There was a full house at Gosport Borough Council last week as dozens of applicants turned up to put forward their case for a grant from the authorities Grants Sub Board.
The evening began with Revenue Grant Applications and the Solent Kestrels Basketball Team requesting a grant to assist a talented young 16 year old to attend the England Under 18 Men’s Trials. Unable to fund the trip himself, one of the countries top technical coaches is currently coaching him free of charge and the club itself has raised over £300 toward the cost of the trip. Always keen to encourage young sportsmen and women the panel awarded £350.
Hampshire County Youth Band (HCYB) requested a grant to aid the purchase of 2 tenor horns and a trombone to add to the vibraphone and euphonium purchased last year. Lower brass instruments are loaned to junior members, at no charge, to enable them to achieve better musical balance. The panel discussed the excellent work the HCYB do for young people and the magnificent performances put on for the public and awarded them £250.
Self Defence Gosport is a new initiative being set up to give youngsters confidence, fitness and something constructive to keep them off the streets. Self defence lessons are normally expensive and therefore not accessible to some members of the community. The aim of this club is to make it self financing through sponsorship so that the twice weekly classes can be free to youngsters aged 15+. A grant was requested to help purchase necessary equipment to set up the club and subject to satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau checks, £100 grant was agreed.
Gosport Gators Netball Club has 17 Gosport members aged 13 to 59 who train at St Vincent Leisure Centre. With their coach about to emigrate, the club desperately wish to provide Level 1 Coaching qualifications for two of its adult members to ensure the future training of members is maintained.A grant of £220 was awarded.
Courts Zone Residents Group was formed in 2007 and consists of around 700 Rowner residents. The group regularly organises events, trying to keep them free for those on low income. The grant requested was to help fund the attendance of Cirque de Normandy at Rowner. Cirque de Normandy will actually be visiting Gosport for 6 days and providing circus skills workshops including juggling, stilt walking and clowning, for up to 100 young people a day at Lee, Seafield, Rowner and Forton. They will also be holding two evening performances in the big top at St Vincent College. The grant was required to enable them to host the event in Rowner.
The panel awarded £1,000.
Gosport Borough Youth FC formed in 1990 and provides football opportunities for around 381 children aged 5 to 17. A grant was requested to help the club stage a football tournament for over 100 teams from all over the South of England. It will be held at the end of August on HMS Sultan Polo Fields and the grant was requested to help fund the event, which as well as giving the youngsters the chance to pitch their skills against other teams, also raises money for the clubs future development. Recognising the great work done with youngsters the panel awarded £1,000.
Frisbee Championships were quite new Members until earlier this year when the Grants Sub Board discovered Sarah Rennison, a 17 year old wishing to attend the Ultimate Frisbee Championships. Well following in Sarah’s footsteps come Sian Miles, a valuable member of the squad who volunteers as a sports coach at her school and is the Young Ambassador for the 2012 Olympics.
An active mentor for new coaches and sports leaders, Sian was in need of help to pay for her attendance at the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Vancouver Canada. Although the Championships run from 2 to 9 August it is necessary for training purposes etc to be in Canada from 29 July till 15 August, so as well as her air fare, Sian has to raise a lot of money to pay for accommodation, food, training, kit and insurance etc. The panel awarded Sian £350 and wished her every success.
The Suki Aerobics Gymnastics Club requested a grant to help one of their members attend forthcoming Championships worldwide. Having already qualified for a competition in France, 18 year old Natalie Porter also hopes to attend competitions in Japan and Hungary. She also hopes to return to America to compete in a trio which last year won a Bronze Medal for Great Britain. The money requested is to help fund flights, training, accommodation etc. Panel Chairman, Cllr Peter Chegwyn said, “We are delighted to see that Natalie, who we have awarded a grant to before, has done so well and achieved so much. She is a credit to her club and her Country and she has certainly put Gosport on the map. We congratulate her on her achievements so far and wish her all the very best for the future.” The panel awarded her £1,000.
On Saturday 12 July The Grove Community Group wish to hold a Summer Fete in their garden at Grove Avenue. The fete will consist of music, bouncy castle and slide plus stalls and refreshments. The aim is to enable everyone to get together and enjoy the benefits of the garden whilst at the same time raise money to fund the operation of the group throughout the coming year. Congratulating Trevor Jones on the work the Grove Community Group has achieved at the former Newtown School site, the panel awarded them the £260 requested.
Moving on to Capital Grants the first request to the panel came from The Beacon Foundation. Having recently received planning permission, the group were requesting a grant to help fund the building of their new Centre on Bay House playing fields in Military road. The Beacon Foundation aims to take children who are suffering some form of educational disadvantage, aged 14 to 16, away from main stream schooling and teach them how to run a business, serve customers and work hard to make money. Many entrepreneurs did not achieve scholastically, but went on to great things. The aim of the Foundation is to give that same chance of achieving their full potential to others. Although the Foundation is currently working out of temporary accommodation, the panel recognised the great work achieved so far and awarded them £2,500 towards the project.
Next to address the panel was Gosport & District Sport Association for the Disabled (GADSAD). The club, which was set up in 1978, has 47 members, 38 of which live in Gosport.
They wish to extend their Elson Road Clubhouse to enable them to conduct even more sports for disabled people and their families - sports like New Age Curling, similar to ordinary curling but done with a puck on castors played on a wooden floor as opposed to on ice. The increase in Club House size would also allow them to increase the letting of the hall to clubs and organisations such as Brownies and Guides to generate income for the Club. The panel awarded them £5,000.
To the untrained eye St Faith’s Church might appear as just an ordinary church. But to those who regularly use it, it is home to coffee mornings; Craft Workshops; Quilters Clubs; Neighbourhood Watch and even the local Amateur Operatic Group rehearse their. Over the years the church has paid to refurbish most of the interior of the 1887 building, adding toilets, cloakroom facilities, improved heating, seating and replacement windows. But with it being the heart of the community it really is in need of a new kitchen, and a grant of £1000 was requested towards the £8,182 cost. Chairman Cllr Peter Chegwyn added his delight to those of other panel members, on the work done by the Church for the community saying, “To someone walking past it just looks like any other church. Yet this tiny tucked away church plays a major role in the community. It provides a venue for both church members and the community to get together and enjoy a host of activities.” The panel were delighted to award them £1,000.
Jacobs Well is known throughout the town for its excellent charity work. Started in 1992 by Stuart Pottinger and his wife, the couple originally collected items for orphans in Romania, something they still do. Since then the couple have branched out into collecting unwanted furniture which they repair and provide to new owners at minimal cost, providing a much needed service to those on low incomes. Their latest project is to be able to PAT test electrical goods enabling them to find new homes for many of the discarded white good collected. Having recently taken over new premises, Jacobs Well would like to convert the building to enable them to initially carry out PAT testing and later to provide space to be able to repair goods which have failed the PAT testing, providing more items for those on low incomes and also reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. The panel awarded them the £5,000 required to set up the PAT testing facility.
The final Capital Grant application came from Hardway & Elson Community Association (HEDCA), requesting a grant for CCTV. Recently the Centre and staff has come under repeated attacks of vandalism and verbal abuse. To ensure the continued safety of staff and the 700 + residents who use the facility, they wish to install CCTV and an alarm. Having raised some of the money themselves they were requesting a grant to help with the installation. A grant of £1,300 was agreed.
