Greater Manchester Police have ploughed £37,000 of cash taken from drug dealers and fraudsters into community groups in parts of Salford affected by serious crime.
Little Hulton and Winton were both picked by police to take part in the Community Piggy Bank, which diverts funds seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act into worthwhile projects.
SalfordOnline.com pushed hard to promote the project to its readers and later pitched for funding to buy new computer equipment to expand its volunteer and work experience programmes, but was unsuccessful.
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Little Hulton winners: Read all about it here
However 36 deserving groups, from football teams to dancers, fundraising radio station the Sounds of Salford to a community cinema project all won the cash they need to run new and exciting schemes to make Salford a better place to live and work.
In October last year Winton was the scene of one of the most outrageous and devastating gun attacks in recent Salford history: the shooting of a 7-year-old boy and his mother on their doorstep.
Little Hulton has issues too with gang and gun crime.
But police hope these handouts will go some way to forge stronger ties between communities and shine a spotlight on the groups working hard to improve life in the city.
Superintendent Mark Kenny, of GMP’s Salford division, said: “This is a fantastic event which uses money seized from criminals who are intent on damaging the community to support projects that forge stronger ties between people and help to improve the area.
“Importantly the allocation of the money is not decided by the police, the community are invited to bid for the funding and representatives from the local area vote to decide who receives it.
“To be able to give away this amount of money is amazing and through this event, organisations were able to network and find out how they could work with each other. I hope that projects that have received funding will benefit the community for years to come.”
The full list of winners:
Autisic Spectrum Support – £521
APEEL Drama Group Juniors – £1,304
Bike Club – £1,490
Bridgewater Girls Group – £1,500
Chat & Craft Group (at Walkden Methodist) – £102
Dads Shed – £444
Eccles RFC – £1299.75
Eccles Girls Group – £1299.75
Generation Foundation – £1299.75
Gilberts Guardians – £1299.75
Harrop Fold School Choir – £1,500
Kenyon Residents Association – £200
Little Hulton Community Cinema – £1,363
Monaco Morris Dancers – £1299.75
New Beginnings – £1155.00
North Walkden Football Club – £1,500
Parkwyddn JFC – £1500.00
Peel Muay Thai Boxing Club – £1,080
Police Volunteer Cadets – £1,500
Salford Action for Autism – £1047.00
Salford Dadz – £350
Salford Harriers – £1500.00
Sing & Play – £94.18
Sounds of Salford Radio – £1200.00
Starlett’s Morris Troupe – £1,500
St Ann’s Hospice – £1,500
St Pats Enterprise Group – £250.00
St Pats Catering Dept – £600.00
St Pats Music Dept – £800.00
St Pats D of E Group – £869.80
St Paul’s Peel Parish Community Hall – £1,296
St Paul’s Peel Playgroup – £1,464
Toddlers Everywhere – £386
Together Forever – £1299.75
Westwood Smarties – £1410.00
Young at Heart – £775.00
