Funding approved for Village Hall extension and refurbishment in Walton

Posted on

12/12/2023
PRESS RELEASE
Funding approved for Village Hall extension and refurbishment in Walton, Wetherby.

The residents of Walton and surrounding areas are set to get an extended and improved Village Hall, thanks to a £70,000 grant from FCC Communities Foundation, £26,600 from the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund, £9,900 from the National Lottery Community Fund and further grants from other sources.

The money will be used to build an extension to house new toilet facilities, including those for the disabled, replace the hall floor, improve insulation and install a new infra-red heating system.
Brian Eldred, chair of trustees of Walton Village Hall, Wetherby, believes the facility will make a huge difference to the lives of people living in the area.

He says: “This project will provide a real boost to the people of Walton. The village hall is a wonderful building with great charm and character, but it was built in 1847, has outdated facilities, a rotting floor, poor insulation and heating and a lack of storage space. It’s fantastic that FCC Communities Foundation, ACRE, the National Lottery and the other funders have awarded us this money. We plan to start the work in the new year, and we’re really looking forward to our improvement projects taking shape over the next few months.’’


FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Richard Smith, FCC Communities Foundation senior grant manager, says: “We’re delighted to be supporting the new extension and refurbishment works at Walton Village Hall and pleased our funding will make such a difference to so many groups of people across Wetherby. FCC Communities Foundation is always happy to consider grant applications for projects that benefit local communities and we’re looking forward to this one having a positive impact very soon.”


Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund: In May 2022, Defra announced a £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund to mark Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. The fund is administered by ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England).

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

Thanks you to all National Lottery players!

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Brian Eldred hopes the new facilities will be ready to use by April 2024.

During the building work the hall will remain open for users at evenings and weekends, apart from a period in February and March when the internal work will be carried out. Alternative facilities have been offered to our regular users for this period. Further details of the project will soon be available on our website here: https://waltonvillagehallwetherby.org/

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Media information:
For further press information please contact Mark Wake, Tel 07786 246997, email mark.wake@icloud.com
Notes to editors:
Walton Village Hall, Wetherby is a registered charity, number 1196471, registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
We are a village hall in a small community of around 200 residents, and also serve neighbouring villages. The hall was built in 1847 and was a village school until 1927 when it was left in trust by a local landowner for use a village hall. Adjoining the hall is a playground owned by the Parish Council, but which can also be used for some hall events.
Since the current committee was formed in 2019 we have expanded our activities to serve a wide range of users. These include an art group, a school holiday club, Wetherby in Support of the Elderly, children’s dance classes, village, church and Parish Council events as well as children’s parties and wedding receptions.

FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community, conservation and heritage projects from funds donated by FCC Environment through the Landfill Communities Fund and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund. Since 1998, FCC Communities Foundation has granted over £200m to more than 7,000 projects which benefit people living within 10 miles of a FCC Environment landfill site. For more information, please visit www.fcccommunitiesfoundation.org.uk

FCC Environment is the leading UK waste and resource management company and is part of a global group with a strong heritage in providing services for communities and business. Its vision is to be the environmental company of choice, delivering change for a sustainable future. It employs 2,400 people and operates more than 200 facilities across England, Scotland and Wales. FCC Environment donates the landfill tax credits that are generated by its operations to FCC Communities Foundation, in order to add value to the environmental and social infrastructure of the communities around landfill sites. www.fccenvironment.co.uk

The Landfill Communities Fund and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund – any waste that is discarded which cannot be reused, reprocessed or recycled may ultimately be disposed of in a landfill site. To encourage the re-use, recycle and recovery of more value from waste and use more environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal, Landfill Tax is charged on each tonne of waste sent to landfill. Landfill Operators (LOs) are able to redirect a small proportion of landfill tax liability to support a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund (SLCF). The LCF is regulated
by ENTRUST on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs, and the projects are delivered by enrolled Environmental bodies (EBs). The SLCF is regulated by SEPA on behalf of Revenue Scotland and projects are delivered by Approved Bodies (ABs).

ACRE is a national charity speaking up for and supporting rural communities. We work to create thriving, inclusive and sustainable rural communities which are economically active and have the services they need. We believe no one should be disadvantaged because of where they live. www.acre.org.uk

The National Lottery Community Fund are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name. We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

  1. Come together
  2. Be environmentally sustainable
  3. Help children and young people thrive
  4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.