Grant Winners April 2007

Lots of Pots is a gardening project which establishes and maintains portable and semi-portable gardens in the Travelling community, and teaches child and adult Travellers about plant cultivation.  The gardens improve the visual impact of a site, creating a more beautiful environment for the occupants and providing a positive stimulus for social interactions with local residents.  The grant will pay for seeds, propagators, mini greenhouses, compost, and other running expenses.

Kellie has set up a weekly hairdressing group in her hostel, for residents who are interested in learning how to cut and style hair while socialising and developing communication skills.  The grant will enable them to buy wigs, clips, scissors, combs, tongs and straighteners.

Steve is setting up a social enterprise, which will train and provide employment for fellow service users.  The new company will eventually take over provision of cleaning, painting/decorating, grounds maintenance and catering services for the Housing Association, all of which are currently outsourced.  The grant will help the project to get started by purchasing a computer to be used for administration.

This healthy eating project will run ‘cook, juice and eat’ sessions at residential Traveller sites across the country, teaching young people about nutrition and preparing healthy food, and will also set up a mobile kitchen staffed by members of the squatting and travelling communities, providing affordable and nutritious food at community events and festivals.  The grant will buy a juicer, smoothie-maker, gas ring and bottle, crockery, cookware, cutlery and other supplies.

This group of squatters plans to build their own wind turbine to generate electricity, and then run workshops teaching other people to build wind and pedal-powered energy generators.  The grant will purchase a range of tools and materials that they will need to construct the turbine.

I-Sore is a group of service users who want to use photography to highlight the difficulties faced by people trying to access treatment and aftercare services for addiction.  They will produce photographic artwork for exhibition and also send postcards of their artwork to other hostel residents to encourage them to document their own stories through photography.  The grant will be used for a camera, memory card, tripod and zoom lens.

This self-help group formed by refugees from Northern Uganda aims to support struggling families.  Their project will provide African traditional music and dance sessions for a group of young people aged between 12 and 25, improving their physical and mental health and well-being.  After completing the project the young people will create a brochure about African music and dance to distribute to schools and other organisations, in order to broaden understanding of other people’s culture and tradition.  The grant will pay for room hire, refreshments, and costs associated with producing the brochure.

James is part of an art group in his hostel, and applied for funds so that they can produce prints of their photographic work.  The grant will buy a colour photo printer and a supply of colour ink cartridges.  The group wants to make artwork for their rooms, and eventually hold their own exhibition.