‘A massive difference’ - Boston-area community groups welcome slice of £103,000 in grant funding

The sum – £103,441 in all – has been awarded through the Lincolnshire Community Foundation’s GRASSroots Grants Fund.

The scheme aims to ‘enable places to invest in and restore their community spaces and create the foundations for growth at neighbourhood level’, in the foundation’s words.

It is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and distributed locally by Boston Borough Council.

The latest to benefit are:

• Boston Tennis Club – £9,000 for updating the clubhouse seating and carpets.
• Brothertoft Village Hall – £6,027 for renovations to the hall and the addition of equipment, including a hot water heater, electric oven, plus renovations to the toilets.
• The Community Growers CIC – £24,380 to replace the timber frame, glass frame, doors and roof vent system of a glasshouse used for community planting activities, plus internal paving.
• Old Leake Community Centre – £22,254 for a new suspended ceiling and hall redecoration.
• Steps To The Future Good Neighbourhood Scheme – £1,301 to supply and enable craft activities.
• Thistles Market Garden, Sutterton – £15,000 to purchase a larger minibus to enable more residents to access the services.
• Wigtoft Bowls Club – £8,400 for relaying the patio area and improving access to the bowls green to enable a greater range of residents to access the club.
• Wigtoft Village Hall – £17,079 for renovations throughout the hall, including re-decoration, new flooring and the updating of toilets.

Secretary/booking secretary for Brotherfoft Village Hall Kate Phoenix said the sum would make ‘a massive difference’, saying that it will help gain bookings and, in turn, secure a community asset.“It’s going to make us look tip-top,” she said. “It’s going to attract more people, for sure.”

A spokesman for Thistles Market Garden, a venue for adults with a learning disability, said: “The team at Thistles are hugely grateful for this funding which will go towards a new,fully accessible minibus. This will enable us to carry more passengers and continue to engage in our community and encourage our members to play a fuller part in various community projects that we will be involved with.”

Secretary of Wigtoft Bowls Club Peter Brigham said those behind the club were ‘extremely pleased’ to receive the grant, saying it would help not just players in Wigtoft, but those whovisit there for league games.

Sandra Brigham, of Wigtoft Village Hall, said: “It would take us an awful long time to raise that amount of money."

She spoke of the ‘really significant’ role the hall plays in bringing residents together.

“It makes it really, really important that it’s alive and well, and keeps going,” she said.

Coun Anne Dorrian, leader of the borough council, saidshe was ‘delighted’ to see the impact the fund is having on communities in the borough.

She encouraged community groups to enquire about GRASSroots support, saying that the next round of funding is likely to be the last.

For details, visit www.lincolnshirecf.co.uk or email Helen Cater via [email protected].