Some of the best community groups in Salford, including new music and library schemes, youth groups and an independent news website were all awarded vital grants through Worsley Rotary this month.
Almost £5,000 raised from the Rotary club’s ever-popular Santa Sledge, which brings festive cheer by touring estates in Winton, Walkden, Little Hulton and beyond, was donated to community groups looking to protect, help or improve their local areas.
Mapped: Santa’s coming to a street near you in Salford
Read: Worsley Rotary Christmas campaign makes almost £10k to giveaway
In a Dragons Den-style pitch event at Walkden Legion Club on Wilfred Road each group had just five minutes to pitch for funds up to £500.
In the controlling seats were long-time Rotarian the Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Rev Chris Edmondson, former teacher Lawrence Duffy and ex-nursing professional Ann Gavin-Daley.
Ms Gavin-Daley said: “It’s wonderful to see so many groups here doing so much good.
“Let’s keep coming back and back and telling each other what kind of difference each of you are each making.”
With Salford City Council facing drastic £38 million cuts over the next two years, the pressure on funding has never been greater.
And so the need for Rotary has never been stronger.
Among the 11 groups to be granted funding were 2nd Walkden Brownies, who lined up in front of the three ‘Dragons’ put on a courageous and adorable display.
“Coming here will help us with presentations,” said the plucky youngsters, “hopefully we will learn to be good at it before we apply for jobs!”
Salford Talking News provides a vital weekly service to keep people with sight loss engaged in their local areas.
Every week they take news reports from SalfordOnline.com and other local news sources, turning them into podcast-style audio news bulletins to 250 blind, partially-sighted or otherwise reading-disabled people.
While running costs are minimal – because everyone from technicians to newsreaders are volunteers, it has sadly seen almost all of its £8,000 local authority funding cut.
The organisation won £400 on the day to help continue their incredible service.
SalfordOnline.com won its first ever Rotary funding of £490, which will help pay for a new server, securing the website’s long-term future as readership continues to increase above 50,000 unique readers a week.
Read: One million pageviews for SalfordOnline already in 2016
SalfordOnline.com needs volunteer writers, blogger and photographers to keep up with the demand for coverage from local groups left out in the cold by the lack of community reporting in Salford, Walkden, Worsley and beyond.
We’re looking for applications from local students, the long-term unemployed, people with mental health and other daily difficulties who want the chance to shine but can’t get opportunities anywhere else.
Audience members discuss the merits of each application
Every group walked away with some kind of award, and no-one left empty-handed.
Oakwood Youth Club started out in 1995, changing its name to become the more inclusive ‘You Can’. They won £390 to help pay for trips and days out which help immensely in the social development of their members.
Salford Imagination Library, which helps parents read to their children to kickstart a life-long love of reading, walked away with £400 to support their volunteers (although some would joke they cheated by bringing out the big guns in readin much-loved children’s classic The Hungry Caterpillar).
Music Smile, a project run by former SalfordOnline.com and BBC reporter Karen Morris, will bring the enjoyment of playing an instrument back into the community.
They meet every Monday from 6pm to 8pm at The Creation Cafe on Chapel Street, inviting new members from absolute beginner to professional to jam, write, talk about music and generally enjoy one another’s company.
“Anyone can play an instrument,” declared Karen, invited SalfordOnline’s news editor to the stage to have a crack at The Beatles Eleanor Rigby in two chords.
While I didn’t completely embarrass myself, what I did feel was the joy that Karen’s members must feel when they pick up an instrument for the first time. Karen won one of the top prizes on the night – £490 toward the cost of instruments.
Winston’s Wish, a charity set up to help bereaved families, won a deserved £390 to help distribute information booklets to Salford schools after a extremely moving speech about the difficulties families face in the aftermath of bereavement.
A group of keen local Roe Greeners who have ambitious plans to revive and revamp their local play park were awarded £390, and the ever-popular Little Hulton Dadz project won £400 towards their Saturday Dadz and Kidz club.
Salford Wheels for All, based at the city’s only public athletics track, Cleavley’s, won £470 towards their 25th anniversary event on Saturday 23rd July.
Wipe Your Tears, which helps produce ‘Cuddle Bags’ of pyjamas, clothes, toys and toiletries for children who are victims of domestic violence, received a well-deserved £480.
In all, the key take away from the night was that longevity – the ability and desire to keep turning up every day and serving your community – is as important as anything.
The Bishop of Bolton Chris Edmonson, who retires this June on his 66th birthday, said to the groups assembled: “Keep doing what you’re doing and encourage others to support one another.”
If you have a community news story for SalfordOnline.com contact us by email to newsdesk@salfordonline.com, join our 17,000-member Facebook group, add us @salfordonline on Twitter or give us a call on 0161 789 5377.
Main image: Lawrence Duffy, Tom Rodgers, Ann Gavin-Daley, Rt Rev Chris Edmondson the Bishop of Bolton. All images provided by Worsley Rotary Club
