Wilmslow Town Council has agreed to provide community grants to support four local organisations.
At last week's meeting councillors approved a grant of £8535 for The Open Arms Youth Project which develops a wide range of informal education activities for young people and children in the area.
The project is situated on the Colshaw Farm Estate and currently operates youth club sessions in the evenings and during holidays. In the day time it is used for a young person's sexual health clinic, staffed by NHS nurses and Cheshire East youth workers, one to one tuition for 12 to 16 year olds and counselling.
The grant will cover the running costs of the charity for 12 months and enable them to purchase kitchen and IT equipment.
The Humane Education Society, which runs Wilmslow Animal Sanctuary, was granted £5,000 towards the cost of a new rabbit and small animal unit which will enable them to increase the number of animals they rescue and rehome.
The Animal Sanctuary aims to rehome as many animals as possible who come into their care and those who cannot be rehoused are provided with a safe, secure, nurturing shelter for the rest of their lives.
Trustee Melanie Hay explained "Our current rabbit accommodation is a wooden shed and can only house four rabbits. In the winter it is unsuitable as there is no heating and so the rabbits need to be moved in to one of the pens in the cattery.
"We envisage a new rabbit unit would be safe, secure and warm while still allowing rabbits to access to a permanent outdoor run with grass areas. Guinea pigs and ferrets could also be housed in a separate new unit, with space of hamsters, gerbils, degus and rodents."
Thirdly Wilmslow Rifle Club, which has 33 members and is a non-profit organisation, was granted £1440 to build a firing point structure that will allow shooting in various positions and incorporate benches and tables for the elderly and disabled to shoot from.
The Club spent £11,000 modifying and upgrading the range to bring it up to modern safety standards and make it accessible and attractive to younger, older and disabled shooters. The first part of the project was completed last autumn but unfortunately they are unable to progress any further as they have used up all their cash reserves.
Peter Bugler explained "As far as possible, we are intending to continue our self-build policy, however to reduce range down time we intend to employ a local carpenter to install the mainframe and door. Thus we are looking for your help primary to fund the materials for this project."
Finally the Rotary Club of Wilmslow Dean was granted £1000 for the Wilmslow Scarecrow Festival. The grant will fund the hire of the Batala Samba Band, printing of street banners and posters and provide a contribution towards the development of a permanent Festival website. All profits from Scarecrow Festival will be donated to local charities and other good causes.
