Ottery Town Council have recently awarded three grants to local organisations to help them with key projects. Every month the Council receive requests for grants which are carefully considered before the grant is awarded. The Council has awarded grants to Able2Achieve (The Silver Otter Cafe), Friends of Ottery Library and Ottery St Mary AFC.
Able2Achieve provide support to individuals with learning difficulties and promote independence. Breaking away from the carers doing all the work, to an environment where the carer stands alongside an individual and teaches them how to achieve a task.
They were awarded a grant of £2,278 to purchase two laptops to enable hygiene courses to be carried out and support the cost of staff undertaking courses working towards a nationally recognised qualification. The laptops will also be used for creating CVs, job search and work experience to help in future roles.
Helen Holmes, Enterprise Coordinator, said “These laptops will help our learners in so many ways. They will be able to take the nationally recognised qualifications on the laptop, then be able to update their CVs, research jobs and apply for them online”.
Helen continued “We are grateful to the Council for also providing funds to pay for the courses, as without this our learners would not be able to do them”.
Friends of Ottery Library support the activities of the library and run events to benefit the Community. Any funds raised are used to purchase items required to benefit the community. They would like to promote the library at outreach events within the community to increase awareness of the library and the services for those that currently do not benefit from library services and especially new families.
They were awarded £200 to create a new pull up banner and produce leaflets to distribute at events such as Food and Families, Classic Car Show and other community events as well as take information about the library to schools in the area.
Ottery St Mary AFC run 3 teams for adults and currently have 100 registered players across men’s and ladies’ football, plus juniors. They are a FA Charter Standard Club with an ethos to develop and nurture young talent and bring them from the Youth Section, with opportunities to progress to the Reserves and First team. Their first team currently play in the Devon Football League, with reserve team in the Devon and Exeter League Division 1. The Ladies play in the Premier Division of the Devon Women’s League. There is a thriving youth section of young boys and girls. The club are liaising with Devon FA on a platform for their additional needs group called comets, which is an FA initiative for children with disabilities to play football.
They were awarded £2000 to refurbish the kitchen including new flooring, redecoration and update to some equipment. This will provide enhanced eating experience for club members, visitors and the community increasing the potential to increase funds from venue hire and events.
Mark Isaacs, Chairman of Ottery St Mary AFC said, “Our kitchen has needed upgrading for a while and the money from Council will enable us to provide a nicer environment for our staff and visitors, as well as allowing us to provide a more varied menu.”.
“We have a special 50th anniversary match in the summer and plan to have an official opening of the kitchen at that match.”