Grant aid boost for community groups

Cash aid for Scouts, elderly, youth council and PTA

Groups and projects ranging from an elderly forum and a youth council to Scouts and a PTA have been given grants in the past year by a local area committee.

A report going before Houston, Crosslee, Linwood, Riverside and Erskine Local Area Committee details the cash that was handed over by it in 2017/18.

Linwood Elderly Forum was awarded £2,000 towards the cost of a theatre trip. This was used to take 80 older people to the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow, purchase the tickets and hire two coaches.

More than £6,000 went to Erskine Youth Council.

This was to help to enable the young people to plan and deliver activities for members.

To date, the youth council has delivered a Hallowe’en movie night and a junior Christmas party.

To Renfrewshire District Scouts went £162.58 to buy neckerchiefs and hoodies to help develop an identity for the district team.

The group has advised that the new neckerchief has been used at local events such as church services.

And to Gryffe High School Parent Teacher Association went £ 8,000 towards the total cost of £ 41,526 for refurbishing the seating and flooring at the Gryffe High School theatre.

The PTA have advised the local area committee that this is the first refurbishment in 37 years and the theatre will be used for school shows and concerts, according to the report.

Other groups that received cash included Glen Art.

It received £5,000, which has been used to establish a cookhouse for the Armed Forces veterans at Erskine. The group has purchased tables and chairs, kitchen units, a range cooker and worktops and has helped to prepare a cookbook for the veterans.

Active Communities (Girls on the Run) was awarded £1,530.

This provided a project to encourage girls to undertake physical activity in a safe environment on a weekly basis walking, jogging, bootcamp, circuit training, team building, clubbercise and games.

A total of £2,000 went to Erskine’s Lamont Farm. This was to help to meet the general operating costs of the farm including the purchase of insurance, animal feed and bedding and paying for dentist and farrier services. And the Rainbow Turtle charity was awarded £500.

This helped to fund an education officer post to help deliver school talks and other educational programmes.

The report to the Local Area Committee state that funded groups provide regular feedback as part of accountability measures which helps the committee identify clear community outcomes from grants awarded to community groups.

“It is also a condition of grant that groups account for their income and expenditure and set out the community benefits and other outcomes of their LAC grant awards,” the report added.

The next meeting of Houston, Crosslee, Linwood, Riverside and Erskine Local Area Committee will take place at the Tweedie Hall, Linwood, on Wednesday, June 6, at 6pm.

It is scheduled to last for three hours.