Helston town grants revealed
1:00pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News
Grants worth more than £2,000 have been awarded by Helston Town Council, with the town’s sports and theatre groups doing particularly well.
Among them was Helston Cricket Club, which was given £350 towards development work at the club.
Councillor Sue Swift said: “They have got an awful lot of members and they do an awful lot.”
Earlier the council had heard from John Martin, who said the club needed help completing a project started back in 2005.
With an influx of new members and the development of an under 13s girls’ team, the club wants to build a second changing room.
This was also needed if the club was to progress to higher leagues.
Mr Martin said Helston was now a “focus club” in Cornwall and coaches went into schools to voluntarily teach pupils.
He said in the last 12 months he had been “badgering” many people for donations, adding: “We’re not sitting back waiting for money to fall in our laps.”
The club had already been given donations of concrete blocks, chipboard, a digger and driver, washbasins and toilets.
Helston AFC was also given £350, with mayor Jonathan Radford-Gaby believing it should be supported “wholeheartedly.”
He said: “A great number of people in Helston town do derive a great deal of benefit and pleasure from it. They have approximately 700 members, 95 per cent coming from the town itself.”
The largest single grant of the night went to Helston Theatre Company, which was awarded £500 towards buying illuminated music stands.
Councillor Mike Thomas described the group as “a treasure of Helston”, describing the money as “an investment in Helston youth and young people.”
Counter proposals of £250 by Councillor David Swift and £50 by Councillor Ronnie Williams both failed.
The arts also fared well in a £342 grant – the amount asked – for McGill’s Music.
Members had already heard from young Kyle McGill, who had set up the not-for-profit company in a bid to provide music sessions for all.
The money will be used for the equipment needed to run workshops and Kyle said he was willing to offer the equipment out on loan to other organisations when needed.
The council had already awarded £500 to the town’s Jubilee celebrations and £250 towards the Coronation Park centenary event, leaving members with £3,350 left at the start of the meeting to split between this autumn’s grant applications and the second set of applications next spring.
Citizens’ Advice Bureau Cornwall received £280, while the Can-Do event that will support sufferers of neurological conditions on October 12, at Porthleven Methodist Church, was given £50.
This sum was also awarded to Chicks, a charity that provides respite holiday breaks for disadvantaged children and their carers.
Shelter Cornwall, which supports people who have fallen on hard times, was granted £100.
