Town Council approves three grants to support Wilmslow's needy

Wilmslow Town Council unanimously approved three grant applications at their meeting on Monday, 16th November, which will provide support for local people in need.

The first application was from Food Friends which is run and organised by St Bartholomew's Church and provides short term assistance to individuals and families in Wilmslow.

They applied for £5000 which Rev Paul Smith explained will go a long way towards enabling them to provide the basic stock of food they need each year, which is topped up by gifts and donations from members of the congregation of St Barts and St Annes churches as well as contributions of food from local schools.

Speaking at the meeting Rev Paul Smith said "The Town Council has been very generous over the last couple of years in supporting the work of Food Friends and while the work has continued over this year, in the same way it had done the year before, and a small number of clients have been able to return to full time employment and have come back to thank us for the support, the number of clients that we support on a regular basis has gone up to about 160 now.

"Often it's because of delays in benefits kicking in, or because of unemployment or in an increasing number of cases its people presenting mental health issues and problems and therefore unable to access full time employment long-term."

Cllr Angela McPake said "As a charity it is extremely well supported by members of the church but it is shocking to me the number of people who need support."

She added "I also think it's a really good haven and people do feel comfortable coming to the church and asking for help so for me I think of all the things we spend money on as a Town Council this is near the top of the list of the things we should be spending money on whilst the need is there."

The second application was from Hampers of Hope who provide a food bank throughout the year and run centres in Lacey Green, Colshaw Farm and Handforth. They applied for £500 towards their Christmas hampers.

Anne Dawson from Hampers of Hope explained "Although we do hampers of basic food throughout the year at Christmas we like to provide special Christmas hampers. If people are struggling to feed themselves throughout the year they are going to be struggling even more at Christmas and we want to provide the extra Christmas treats that most of expect to enjoy at this time of year."

Hampers of Hope will be providing 300 to 350 Christmas hampers which will contain chocolates for the children, Christmas cakes, tins of fruit and the extra things we have at Christmas, approximately 100 of which will be for residents within the Wilmslow area.

Anne added "We only hand out hampers to people who have been referred to us so we know there is a genuine need."

Thirdly, Wilmslow Town Council approved an application from Wythenshawe Development Trust, which is also known as Wilmslow District Furniture Recycling.

The grant was for £475 to fund a trip to a Christmas panto for a group of twenty 15 to 16 year olds from Lacey Green and Colshaw Farm.

Andrew Davies said "We have been doing this for a number of years but this year we could not get a group rate from the theatre and the cost of the tickets was £500.

"So we could do with some help because we'd like to take them to McDonalds for something to eat, buy them the paraphernalia, because we don't think they should be without, plus an ice-cream. We've already paid for the tickets but we're about £500 short for the other things."

Wilmslow Town Council approved all three grant applications unanimously.

Tags:
Food Friends, Grants, Hampers for Hope, Wilmslow District Furniture Recycling, Wilmslow Town Council, Wythenshawe Development Trust
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