Churchdown Parish Council receives Active Together grant

Churchdown Parish Council has received an Active Together grant from Gloucestershire County Council with the support of local Cllr Jack Williams.The Purpose of the grant is to provide a package of activities to encourage outdoor exercise and play, with a range of activities on offer for a wide range of people to enjoy.

Some of the funding will be used in Churchdown parks to encourage people to make use of local facilities. Churchdown is renowned for the number and quality of its parks, including the award winning Churchdown Park.

The first activity the funding was used for was the “Churchdown Day in the Park” held on the 16th August. This is a very popular free event which is held annually at Churchdown Park. There is a variety of activities, but the main focus is on nature and exploring the natural world. The aim is to encourage families, especially those with children, to come to the Park, and enjoy and learn about the natural environment.

Cllr Jack Williams said ” It was great to see so many people turn out for the Day in the Park. From speaking to many people that attended it was a huge success and everyone really enjoyed the day.  Having attended the Day in the Park last year I was more than happy to support an Active Together grant application from the Parish Council as it’s a great event to get people active outdoors in one of Churchdowns parks”

The second part of the grant is to make improvements to  mini football field at Oakhurst Close including regrading the pitch and installing new goal posts.

“The ground is very uneven at the moment so using this grant to make improvements here is a great idea to enable Children to improve their skills.” added Cllr Williams

The third aspect of the grant is for provision of a Minibus for the Wednesday Walking group which was established 5 years ago as a “Health Walks” group and is volunteer led. Participants, some of whom are over 80, enjoy local walks of varying distances and the company of fellow walkers.

Active Together funding can be used to encourage sport and physical activity projects in your local area from community walks to alternative sport classes, outdoor gyms through to skateboard parks – as long as it gets people in your local community active. Any not for profit organisation, as long as the purpose of the grant benefits the wider community, can apply for a grant.

If you could make use of an Active Togther Grant please visit http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/activetogether for more information. Cllr Jack Williams would love to hear your ideas to  encourage sport and physical activity projects in Churchdown to get in contact please email jack.williams@gloucestershire.gov.uk