Stoke-on-Trent City Council have approved £1.2m worth of funding to assist community projects across the city. The money from the Council’s community investment fund will be shared across 53 community projects that cover different aspects of life in the city, with many of the community groups have played a vital role in keeping residents supported and connected since the beginning of the pandemic.
Approach Dementia Support and St. John’s Medical Centre have had an application approved for funding for brand new pop-up memory pods to increase the quality of life for people living with dementia.
With the council approving funding of £15,500. Approach Dementia Support will be able to build pods that will recreate familiar environments such as a café, the seaside or a vintage pub to allow dementia sufferers to feel more at home. An added benefit of these pods is that they can be relocated to reach a wider audience, thanks to their portability.
Approach Dementia Support’s Paul Webster said:
“The grant is going to make a huge difference to the lives of people living with dementia. The pods will help unlock and stimulate their memories in a safe space where they can relax. An added bonus is that the pods are portable so we can move them around and make sure we reach more people in the city.”
St. John’s Medical centre in Trent Vale will receive £19,500 to buy and install a new lift so people with mobility issues can use the training room on the first floor, as the current lift is not working. Reverend Michael Bridgewater from St. John’s Centre said:
“The lift to our first floor does not work and this has had a huge impact on the number of groups who have been able to use our training room.
The centre is crucial in this area for giving people new skills and opportunities. We need to be able to use the whole of this building and thanks to this grant we will soon be fully accessible to everyone.”
This investment includes fifty-three projects that all aim to make a positive difference to the lives of thousands of residents. Councillor Lorraine Beardmore, cabinet minister for culture, leisure and health said:
“I was absolutely thrilled to see so many strong bids come forward once again for the community investment fund. The bids that came forward were of such a high calibre that this is the first time we have funded more than £1m worth of projects across Stoke-on-Trent in one tranche.
These projects support communities, groups and organisation who just need a helping hand to get their projects underway which, in turn, make our communities stronger, more successful and more resilient.”
Since the council’s fund was launched in 2017 it has shared £3.6m worth of grants across 181 different projects and priority is given to projects that transform outcomes for children and young people in the city, improve education and skill levels for residents of all ages, protect and improve mental and physical health, work with residents and partners to make communities safer, cleaner and healthier and those that celebrate Stone-on-Trent as a destination for business, heritage and culture.
