The BWCE Fund has awarded £33,300 in funding to 11 B&NES projects that are reducing carbon emissions and helping to tackle the climate emergency. BWCE has also given £3,000 to South Dartmoor Community Energy to fund local projects.
The grants are going to a range of projects including those:
• Encouraging us to reduce waste, such as the Bath Share & Repair
• Gardening projects, such as Youth Connect South West and
• Cutting carbon emissions from local buildings, such as Fairfield House.
The BWCE Fund has handed out 69 grants worth over £207,000 since it was set up in 2015 to distribute surplus income from BWCE for community benefit. BWCE has donated an incredible £250,000 to the Fund and South Dartmoor Community Energy since 2015.
According to Sophie Hooper Lea, Chair of Trustees for the BWCE Fund: “It can be very difficult for organisations to get funding for environmental projects at the moment because many funds are prioritising Covid response projects. So we are really grateful to BWCE for continuing to support local organisations that are reducing carbon emissions and helping to tackle the climate emergency under such difficult circumstances.”
Quartet Community Foundation administers the grant programme on behalf of the BWCE Fund. Angela Emms, Philanthropy Executive at Quartet Community Foundation said: “We know that the local charitable sector is under pressure. Many local projects are facing growing demand twinned with falling income. We’re delighted we can help BWCE Fund award these grants to groups across the B&NES area. This will help protect the environment while dealing with the impact of Covid restrictions that we all face.”
For more information on the annual BWCE Fund grant programme, please visit Quartet Community Foundation
For more information on how BWCE provides benefit to local communities go to our Community Benefit page.
Hear from three of this year’s grant recipients and see the full list below:
Lorna Montgomery from Bath Share & Repair said: “We are so excited to be given this opportunity, thanks to BWCE Fund, for this pilot project to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint. It will help families to understand more about how the ‘stuff’ we buy and throw away contributes to around 20% of carbon emissions – significant! In addition to the people engaged in our current share and repair activities, we want to reach upper primary school children. We want to encourage them to influence reuse, repair and waste reduction in the home. We are aware that more and more people want to do practical activities to make a difference. Now we can reach more people and help them do this.”
William Heath, chair, Fairfield House Bath CIC said: “We’re very grateful to BWCE Fund for this important grant. Fairfield House, left by HIM Haile Selassie I to Bath as a home for the aged, has been long neglected and there’s huge scope for energy performance improvement. This grant will let us work with the owners B&NES (local authority) to showcase just how much can be done with a listed heritage building. Also to show we can keep the Elders warm and cut costs and carbon emissions.”
Tracey Pike from Youth Connect South West said: “We are really pleased to receive this grant. It will help us develop opportunities to work with families living in the Whiteway area developing their gardens and growing food they can eat themselves. We want to create a long-lasting impact of loving gardening and growing food. This will impact on encouraging the local communities to make the best of the area they live in. In this way over time we hope that the reduction on relying on others to supply food will positively impact the environment, reduce waste and reduce carbon emissions.”
The 11 grants awarded are:
£2,797 to Batheaston New Village Hall toward the purchase and installation of solar panels for a new Community Village Hall in Batheaston.
£5,000 to Bathampton Community Co-operative Ltd (Dry Arch Growers) toward the development of a ‘Community Energy Renewable Farm’, supporting the purchase of a solar mini-barn for storing food, charging farm tools and e-bikes for delivery of organic veg boxes.
£3,000 to Bath Share & Repair for the ‘How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint’ project which will seek to provide practical ways that people can reduce their carbon emissions to make a positive impact on their environment.
£4,600 to Fairfield House for the Fairfield House “zero to hero” energy sustainability assessment, to appraise the potential for energy saving, carbon and cost reduction and use of renewables at Fairfield House, a multi-cultural and multi-faith place of welcome in Bath.
£5,000 to Grow Batheaston for the ‘Grow Batheaston Store’ project, to set up and run a community shop, supplying local produce in the village.
£4,827 to Julian House toward the running costs of the Bath Bike Workshop which enables and encourages local residents to take up cycling, and/or make it their chief form of transport, by providing free or affordable cycling products, services, and initiatives.
£1,000 to the Peter Pan Play School for the provision of a bike, scooter, and pram shed with the aim of encouraging families to use sustainable transport for their commute to the pre-school.
£1,000 to SWALLOW for insulation for the offices and meeting rooms of this charity that supports teenagers and adults with learning disabilities throughout Bath and NE Somerset.
£600 to Transition Larkhall toward an extension of the Larkhall Community Orchard, planting food producing trees that aid carbon capture and storage. It also will provide a source of local food that will cut carbon by reducing the need to transport food.
£500 to Wellow Village Shop Association toward the cost of replacing an old, power-hungry display fridge with a more energy efficient model for use at this community shop.
£4,976 to Youth Connect South West for the ‘Grow it cook it!’ project that will work with the local community to support the provision of low cost, good quality local food and encourage local people to grow and cook their own food.
