Hall & Woodhouse has awarded more than £26,000 to 22 local causes across the south-west through its Community Chest Awards.

The annual awards are an initiative created by Hall & Woodhouse (H&W) with the ambition to improve both the facilities and the lives of people in the community, by providing grants to local voluntary groups and causes that require financial support.

The 18^th annual awards ceremony was held at Hall & Woodhouse’s Crown Hotel, in the heart of Blandford Forum, on Friday 18^th November. The evening was supported by Blackmore Vale Media and the Dorset Community Foundation.

Mark Woodhouse, Family Director of Hall & Woodhouse, said: “We are tremendously proud of our Community Chest Awards and the thousands of people it has helped since it began 18 years ago. We wanted to create a grant-giving initiative that would support local worthy causes across the south and help make their visions become a reality.

“When we review the applications made to the Community Chest, it is always a very difficult process as there are so many worthy causes in need of aid. Ultimately, we select the charities that require our support to provide long-term benefits to the wider community.”

This year, Dorset Mind was awarded a grant of £1,500 to provide a rain shelter and a compost toilet for the mental health charity’s ecotherapy group called the ‘GAP’. This project aims to help people develop positive mental health through therapeutic gardening.

Island Community Action received £2,500 to support local communities in Portland through its ‘Silver Island’ scheme that helps people aged 50 and over marginalised through poor physical and psychological health, social deprivation and poverty. The grant will also be used to fund the ‘Forget-Me-Not’ Songsters, a choir created to support those with all forms of memory loss including people with dementia. The money donated by H&W will fund an entire year of activity for the charity.

Luccombe Hub was also granted £3,000 on the night to allow the Milton Abbas-based charity buy laptops and similar equipment for the children and young people that use the Hub’s services.

The Hub provides a therapeutic, alternative form of education for children and young people who are unable to access mainstream education due to a range of social and communication problems, that can result in challenging behaviour.

Applications will be open for the 2020 Community Chest awards in February where voluntary groups can request funding ranging from £300 to £3,000 to help them achieve their aims. Grants could be awarded for new equipment, training, transport or running costs, and can be made towards youth services, the elderly, or any other projects that enhance the local community.

Please visit www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/communitychest for more information.

The full list of the Hall & Woodhouse 2019 Western Area Community Chest winners are:

1. Blackmore Vale RDA—£1,000
2. Blandford Fashion Museum—£1,615
3. Club 21 (Poole)—£300
4. Devon Freewheelers—£1,000
5. Dorset Computers4carers—£1,200
6. Dorset Mind—£1,500
7. Dorset Scrap Store—£500
8. East Dorset Parkinson’s Branch—£500
9. Fernheath Play—£1,000
10. Friends of Milborne St Andrew First School—£975
11. High Mead Farm—£1,500
12. Island Community Action—£2,500
13. The Luccombe Hub—£3,000
14. Poole Harbour Canoe Club (Riverside Wimborne)—£1,000
15. Read Easy Bridport—£420
16. SAMEE (Support and Mentoring Enabling Entrepreneurship)— £1,658
17. Shaftesbury and District Carers Association—£300
18. Shaftesbury District Girl Guiding —£1,000
19. SMILE Connect—£1,000
20. Spendable CIC—£2,557
21. Sturminster Newton Community Learning Centre—£500
22. Yeovil Freewheelers EVS—£1,000