Eighteen community groups across the Royal Borough are the latest to receive special funding to launch and run community-led initiatives supporting the wellbeing of local residents.
They join 29 other local organisations which have already benefitted from the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead’s Innovation Fund, which is run in partnership with NHS Frimley.
In this latest and fourth round of applications, the 18 groups each received up to £2,500 to get their projects up and running. They include groups to encourage and protect biodiversity, football sessions for children, and yoga for Asian women. The full list is:
• Holyport Litterati
• Sui Keung Mak – Tai Chi
• I Love Windsor Community Directory
• Intergenerational Music Making
• Friends of Oaken Grove Park
• Holyport FC – Free Kids Football
• Knowl Hill Village Association
• Ashbrook Road Healthy School Street
• Maidenhead Senior Asian Ladies Yoga Group
• Natures Haven – Sow, Grow, Eat and Repeat
• Friends of Ray Mill Island
• DHW Health Hub
• Holyport CC – Women’s Cricket
• Friends of Kidwells Skate Park
• Get Switched On!
• The Thames Valley and Great Western Omnibus Trust
• Eton Community Association
• Maidenhead Forest School
As with successful applicants in the previous funding rounds, the new groups had to show how their project would improve access to services, prevent health risks, tackle social isolation and loneliness, and reduce mental or physical health inequalities.
Their applications also had to reflect the local issues and themes raised by residents and groups at the World Cafes, held in every ward across borough, plus show how their ideas could be sustainable for at least 12 months.
Councillor Joshua Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure, said: “One of the key aims in our Council Plan is to help people live healthy and independent lives in supportive communities. This funding is part of that - empowering our communities because they know what’s needed in their neighbourhoods, what tailored approach will work best to improve the health and wellbeing of the people they serve.
“These 47 community groups and organisations are a driving force for positive change. You only need to look at the breadth and width of their great ideas to see that.”
Caroline Farrar, Interim Place Convenor for the Royal Borough, and NHS Frimley Director of Primary Care Development, said: “Congratulations to the 18 successful applications. The Innovation Fund is a great example of how we can empower our communities to deliver community led initiatives that can improve access to services, prevent health risks, tackle social isolation and loneliness, and reduce mental or physical health inequalities.
“By placing more resources in the hands of members of our communities we are empowering local people in the search for solutions to better the health and wellbeing for local people.”
To find out more about the 47 groups receiving Innovation Funding, or the scheme itself, visit the Innovation Funding section on the RBWM Together website.