Sports and community groups get share of cash from wind-fall

THIRTEEN community groups and sports clubs have been given cash boosts thanks to money generated by the Crook Hill windfarm near Wardle.

Whitworth Valley Football Club received £10,000 to improve their training facilities at the Rawstron Street Football Ground.

Lisa McDowell, WVFC treasurer said: “We are thrilled that we have been awarded £10,000 from the Crook Hill Community Benefit Fund. This will significantly help to further develop our facilities to benefit our community, players and club.”

The second largest grant of £7,000 was given to Littleboroughbased Todmorden Angling Society which will be used to improve two of their fisheries. Ray Barber, secretary of TAS, commented: “This grant will enable the society to vastly improve the accessibility of our angling facilities at Croft and Town House Fisheries and enable us to replace all our fishing platforms with recycled plastic platforms, including two disabled platforms.”

Other projects being supported include The Friends of Barkers Wood, Dearnley Play Area in Littleborough, Hare Hill House, Rochdale Walton Angling Society, the Water Ski Academy and U3A in Whitworth.

Jan Kidd, conservation and education officer for Rochdale Field Naturalists’ Society, who work with the Friends of Barkers Wood, said: “This grant means a great deal to us. It will really help bring the community together to make Barkers Wood a better place for people and for wildlife.

“Through habitat and infrastructure improvement and providing learning opportunities for children, we hope to continue promoting the continued care of the woodland.”

Community events and activities which will take place throughout 2018 using grants provided by the fund include the Littleborough Food and Drink Festival and the World War One Centenary celebrations in Whitworth.

The fund distributes £35,000 annually over the 20-25 year lifetime of the project.

Groups based within a 5km radius of the windfarm can apply for grants of between £250 and £10,000.

Visit grantscape.org. uk to apply.