Tag: wellbeing

Community Grants from Cambridge City Council

Could you, or your group, help to improve people’s lives, locally?

Click the image to read the the guidelines and start your application

If only you had a little bit of funding…

Community groups can apply for up to £5,000 grant funding from Cambridge City Council’s Area Committee Community Grants scheme.

Voluntary and community organisations, or groups of local residents, can apply for the grants. But hurry, the deadline for applications is 31st January 2024.

Get your paperwork in good shape. (You’re getting public money, so you need to show that everything is legit.) And get cracking.

Apply online. Click here to read the the guidelines and start your application.

Grants could be for venue hire to host activities; costs to run activities that benefit people on low incomes; or activities that reduce poverty.

Examples of successful applications from 2023-24

Ainsworth Area Residents’ Association

Provision of mini allotment planters and mural signage for Ainsworth Street community garden plus additional new allotment planter to be located in Ainsworth playpark.
Aims…

  • Improve urban landscape.
  • Encourage social connectedness and reduce isolation through engagement in community activities.
Merry-go-Round Toy Library

Twice monthly Toy Library at Ross Street Community Centre.
Aims…

  • Reduce social and economic inequality for local families via free sessions.
  • Allow families regardless of income to access safe, good quality toys and equipment at a nominal charge.
The Signal Box Centre

Weekly summer holiday activities for children aged 6-18 years particularly those living in social tenancies.
Aims…

  • Provide physical and creative opportunities in a structured and positive environment to those who would not otherwise have access.
  • Reduce social isolation and improve confidence and mental wellbeing through making new friends and playing together.

Successful applications will be for activities which reduce social and/or economic inequality for Cambridge City residents with the most need, taking place between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025, in a defined area of the city.

Need more guidelines on what makes a successful application? You can read the full list of successful and unsuccessful applications from last year, in the PDFs below.

Need a little more guidance from the Grants Officers? You can contact them by email grants@cambridge.gov.uk or phone 01223 457875.

Click the image to read the the guidelines and start your application

Mill Road Fringe – Summer Shindig

Poster of this event. The linked PDF is (mostly) machine readable.
Click the poster to read/download a printable PDF version

Mill Road Fringe is hosting a Summer Shindig on Sunday 9th July 2023 on Romsey Rec, in the from 4-8pm with fabulous live music led by Colonel Spanky’s Love Ensemble.

Come and browse the charity stalls, explore volunteering opportunities, try some yoga stretches with James from Cambridge Yoga Project, discover the natural world with Bushcraft, and have a go at juggling and circus skills with tuition from Cambridge Community Circus.

There will also be pebble painting, outdoor games and plenty of space to set up your chairs and picnic rugs.

Please note: Barbecues are prohibited and there is also now a ban on single-use plastics in all Cambridge parks. Please aim to leave Romsey Rec cleaner than you found it, so please take your litter home.

More information here on the Summer Shindig page.

City Council community grants

Could you, or your group, help to improve people’s lives, locally?
If only you had a little bit of funding…

Logo: CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL COMMUNITY GRANTS Text: Have an idea for a community, arts or sport activity that will help to reduce inequality? Voluntary or community organisations, or groups of local residents, could be eligible for an Area Committee Grant of up to £5,000. North: Apply by Wednesday 25 January 2023 (Arbury, East Chesterton, King's Hedges & West Chesterton) South: Apply by Wednesday 1 February 2023 (Cherry Hinton, Queen Edith's & Trumpington) East: Apply by Wednesday 1 February 2023 (Abbey, Coleridge, Petersfield & Romsey) West Central: Apply by Friday 10 February 2023 (Castle, Market & Newnham)
Click the image to visit the Cambridge City Council Area Committee funding webpage

Fuller details, application forms and a webinar presentation explaining how to apply can be found on the Cambridge City Council Area Committee funding webpage. You can also contact grants@cambridge.gov.uk for further information or phone the team on 01223 457875.

Mill Road Winter Fair is back!

BUT… Your help is needed

Put the date Saturday 3rd December 2022 in your diary.

Poster or image The Winter Fair is run entirely by volunteers and depends on a fabulous team of people who come together each year to give just two hours of their time to help steward on the day of the Fair, Saturday 3rd December. Please put this date in your diary and please also visit https://WWW. millroadwinterfair.org/volunteer/ to sign up for a slot on this year's stewarding rota... maybe encourage a friend to do it with you?
Click the image above to visit the volunteering page

Mill Road Winter Fair is run entirely by volunteers. Could you become one of the fabulous team of people who give just two hours of their time to help steward on the day of the Fair, Saturday 3rd December 2022?

Click through to Volunteer for the 2022 Mill Road Winter Fair to sign up for a slot on this year’s stewarding rota. Could you encourage a friend to do it with you?

What’s on at the 2022 Mill Road Winter Fair? (Click the question to find the answer.)

Map of Mill Road Winter Fair 2022 showing locations of events, These are described in the what's on link above.
Map of Mill Road Winter Fair 2022

Mill Road Rocks

Have you seen Mill Road’s very own rock garden just outside Ditchburn Place?

Transforming a hitherto derelict pocket of land by the entrance gates to Ditchburn Place, the Mill Road Rock Garden has been developed by local resident Fiona Smith and volunteers from the Mill Road Fringe, and is brought to you thanks to Love Mill Road – the charity which nurtures and celebrates the Mill Road community – and the generosity of Scotsdales Garden Centre.

Photo of painted rocks, in recycled frames, on a background of slate fragments.
Photo: Lenja Bell

Over the last few months local community groups, including Ditchburn Place residents themselves, have been painting rocks which are featured in the recycled frames. You can spot all sorts of different designs from slogans of encouragement, to cartoon characters to birds and animals and flowers. The Rocks are painted in acrylic paint and sprayed with varnish to keep them from fading.

Rock painting has been around for centuries but saw a revival during lockdown. It is something which is accessible to everyone and at every age. Rock painting has been proved to support mindfulness with positive benefits for mental health. It is also a great family activity.

Photo of painted rocks, in recycled frames, on a background of slate fragments.
Photo: Lenja Bell

Besides the residents of Ditchburn Place, Mill Road based Lifecraft, The Edge Café and Romsey Mill have taken part.  From further afield Rowan Humberstone – Arts centre and forest school for adults with learning disabilities – Arts and Minds – using the arts to help people living with mental health challenges – and Cambridge Manor Care Home have all painted rocks for the garden. Mill Road Fringe thanks everyone involved including the volunteers who have put it all together. The site awaits its permanent sign which we hope will be designed by someone with local connections.

There is room for the garden to grow!

Just help yourself to one of the blank stones near the end by the gate, bring it back once you’ve painted it and place it in one of the frames. If you know of a group that would like to take part, please email info@millroadwinterfair.org

Displaying the rocks at Ditchburn Place will enhance the local environment and improve a piece of land that was previously barren. It is visible, so people walking along can enjoy looking at them and long lasting, as we can encourage anyone in the community to add their own rock. We hope it will be a feature of interest along Mill Road for everyone to look out for and enjoy.

To find out more about the Mill Road Fringe visit Mill Road Fringe – Mill Road Winter Fair 

If you have ideas for future projects, please email  info@millroadwinterfair.org or info@lovemillroad.org.uk 

St Philip’s Church say farewell to Stewart and Sarah

Stewart Taylor, Vicar of St Philip’s Church for the past 30 years, is retiring at the end of September and will be greatly missed by parishioners and the wider community.

Stewart and his wife Sarah, photographed in 2003

Many people who are not churchgoers will know Stewart and Sarah through the many ways in which St Phillip’s is embedded in the community. If you would like to say a fond farewell, here are some other the weekend’s events.

  • Saturday 25th September 3pm – 4pm: Presentation with speeches in the Church
  • Sunday 26th September 10.30am: Stewart’s final service. As you would imagine, St Philip’s are expecting high numbers of people in attendance. There will be no distancing in church, but please (if you can) wear a mask throughout the service and the building will be kept well ventilated. Refreshments will be served afterwards.

More details details can be found on the St Phillip’s Cambridge website and in the latest edition of Lookout in which members of St Philip’s share memories of, and tributes to Stewart and Sarah.