Gosport Borough Council’s, Grant Sub Board, were delighted to be able to help progress the dreams and wishes of twelve local clubs and organisations, at their recent meeting held at the Town Hall, Gosport.
Gosport Railway Society received £250 to assist them in the construction of a working scale model of Gosport’s former historic railway station at Spring Garden Lane, which they hope, when finished, to display at many venues and exhibitions to tell the history of the town’s railway system and to encourage new members to the Society.
The next organisation, when asked how much they were looking to receive in grant, openly admitted anything would be nice. Set up in 1989, The Gosport Stroke Club has twenty local members. They want to be able to provide their members with more interesting and stimulating events and places to visit. This is often made hard for them because of the cost of transport, as members requiring a disabled taxi to transport them and their wheelchair find it particularly costly. Members were very sympathetic to their cause and awarded them £250.
Home Start Gosport & Fareham provides a help and support system for families, with young children under the age of 5, who may be experiencing difficulties. To enable them to continue their excellent work they require more trained volunteers to visit and help families. The Group requested a grant to enable them to hold a recruitment evening to attract more volunteers. The Board awarded £500.
Gosport Borough Youth Football Club has a total of around 220 members aged 6 to 17 who play as a part of one of the 17 teams which are coached and play at various events and locations in and around the Borough. The Club urgently need money to purchase training bibs, balls, goal posts and shooter nets to enable the skills development of these young people to continue.
The panel were quick to congratulate the Clubs representatives for the excellent work they do in encouraging youngsters in sports to improve their health and coordination and to give them something of interest to help keep them off the streets. They awarded £480. Chairman of the Board Councillor Peter Chegwyn also mentioned the possibility of the Club receiving more funding from Gosport’s County Councillors who have a £10,000 budget each to award to local good causes.
Heathfield School caters for disabled children aged 7 to 11 and they requested a grant to enable them to hold a sports event on 18 October. Because of their disabilities, many of the youngsters don’t often have the same chances to attend extended school facilities. The club wanted to provide a fun event at which sports activities and a circus skills workshop would be made available for the youngsters to enjoy. The panel awarded £200.
Partnership for Active Leisure Scheme or Pals as it is known to many were set up in May 2000 to enable young people with a physical disability to take part in leisure and sport activities. Started in Portsmouth, the group have already branched out into other areas of Hampshire and now plan to set up a group in Gosport. They now aim to provide a similar programme of activities for Gosport youngsters suffering from a disability, who currently find getting out and having fun difficult. The panel awarded £500.
Gosport Fairtrade Action has been busy making Gosport a Fairtrade Borough by encouraging businesses to offer Fairtrade products to their customers. Fairtrade now wish to encourage more people to switch to Fairtrade products and requested a grant to help with their publicity campaign. The panel awarded £200.
The next person to address the panel was Matt Fisher, a young man who has just started his first year at Trinity College of Music. After successfully passing an audition to enrol on a new 2 year Master of Music Course at Trinity College, Matt was requesting, through his college, a grant to enable him to complete his first year of training. Matt and his father have been busy working to raise money towards the £5,900 required for the course and that’s without accommodation and living expenses. Matt, who worked throughout the summer on cruise ships playing in a jazz band to raise money, said his dream was to be able to train as a musician and then to return to his home town and be able to do something to encourage other young people to take up music and do well. The panel awarded £490.
Chairman Councillor Peter Chegwyn said, “This young man is to be commended. He is passionate about his music, so much so he has gone out to try and raise the money required to enable him to follow his dream and train with the best. The fact that he then wishes to return here to Gosport to help others can only be looked on as a great return on the money we are investing here today. We wish him all the very best for the future.”
Gosport Amateur Boxing club are again a great local club that provide stimulating exercise for young people. Formed in 1975 it currently has 60 members aged from 8 years and onward. The youngsters currently compete at competitions all over the country but not having a proper ring in which to train is causing a problem. Firstly training on a solid floor is not good practice and then when the youngsters actually get to compete in a proper ring, the extra give and movement felt underfoot is new to them and puts them at a disadvantage. For that reason a grant was requested from the Capital Grant Fund towards the provision of a boxing ring. The panel were delighted to award the £2,500 requested adding that once again the Club did excellent work with young people and is to be commended.
Last but certainly not least was a request from The Rowner North District Girl Guiding. Their hut based at Phoenix Way Rowner has seen better days and despite regular maintenance and improvements made by the group, the floor surface has become cracked and uneven. Mindful of Health & Safety issues the panel were happy to award the group £2,500 towards the cost of replacing the floor surface with a heavy duty vinyl surfacing similar to that used in hospitals and schools. Long may their fun and learning continue.
