Witney News - Grants support for community events

Grants support for community events

From festivals and musical performances to museums and voluntary-run organisations, over £8,000 has gone to projects to help boost arts and heritage opportunities in West Oxfordshire.

The District Council has given grants to 19 voluntary organisations and groups for projects that benefit local communities, including many of the local festivals taking place over the summer months and beyond.

Among recipients are the Rotary Club of Chipping Norton, which has received £300 towards the Chippy Jazz and Music day on Sunday 29 September, and Witney Film Festival, which has netted £500 towards its celebration of films running in the town from Monday 21 October to Friday 25 October.

Other events to have received funding include last weekend’s successful Charlbury Riverside Festival, the largest festival of its kind in Oxfordshire. The £500 grant went towards keeping the event free of charge, enabling everyone to take part.

A grant of £500 has also gone to the Lunchtime Recitals project which offers free recitals at Witney Methodist Church to an audience of predominately older people, some disabled.

Organiser Annabel Molyneaux said: “Lunchtime recitals combine being free with a very high standard of performance. All musicians are professional or semi-professional and half have international performance experience. These recitals could not take place without funding.”

Cllr Richard Langridge, Cabinet Member for Local Economy and Communities said: “We are very proud that, despite local authority cutbacks and while protecting frontline services, we have been able to support the good work being done by local groups to benefit their communities.”

Funding has been given to projects from the Council’s Community Activities grants scheme. The Council has continued its support of the voluntary sector, with more than £275,000 in grants going to good causes in 2013/14.

This ranges from substantial grants to organisations like West Oxfordshire Citizens Advice Bureau, Wychwood Forest Project and Chipping Norton Theatre, to smaller grants for projects and facilities in local communities as well as grants to support upcoming sports performers and help develop training opportunities at local sports clubs.