NEARLY £14,000 was awarded to local groups and projects by the Melksham Area Board at their meeting in September.
Counselling for young people, more training resources for Melksham’s air cadets, a cabinet for a new defibrillator in King George V playing field and help to expand the local talking newspaper service were some of the schemes awarded a grant – which came to a total of £13,693.
4Youth (South West) – which is also known as Young Melksham – was given £5,000 for TeenTalk – its counselling service for young people that has seen a recent “explosive growth” in referrals.
The money will help fund the appointment of an additional counsellor for its service in Melksham.
They said, “4Youth (South West) have been successfully delivering a counselling service for young people aged 10 to 25 for the past 8 years. In the last 12 months, we have seen the number of referrals from young people with an SN12 postcode double.
“We have worked hard to find alternative funding for the service following receipt of seed funding from the area board several years ago for the counselling service and have been successful in achieving this.
“However, the significant increase in referrals we are now receiving means that we need to increase the provision that we offer and we are looking for funding to support the appointment of an additional counsellor.”
2385 Melksham Squadron ATC received £5,014 for additional training resources. Their application said, “The squadron is expanding and now, post-Covid, is planning growth from the present immediate post-Covid cadet number of 31, to grow to 80 cadets.
“Our September intake has resulted in an extra 15 cadets joining, taking our numbers to 46, with 7 on the waiting list already for the March 2022 intake.
“With increased numbers comes a requirement for increased training equipment, resources and courses for staff. This grant is to specifically support the capital costs required for this next phase of growth in cadet numbers.”
Melksham Town Council was awarded £345 to help purchase a new cabinet to house a defibrillator at the pavilion in King George V playing field. The town council had previously been awarded £495 by the area board in June, towards the purchase of the defibrillator itself.
The council’s application said, “A new defibrillator has recently been ordered for the King George V Park. Unfortunately, the suppliers did not explain that a cabinet would be needed if the defibrillator is situated outside a building.”
Celebrating Age Wiltshire (CAW) was given £1,500 towards the cost of Melksham’s participation in the second year of the project. They said, “CAW will use arts and heritage activities to reach the most isolated older people in the Melksham area, helping to tackle loneliness and aiming to improve their health and wellbeing through creative and artistic engagement.
“In particular, CAW will target those people who are vulnerable and socially isolated due to frailty, ill health, dementia, poor mobility or caring responsibilities.
“Responding to the Covid-19 crisis, our programme has developed four different strands of both live and online activity to meet the needs of this group. CAW is a partnership of community organisations across the county with Wiltshire Music Centre as lead organisation.
West Wilts Model Racing Club was awarded £955 to help replace a computer to run club racing events.
Chippenham & District Talking Newspapers was given a £500 grant towards the costs of maintaining and hopefully expanding their service for blind, partially sighted, disabled or housebound people in the Melksham area.
Keevil Parish Council was given £379 towards the installation of a ‘hard standing area’ for a picnic table in the Keevil Recreational Ground. They said, “Keevil Parish Council purchased a new picnic table last year for the village recreational ground. Due to its size and weight, the table needs a permanent non-grassed site. This project will provide a suitable small hard standing area for the table, which will allow it to be properly secured to the ground.”