Westmill Solar awards £37,000 from its 2021 community grants scheme!

Westmill Solar awards £37,000 from its 2021 community grants scheme!

Westmill Solar Co-operative is pleased to announce that, in our community grant scheme’s second year, we have approved the funding of approximately £37,000 of community grants to 10 organisations!

Once again, we were delighted with the responses we received and the projects that our panel of members chose were those they felt aligned best with our co-operative principles, with particular concern for community and sustainability, and were most likely to achieve real impact.

We were thrilled by the number of organisations that applied for funding to install renewable or energy efficient systems. As one the largest community owned solar farms in the UK, we are pleased to be able to help fund the installation of further solar arrays to further the delivery of the UK’s Net Zero targets.

A list of the successful applicants can be found below along with their intended use for the grant funds awarded.

We thank all applicants as well as those Westmill Solar members who nominated a particular organisation for funding, or who served on the grants panel. We hope to have some of the successful applicants join us at our AGM next year to discuss the impact achieved with this funding.

We will re-open the scheme next year after our AGM, and hope again to see many worthy applications, especially those recommended by Westmill Solar members.

If you have any questions regarding our successful applicants or our community grant scheme then please feel free to email us at info@westmillsolar.coop.

£1,000 Maymessy CIC is an empowering cookery school and wellness centre supporting disadvantaged groups and young people to gain life skills and greater well-being. The funds awarded will be used to extend their current vegetable beds (growing local seasonal food)and fund additional cookery and practical resource workshops.

£4,838.69 Faringdon and District Cricket Club is a community-based club that plays junior and senior cricket in the Cherwell League. F&DCC is seeking to reduce the club’s carbon footprint by installing a major solar array on the clubhouse roof.

£4,946 Sherston Village Hall is used for a wide variety of community organisations and events including sport clubs, community groups, meetings, exhibitions and productions. This grant will help fund the installation of an efficient air to air heat pump for the new foyer.

£1,000 Oxford Children’s Book Group  has been organising events for children and adults in Oxfordshire for over twenty years, promoting a love of reading. The group intends to use the grant to organise school visits  by authors whose books focus on tackling climate change, and will also promote Westmill Solar, Westmill Wind Farm and Westmill Sustainable Trust (WeSET) as educational resources. 

£5,000 Brinkworth Village Hall is a much-used community building run by a charitable organisation which is keen to get started on greener initiatives. The funds awarded will be used to install double-glazed windows to improve insulation.

£5,000 Shrivenham FC,* formed in 1900,  provides competitive football and training for three senior and eight junior teams, and acts as a community hub. As part of their aim to become a more sustainable club, Shrivenham FC will use the funds to help purchase and install a battery-operated robotic lawnmower to replace petrol mowers, which will consequently also reduce the use of fertiliser.

*17/05/2022: Due to being unable to secure additional funding, Shrivenham FC withdrew their application for £5,000.

£2,495 West Oxfordshire Community Transport Limited operates daily bus services in the outer areas of Witney and surrounding villages, providing rural transport, reducing car journeys, and acting as an informal community hub. This charitable community benefit society will undertake research into the financial, environmental and social impact of purchasing and using non-fossil fuel vehicles for their urban services in Witney and Carterton, and share the findings.

£3,438 Sustainable Wantage is a community action group run by volunteers interested in lifestyles that have a lower impact on the environment and increase their resourcefulness and resilience as a local community. The funds awarded will be used to permanently establish the Wantage Community Larder, which provides a consistent and wide-ranging supply of surplus food to local low-income residents. The scheme is run in partnership with SOFEA.

£5,000 Restore is an Oxfordshire-based mental health charity that supports people to take control of their recovery, develop skills and lead meaningful lives. Restore will use these funds to install rooftop solar PV on two of their working sites in Oxford.

£4,950 Hook Norton Community Land Trust (HNCLT) – which members may well know of following Charlie Luxton’s impassioned talk at our 2021 AGM  – has generated an innovative community-led project of affordable homes that will have a positive impact on the environment. Their award will be used to employ a Project Manager during a crucially important stage of negotiations across several areas.