, grandparents and staff raising funds to enhance provision for pupils with complex learning difficulties. Funding will help transform three outdoor areas which are accessible to the general public to create spaces that people want, love and thrive in.
Jigsaw Enterprise Training
£1350
Supporting people with a disability or a health condition. Funding will provide services including holistic therapies, training, workshops, 1:1 support, advocacy and social groups.
Sensory World
£1508
A multi-sensory play centre for children and young people. Ideal for those with autism and ADHD. Funding will provide a 10 week drumming course. Weekly silent disco, for those with limited social skills and who struggle with noisy environments.
Birstall Knit and Natter
£500
Friendly group bringing people together and raising funds for local charities. To buy wool, buttons and toy stuffing, to make knitted items to raise funds for local charities.
Umbrella Yoga
£1500
Brings communities together through yoga, improving physical and emotional wellbeing. Provide yoga sessions to people with additional mental and physical needs. Funding will provide 14 community yoga sessions.
Hilal-Bosnian Cultural Society
£1495
Run and led by volunteers. Benefits the community by advancement of education, provision of recreational, religious and leisure time activities, with the aim of improving lives. Funding will help set up an outdoor community garden/allotment, to get members active and socialising, improve physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Fairfield School
£1275
Provide quality provision and learning experiences for students 4 to 19 years, which is both appropriate and personalised in meeting a wide range of complex needs. Funding will go towards a sensory spinner to complement the sensory area, which is part of a bigger development of the outside playground area.
New Horizons Scouts
£1000
Scout group for Asian Muslim children, including some from under privileged backgrounds, age 6-14 years. Funding will go towards paying for weekly sessions, allowing Leaders to be more adventurous without having to charge parents.
Oasis Care Support Services
£1500
Support people from predominantly African and African Caribbean backgrounds. Aim to reduce loneliness by offering support with physical, mental and social issues. Money will go towards Wellbeing workshops: menopause, prostate cancer, diabetes, footcare, blood pressure and glucose monitoring, Covid discussions, eating well, living well, long-term conditions etc.
The Nest Holmfirth
£1000
Community parenting space. Offer baby weighing, infant feeding support and help with any aspect of the parenting journey. Run classes and drop-ins. Providing financial support towards Maternal Circle, which gives mums the chance to talk about highs and lows of parenting and feel supported by their peers. Creative activity, to aid relaxation and provide a focus as they chat. Funding is for venue hire.
Birstall Community Partnership
£500
Founded by local people, run with local volunteers – aiming to provide food for anyone who may need it and bring the community together. Funding will provide additional items to add to the food share i.e. toiletries, feminine products etc. Will also go towards vouchers used in the local shops.
Cleckheaton Foodbank
£1500
Provide emergency food parcels to local people in need. Funding will go towards food and household essentials for emergency food parcels for local people.
Cloverleaf Advocacy 2000 Ltd
£1000
A single point of contact for 6,000+ unpaid carers. Help carers navigate health and social care, build support networks and help them maintain their caring role as long as they wish to, while maintaining health and wellbeing. Funding will go towards two Sanctuary Days for unpaid carers to provide a much-needed respite from caring and allow them to recharge.
Friends of Batley Library in partnership with More in Common
£1500
Together in Batley (newspaper) informs people about activities of voluntary groups such as child care and support, sports teams, community support groups and youth activities. Feature articles about groups, celebrate local activities all helping change negative dialogue by their positive attitude to Batley and the brilliant things happening. Online but paper copies are distributed through Food Banks, the library, the park cafe etc. Financial aid will help contribute to publication of 2 issues of the paper.
Friends of Oakwell Hall and Country Garden
£1500
Fundraise and support community development/events, including a New Sensory Garden designed/co-delivered with 16-18 year additional needs students of Ravens Hall School Preparing for Adulthood Centre. Funding will help development of wheelchair accessible raised beds and support a series of workshops led by the Oakwell Hall Rangers and other specialists.
From Tiny Seeds Community
£1051.07
Group offering Baby Massage, Healthy Eating and Parenting courses. Supporting families and people on low income with social limitations. Financial support will provide safe space for vulnerable families to relax and play with their children to be available 3 times a week in term time.
Groovy Granny’s
£1000
Promote social, emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. Provide weekly session for elderly ladies at the Al Hikma Centre. Funding will help provide more therapy related sessions (e.g. massages, yoga, fitness, holistic therapy etc) as well as outings.
Huddersfield Community First
£2446
Providing social, educational and recreational facilities for young people and adults to bring change. Build bridges between communities through inter-faith projects. Undertake outreach work to help and encourage disadvantaged members of the community. Financial support will aid in purchase food for individuals sleeping rough and families experiencing financial difficulties.
iAspire2
£1500
Empower young people to have the ability, maturity and assertiveness to stand up for themselves and not bow down to peer pressure. Run activity sessions to increase awareness and provide insight into the police, justice and prison systems. Funding will cover travel to venues, staff to deliver sessions and monitor and evaluate the short and mid term impact of the project.
Legacy Sport Kirklees
£1500
Specialist sports coaching. Work outside of school hours within the local community providing sports sessions in the evenings and a full range of sports and activities for children to take part in during school holidays. Funding will provide free school holiday activity sessions, targeting families in hardship.
MEDO (Muslim Elderly Disabled Organisation)
£1400
Local group who provide meals for the elderly and disabled, provide board games, and health and wellbeing advice from various bodies like NHS. Funding will help towards tutor hire, equipment for sewing classes, plates cups, refreshments, transport, cleaning and washing.
Pursuit of Happiness
£1500
Work to make Huddersfield and surrounding areas, a more harmonious place where the Black community can thrive, making a difference for the African Diaspora across Kirklees. Funding provided will go towards the Windrush Pop-Up Museum’ in June in Huddersfield Town Centre to mark the 75th anniversary since the arrival of the ship Empire Windrush. Opportunity for elders, younger Windrush generations and the wider community to reminisce with their family and friends.
Shared Goods Charity
£1500
Local clothing bank for asylum seekers and refugees. Offer interpreting and a warm welcome with a friendly team of volunteers. Provide refreshments and encourage people to stay and chat, to identify if there are any further ways they can help or signpost to other specialist organisations. Financial aid towards funding volunteer travel expenses and refreshments for volunteers and clients.
The Crescent & Co (Yorkshire)
£1500
Bring people together from all parts of the community, to combat isolation and loneliness. Funding will help provide Fabulous Friday: warm safe place, providing hot drinks and refreshments, offering activities, crafting, games, wellbeing sessions and mini treatments, or just a cuppa and a chat and signposting.
Youth Matters Kirklees
£2446
Working with young people and the community. Youth clubs offer a friendly, inclusive and warm space to fill the social, personal and educational development needs young people require to be happy and healthy. Funding will support youth club sessions, would also help to expand limited resources and put on better activities and learning for young people.
Huddersfield Ukrainian Club
£1500
Develop, promote and support the interests of the Ukrainian community. Funding will support the ‘Community Cabin’ for older children to play games, pool, read, watch television and have space to engage with people of the same age within our community.
Huddersfield Crisis Pregnancy Centre - operating as Talkthru, also working in Calderdale
£1500
Specialist counselling service for women and men facing pregnancy choices, loss of a pregnancy or baby and other pregnancy-related issues. Services are offered free of charge, asking only for a contribution if it can be afforded. Funding will provide sessional counsellor for 6 hours per week 45 weeks of the year, to reduce waiting times for clients, which is widely believed to bring better outcomes for birth mothers and their families, as mental health is supported before deteriorating further.
Halifax Wheelchair Rugby League Club
£2346
One of wheelchair sport’s most successful teams. A community club, run and played by people from the local area and open to everyone. Funding will aid towards venue hire to allow games to be played.
Calderdale Wheelchair Basketball Club
£1400
Mixed ability sport club where people with a physical disability compete with those who don't. Funding will aid towards venue hire.
Happy Days Cycles
£1500
Raises money to support its Community Living schemes, which provides supported accommodation for the homeless. Sell, repair and service bikes and profits go to help 100 residents in supported accommodation. Funding provided will cover staff costs for out of hours guided rides and maintenance classes.
Spotlight Faith Group
£1489.25
Working to reduce poverty, inequalities and challenge mental health stigmatisation amongst the Black community, refugees, and asylum seekers. Funding will provide fridges, bedding and toiletries for refugees and asylum seekers without means of income.
Volunteering Bradford
£1499
Inclusive volunteering project, supporting people with additional needs and those who face barriers accessing volunteering. Funding will support 'Link Up Letters' which recruits volunteer to write to socially isolated people and care home residents. Funds will help increase number of writers and offer letters to people who don't live in care homes; provide workshops and training to support the development of volunteer letter writers’ skills.
Burley-in-Wharfedale Men's Shed
£1500
Community spaces for men to connect, converse and create. Activities similar to those of garden sheds - woodworking and DIY. Help reduce loneliness and isolation, providing an opportunity for men to make new friends, share and learn new skills. Funding will help towards the Plan and build the Shed project- a workshop with a social area.
Friends of Hoyle Court Association
£1350
Group of volunteers raising funds to provide opportunities for pupils and children, and to support families who need help. Funding will provide trained professionals to run four free after-school clubs per week until the end of the summer term.
Shipley Memories Group
£1500
Meet weekly to entertain, educate and support members who live with Dementia and/or associated illnesses, and their carers, loved ones, friends or colleagues. Funding would provide equipment to promote social interaction, art and craft materials and refreshments.
Birkenshaw Bluedogs
£1500
Rugby league for 3 to 60+ years. Recently expanded to have a girls junior section. Funding would provide 10 taster session to bring rugby league to a wider audience in the community who don't normally play: women and girls, and ethnic minority communities.
Bradford Disability Football Club
£1500
Weekly training sessions, competitive league games and tournaments, plus social events and activities. Funding will aid towards setting up a tournament for disability football teams from across the UK, to showcases disability football. Funding will cover venue hire and trophies. Opportunity for people with disabilities to meet new people.
Catholic Care
£1500
Support the marginalised in society. Funds provided would supply food and toiletries to those in need, with a weekly community market for anyone to attend.
The Greenspace Volunteers
£1500
Maintain and improve greenspaces, engaging with local communities and encouraging them to take pride in their local slice of greenery. Greenspace in Brinnington has fallen into neglect and the funding provided would be spent on area clearing, bench repair for a quiet viewing site, topsoil to place around an unsightly concrete manhole, a waste bin and generally improve the area.
Cheadle Heath Community Association
£2000
Manage the Rose Walker Community Centre, which is home to a free to access community drop-in supporting around 60 people per week, rising during school holidays, with additional activities in the centre and the adjacent park and sports area.
Funds would provide provision of free or low cost activities for the whole community during school holidays, also towards packed lunches, craft resources and other activities.
Coffee, Chill and Spill
£1500
Local focus group supporting mums, Funding would provide drinks, toast and snacks for mums who often come out without breakfast, as well as toys and activities for children.
Itsherstory
£1250
Promote women with particular emphasis on under-represented Lesbian, non-binary, Black, Asian and Muslim women. Delivering projects, events and workshops for women by women.Funding will provide essential 12-week programme 'AchieveHER', combines free face to face activities and workshops and online coaching, for women experiencing barriers to employment and personal wellbeing.
Ambitions
£1500
Provides social activities (discos, social club, sports activities etc.) and improving skills activities (reading, IT, money recognition etc.) to young adults with learning and physical disabilities. Funds would provide monthly pottery sessions and arts and crafts materials.
Dukinfield Moravian Hamper Outreach Project
£2000
Help for families in poverty, or coping with separation, domestic abuse, homelessness, and mental health issues. Provide food hampers and clothes, bedding, toiletries, and personal hygiene products. Funding will support and provide food hampers to local needy families.
2nd Dukinfield Scout Group (Beavers)
£1200
Share hall with the Old Chapel Congregation, Unity Stage School and other scouting sections. Funds will aid in replacing the cooker in the kitchen which will benefit all hall users, and recycling of the old cooker.
Infinity Initiatives Community Football Team
£1400
Work on the ethos of providing access to activities for all no matter what their ability, health, background or social or financial status. Funding would support new women's team purchasing training equipment and away kit and hire training grounds.
Oasis Broadoak Community Hub
£1500
Engage in various community projects and sessions, holding activities such as cook and eat, baby babble, yoga and Zumba, and craft sessions. Funding will go towards aiding and increasing opening from 3 to 7 days a week.
Tameside Community Computers
£5000
Collect unwanted tech, laptops, desktops, monitors etc, refurbish them and donate back to charities and community groups to help children and young adults gain access to technology. Funding towards work tackling digital exclusion and digital poverty. Spare parts to repair donated laptops,
Tameside People 4 Wildlife
£1500
Dedicated to the protection of wildlife and community activities based around wildlife. As well as wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. Activities include tree planting, pond dipping, bat walks, wildlife walks and talks, recycling and upcycling to reduce wastage. Funding will go towards creating an area for volunteers to use and access for learning and education. Funding may also be used to positively impact the surrounding areas by providing such things as bat and bird boxes and access to a pond.
Support In Later Life, AKA Fit Over Fifty
£978.50
Support people in later life, mainly the over 50s, providing reminiscence sessions to help with isolation, wellbeing, provoking memoires and new friendships. Funds would provide five weekly reminiscence sessions, with subjects such as home life, work, entertainment and fashion, using items from the 1940s to 1960s as a point of discussion, along with a quiz related to the subject matters.
