Guardian News
Grant boost for village projects
6:30pm Tuesday 21st February 2012
TWO village projects in the Knutsford area have been boosted thanks to grants from Cheshire East Council.
Chelford and High Legh will benefit from the community grants – with 44 groups in the borough receiving awards from the authority ranging from £75 to £3,000.
High Legh Community Association and the Chelford Parish Plan have each been awarded £3,000.
In High Legh the village hall is operating at full capacity and having to refuse bookings, and the group plans to redesign the hall to create four rooms which can be hired.
The money is being used as part of a third party funding bid to Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN).
Jenny Pearce, chairman of the village hall committee, told the Guardian the project would cost £73,000 in total.
“We’ve done bits and pieces in the village hall for past 30 years, but the time has come for it to be updated,” she said.
“The insulation needs to be installed, but we want to preserve the Victorian appearance of the building. The chairs and tables are in need of being refurbished, and we also want to do the ventilation.
“Updating it and thinking about energy efficiency is very important to us. It is well used because we don’t charge very much, and we try and keep the costs as low as possible.”
Jenny said the committee had received large support from the community, and was pledging £12,500 of its own money – raised from fundraising activities – towards the project.
Chelford Parish Plan team will use its £3,000 grant towards a multi-use games area, an improved grassed area and a cycleway.
The games area will be built on land close to the village hall on Knutsford Road.
Andy Gildon, a member of the plan team, said the group planned to start building in August if other grants were successful.
“This will be part of the Chelford Activity Pathway, which is about improving sports facilities for everyone in the village,” he said.
“It’s a huge boost for us, and this grant will help us with our own WREN application. It’s a good project, and has been really well supported locally.”
