News - Successful partnership leads to CWVA distributing funds to its members

Cheshire West Voluntary Action (CWVA) has helped the Anne Duchess of Westminster Fund hand out grants worth £9,000 in total to local community projects in west Cheshire.

This fund supports charitable projects supporting people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing, those living in disadvantaged communities and learning and training in either Cheshire, the Highlands of Scotland or through equine charities across the UK. These are all areas that Anne, Duchess of Westminster, either lived or had an interest in.

As the go-to organisation for the community sector in west Cheshire, CWVA distributes many different grants on behalf of local, regional and national funders, making sure funds are used effectively and the support available for local people is maximised.

The following projects have been supported through the Anne Duchess of Westminster Fund.

• Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) Chester – supporting people bereaved or affected by suicide.
• Hope Farm Trefoil Guild – helping reduce loneliness and isolation by doing someone’s shopping, giving them a lift, bringing people together for activities or trying something new.
• Winsford Youth and Community Forum – social activities and home-cooked, freshly-prepared food for older people in Winsford to reduce loneliness and isolation and improve health and wellbeing.
• Pantry for Blacon and Blacon Beacon – social supermarket in a disadvantaged area, providing food parcels and much more by signposting people to other agencies for help.
• GGO Community Group – weekly women’s activity group, creating friendships, receiving advice and reducing isolation and loneliness.
• Thrive Cheshire – social gatherings for adults experiencing chronic pain, access to mental health first aiders and managing health and wellbeing.
• Cycling Without Age Chester – trained volunteers providing free rides to the elderly or disabled on specially adapted trishaws, reducing loneliness and isolation and improving health and wellbeing.
• Wilderness Tribe – an eight-week bushcraft and outdoor skills course for men to improve their mental health.
• Here and Now – social activities for older people in Blacon to improve health and wellbeing and reduce loneliness and isolation.
• Little Actors Theatre – intergenerational theatre in Neston, using the arts to improve health and wellbeing and reduce loneliness and isolation.
• St Thomas and All Saints Church (Ellesmere Port) – community project in a disadvantaged area, food and activities for families during school holidays, improving health and wellbeing and reducing loneliness and isolation.

Joanne Stanton, Senior Development Officer at CWVA, said: “We’re delighted to have distributed grants on behalf of the Anne Duchess of Westminster Fund for the first time, building on a successful partnership we’ve had over many years.  

“Our members do so much fantastic work in the local community and we’re always looking at opportunities for them to access much-needed funded.

“All the grants we now manage collectively come to six figures so we’re helping distribute a significant amount of money to our members.

“Not only do we manage this process for funders, but we also signpost our members to other opportunities on a regular basis through our ebulletin, hold information sessions with funders and offer advice as a critical friend.”

If you’re a funder and would like to speak to CWVA about managing grants, please email: joanne.stanton@chesterva.org.uk.

For any charitable organisations that aren’t currently CWVA members, you can sign up today for a membership fee of just £50 per year. Any organisations with a turnover less than £10,000 per year can receive a free membership.

• Become a CWVA member