Inspirational Community Projects

Living Magazines Community Awards Winners

Dacorum Borough Council has recognised the borough’s most inspirational community projects with its annual Community Grant Awards evening.

Charities, voluntary organisations and sports groups came together on Tuesday 12 March at a ceremony to award the winning projects.

Leader of the Council Cllr Andrew Williams, Chief Executive Sally Marshall and the Mayor Cllr Rosie Sutton hosted the event at the Forum.

Among the winners were Berkhamsted Cycling Club which won an award for best Community Event.

Community grants are open to all not for profit organisations and are designed to support community activities and improve the health and wellbeing of residents in Dacorum.

Groups can apply for grants in the next round of funding which opens on Monday 1 April until Friday 31 May.

Cllr Neil Harden, Portfolio Holder for Residents and Corporate Services, said: ‘Congratulations to all the community groups who received awards at our annual event for their remarkable projects, which have made a huge difference to the lives of our residents. It’s clear to see that we have a thriving voluntary and community sector in Dacorum, with a great deal of enthusiastic and compassionate groups and volunteers.’

The winning projects

Dacorum Compact Partnership Award – Herts Sports Partnership

Their ‘Dacorum Fit, Fed and Read’ project helped 20 young people from deprived wards of Dacorum, to overcome holiday hunger, inactivity and isolation. Herts Sports Partnership worked successfully with an impressive range of partners to deliver this project including Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service, Hertfordshire Catering Ltd, Hertfordshire Library Service, The University of Hertfordshire, Families First, Street Games UK and the Fit Fed and Read Ambassador.

Equality and Diversity Award – Friends of Collett School

Their Horse Box Café project saw Year 9 and 10 students receive barista training and food hygiene training providing them with transferable, employable life skills and an exciting opportunity being part of the community running the Horse Box cafe – a converted horsebox to be used as a ‘not-for-profit’ mobile café at local events and businesses

Community Capacity Award – Joint Winners

Community Action Dacorum for their GDPR training project that successfully enabled 33 organsiations in the voluntary community sector in Dacorum to upskill in line with new legislation.

Age UK Dacorum whose project enabled the purchase of equipment such as laptops, speakers, musical instruments and games for the COGs club, which provides weekly sessions for people with mild to moderate dementia.

Regeneration Award – Waterways Experiences

Their ‘Carpark Improvement’ project created a smooth, hazard free parking area, increased the number of car parking spaces and improved the surrounding gardens. This project made a huge difference to wheelchair users and those with mobility issues, and to carers and volunteers.

Community Event Award – Berkhamsted Cycling Club for the ‘Berkhamsted Castle Revolutions Festival 2018’. The festival took place on 24 June 2018 and was highly successful both as a sporting event for competitors and spectators, and as a community event for families and residents. It attracted over 5,000 people and 260 racers took part from over 60 cycling clubs.

Volunteering Award – Great Gaddesden Cricket Club for their ‘Refurbishment and development of the practice facilities’. The fantastic voluntary efforts of their club members in carrying out much of the work, meant that they could buy higher specification netting and two replacement practice mats instead of one, due to the money saved on labour costs.

Health and Wellbeing Award – High Street Baptist Church Tring for their ‘Overcoming Loneliness’ project. Their project involved purchasing new games and resources, excursions, and publicity for their afternoon games club, which is open to all members of the community and helps to reduce social isolation and improve wellbeing.

Other organisations that were highly commended at the awards were:

Mediation Herts, Electric Umbrella, The Gifted, Tring Yarn Bomb, Families in Focus, Aldbury Parish Council, Hemel Storm, Herts Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, Little Gaddesden Parish Council and Hemel Hempstead Town Cricket Club.

Could your project benefit from a Community Grant?

If you are part of a community or voluntary group you can apply for a community grant of up to £3,000. The next round of community grant funding closes on Friday 31 May.

Find out more and apply online for a community grant at www.dacorum.gov.uk/grants

For support with your application or if you have any further questions please email grants@dacorum.gov.uk or call 01442 228213.