Thirteen local projects at the heart of their communities will share over £25,000 in funding thanks to grants made by the Humber Gateway Community Fund.
RWE announced the relaunch of the fund earlier this year and appointed the Lincolnshire Community Foundation (LCF) to manage and administer the £40,000 of funding which will be available annually for the next five years.
Humber Gateway is an offshore windfarm operational since 2015 and has been supporting a wide range of projects for local communities for many years. The formal launch of the Humber Gateway Community Fund, in partnership with LCF, looked to ensure better visibility of the funding available meaning that even more community groups had the opportunity to benefit from grants.
Funding applications were received from a diverse range of groups across Grimsby and Cleethorpes and grants were awarded to a wide variety of important community projects. Successful projects include the purchase of new instruments for Sea Cadets, funding towards the establishment of a ‘garden woodworking skills hub’ in Grimsby and funding to cover overheads relating to a new youth session in Cleethorpes.
Successful applicants included the Grimsby Food Kitchen who were awarded funds to purchase food supplies and other kitchen essentials, Discoveries Howdens Football Club who were looking to purchase new kit, first aid equipment and help towards funding pitch and referee fees and Sunflowers Children’s Action Group who were hoping to raise funds to cover the costs of a pottery painting workshop and other craft activities for families of children with life limiting conditions.
Lee Wilkinson, club manager for Discoveries Howdens Football Club said the club was ‘delighted’ to receive much needed funding from the Humber Gateway Community Fund. He added that “with this donation we are now in a position to keep our football family together and provide the team with a new training kit, match day kit and new equipment to play and train with. We have also been able to help those struggling with payments needed to help run the club, this makes all the difference for those families that are currently struggling financially as it takes that extra pressure off them.”
The Eclipse Gymnastics Centre was awarded £2,382 to help fund new equipment including a twisting belt and Rebound trampoline training for two instructors. Evie Dyson, director, and Rebecca Swallow, business manager and head of disability coach, had a vision to create an all-inclusive club providing a fun and safe environment for all abilities. Rebecca said “We are thrilled to have been successful in bidding for funds from the Humber Gateway Community Fund. The funding received will help us continue our important work in the region. We are the only club that provides rebound therapy to children and have attendees from as far as Beverley, Scunthorpe, and Doncaster. We only see abilities and not disabilities and our children get to experience being part of a club along with pushing boundaries on what experts have said they might never achieve.”
In total, £25,781.99 was awarded in this funding round. A further interim funding round is now open for applications to award the remaining £14,718.01, applications close on 1st October 2023.
Katie Wright, RWE’s general manager for Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm was delighted to see the range and diversity of projects that were successful in the first round of funding: “I am so pleased to see such important local projects at the heart of this first round of funding awards. We always aimed to ensure the fund delivered maximum benefit to our closest neighbouring communities, and that’s exactly what this first round has done. A huge ‘congratulations’ to all those successful projects and we look forward to a second round of applications later this year.”
A full list of successful applicants and projects is below:
| Grimsby Food Kitchen | To purchase food supplies, mini fridge, kitchen essential plus funding for 2 Chinese meals | £1,986.44 |
| West Marsh Development Trust | Funding towards the £15,000.00 annual running costs | £2,500.00 |
| Christian Action & Resource Enterprise Ltd (CARE) | Funding towards the annual Toys for Joy event, to purchase toys and cover costs | £2,500.00 |
| Sunflowers Children’s Action Group | Funding to cover the costs of a pottery painting workshop / craft activities for families of children with life limiting conditions | £2,500.00 |
| Favour Foundation Ltd, Your Place | To fund the establishment of a ‘garden woodworking skills hub’, including tools and a shed | £2,500.00 |
| Grimsby & Cleethorpes Unit 162 of the Sea Cadet Corps | To purchase new equipment and instruments for the band | £2,500.00 |
| Art Regeneration & Community Heritage Ltd (ARCH) | To replace an area of existing lighting with 4 LED panels | £558.00 |
| Freestyle Academy CIC | To fund overheads including room hire, t-shirts, staff training, and facilitators costs relating to a new youth session in Cleethorpes | £2,499.40 |
| Eclipse Gymnastics Centre | To fund new equipment including a twisting belt and Rebound trampoline training for 2 instructors | £2,382.00 |
| Fusion Health & Well Being | Funding to buy new boxing gloves and skipping ropes for the community boxing session | £1,443.80 |
| St Peters Church, Cleethorpes | To fund a two-course meal. In the form of a monthly Brunch / Luncheon on a Sunday | £1,412.35 |
| Discoveries Howdens Football Club | Towards the purchase of the new kit, first aid equipment for use at the club along with funding towards pitch & referee fees, trophies, and venue hire for a presentation event | £2,500.00 |
| Class Act Productions UK CIC | To fund the overheads associated with creating a full-length play | £500.00 |
| TOTAL | AWARDED | £25,781.99 |
As part of the Humber Gateway Community Fund, grants of £300 – £2,500 are available and groups can apply for up to £2,500 in any one round but will only be able to hold one grant at any one time. Applications are open to registered charities, community groups or social enterprises. Applications from school PTA’s, Churches and Parish Councils may also be considered depending on the project. Grants are available for practical or educational projects that contribute to the following themes:
· Community Cohesion: Diversionary activities for young, intergenerational projects, arts, culture and heritage projects and facilities that improve wellbeing and help strengthen the community.
· Young People: Provision of activities or facilities and opportunities, workshops, educational outings people (but not overseas travel).
· Community Facilities: Support for meeting places including running costs (community centres, village halls, playing fields) and projects to enhance or improve energy efficiency.
· Older People: Integration projects; projects tackling isolation, loneliness and dementia, volunteer costs, carer sitter and companionship.
To find out if your community project is eligible for funding and to apply for a grant, please visit the LCF website: https://lincolnshirecf.co.uk/available-grants/ or contact contact Katie Littlewood at the Lincolnshire Community Foundation on 01529 305825 or katie@lincolnshirecf.co.uk for further guidance.
The 219MW Humber Gateway offshore wind farm is located 8km of the Holderness coast and is owned by RWE and Greencoat with RWE responsible for operating the site out of its O&M base located in Grimsby. RWE is a leading player in renewables and expects to invest more than €50 billion gross by 2030 to grow its green core business, globally, with £15 billion earmarked for the UK. During 2022, the 856 megawatts (MW) Triton Knoll offshore wind farm became fully operational, while RWE’s 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm is now well into the construction phase. Construction of RWE’s new state-of-the-art operations base in Grimsby has also commenced demonstrating the companies long term commitment to the Humber region.
To find out more information about the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm, please visit https://uk-ireland.rwe.com/locations/humber-gateway-offshore-wind-farm