Funding bids from 14 organisations in Helston will be considered at a special meeting of the town council.

The groups have all applied for cash from the sale proceeds of 3 Penrose Road, the town’s former community centre.

Last November councillors made the £158,000 available that was previously ring fenced for a new community centre.

Due to a covenant on the building, which carried over with the sale, two thirds of the sale proceeds must be spent on an “institute of technical instruction”.

The remaining third is now up for grabs, however – or the full amount if a bid can prove it fits the necessary criteria.

Among the groups applying for money are many of the town’s sport clubs: Helston Athletic Football Club, Helston Bowling Club, Helston Cricket Club, Helston Rugby Club and One and All Judo Club.

There are also a number of schools bidding – Helston Community College, Nansloe Academy, St Michael’s Primary School and Parc Eglos School – plus Helston & District Town Twinning Association, Helston Age Concern, Helston Town Band and the South Kerrier Alliance.

The final application is a joint one from the South Kerrier Herrier Heritage Trust in charge of Helston Museum, the Cornubian Arts & Science Trust (CAST) and the Epworth Hall management group, which has already been well documented.

The town council had been due to allocate grants at their meeting last Thursday, but the matter was deferred to a special meeting on a date yet to be set.

This was because the council had yet to receive legal advice over the allocation of grants from the money restricted by the covenant.

Councillors did, however, discuss whether the bid from the twinning association should be considered at all, due to it not being sent until two days after the deadline for applications.

Councillor Martine Knight said: “I feel we did make it very clear there was a deadline. We have to adhere to other deadlines.”

She proposed the application be withdrawn from the list, which was seconded by councillor Mark Upton.

However, councillor Ronnie Williams believed “people can make a mistake” and allowances should be made, particularly as the decision was being delayed anyway.

Mayor Jonathan Radford-Gaby agreed, saying he thought it would look “mean minded.”

In a close vote of 4-5, the proposal to not consider the bid failed – with Martine Knight, Mark Upton, John Martin and Justine Hornsby voting in favour, but Jonathan Radford-Gaby, Nicola Roberts, Gillian Geer, Mike Thomas and Ronnie Williams against. Nicola Boase declared an interest and did not vote, leaving the room.

It means the twinning association will be among the groups still vying for money.

Grant application details

  • Helston and District Town Twinning Association: The association has applied for £2,000 to fund its student exchange programme, opening it up to any interested student with the Helston area to travel to twin towns of Sasso Marconi in Italy and Plougasnou in France.
  • Helston Age Concern: This group would like to give a free meal to members for a month and has applied for £1,080 to do so. It provides an average of 60 hot meals every Monday at the Methodist church, for £4.50 per meal.
  • Helston Athletic Football Club: The club has asked for £15,000 towards materials and construction of ground perimeter fencing and gating. The current ground security is described as “inadequate” in ensuring for parking and entrance fees for paid community events.
  • Helston Bowling Club: Funds are requested to help towards maintenance costs, which stand at £1,800 for external painting of the club house, £2000 to £2,500 towards lopping of trees and £1,500 for a new flat roof, which was jumped on.
  • Helston Community College: The college is bidding for IT and computing equipment, which wants to upgrade all PCs to Windows 7, provide faculty-based mobile devices and improve Wi-Fi reception through the college, and provide three class sets of Raspberry Pi kits. It has asked for a “substantial amount of money” towards the £99,566 overall cost.
  • Helston Cricket Club: The club's next project is to have lights down the driveway, for health and safety reasons. The electrical wiring in the clubhouse needs bringing up to date to do this, resulting in a quote of £12,457.
  • Helston Rugby Football Club: The club wants to reintroduce and develop a colts team and a ladies' team; to do this new changing room facilities are needed at a cost of £175,000. It also needs larger clubhouse facilities, to fit the whole youth section and create a community room, at a cost of £150,000. It has asked for an unspecified amount towards this.
  • Helston Town Band: It is bidding for £10,000 to buy a number of new instruments, with at least 50 per cent provided for beginners groups and the concert band.
  • Nansloe Academy: The school wants to provide every key stage two (junior age) child with an iPad - a total of 120 units, costing £40,000.
  • One and All Judo Club: The club needs £1,000 for replacement judo mats, a crash mat and coaching courses, together with a video camera or tablet to capture throwing techniques for review afterwards.
  • South Kerrier Alliance: The community interest company has applied for money towards the upkeep of the skate park and providing a youth shelter there.
  • Helston Museum/CAST/Epworth Hall: The three organisations have jointly bid for the full amount of sale cash, split equally between them, for providing a visitor information centre and research database at the museum, access improvements to the hall and continued renovation of the Penrose Road building by CAST to open a community cafe and hold community events.
  • St Michael's Primary School: The academy has asked for help towards buying a minibus costing £20,000 to £30,000, buying a polytunnel and hiring a horticultural expert for one day at a week, costing £21,000, and buying a floodlit outdoor multi-use games area at £23,000.
  • Parc Eglos Primary School: The school has asked for £56,000 to cover buying 30 iPads, 30 laptops, an iboard, 12 computers, convert a multi-media room and other associated costs, plus a green screen and scientific equipment such as microscopes.