No Greenham Gift in 2011
Greenham Common Trust has announced that the Greenham Gift will not run this year, owing to a lack of public interest
GREENHAM Common Trust has this year decided not to run its Greenham Gift, which awards thousands of pounds to community groups, owing to a lack of interest.
However, the trust has said that it will instead increase its two reactive grant rounds for 2011-12 by £86,000 so that more local organisations will be able to benefit.
The Greenham Gift, which started in 2006, has enabled members of the public to vote for community groups to have the chance of winning the £50,000 top prize, which was last year won by the West Berkshire Alzheimer's Society by just two votes. Runners up were also able to walk away with huge cash prizes.
However, following a public consultation in Newburytoday.co.uk's sister newspaper, the Newbury Weekly News, and on the trust's website, the trust has decided that the general interest in the Greenham Gift competition for this year was not as high as it anticipated and so will not run this year.
The chief executive of the Greenham Common Trust, Stuart Tagg, said: “The trust felt the public interest in the Greenham Gift was not great enough to warrant running the event in 2011.
“There are, however, a number of funding streams which will still be available to local organisations through the trust.
“We do value your opinion and if you have an idea to enable us to improve on the Greenham Gift we would welcome your ideas.”
Meanwhile, the trust has now opened its spring reactive grant round, offering grants for local community, education, health, recreation and leisure, environmental and conservation projects in West Berkshire and the north western villages of North Hampshire.
Nearly 60 local charities and community organisations received funding in the autumn grant round of 2010 and with the substantial increase to this year's reactive grant aid, even more organisations should be able to benefit from the extra money.
The latest grant round opened yesterday (Thursday) and it closes on February 11.
Application forms are available online, by post, or they can be collected in person from Liberty House at New Greenham Park.
For more information, call Melissa Elliott on 01635 817445 or click on the link below to visit the trust's website.
