Another successful awards programme for local community groups
Tuesday 18 July 2023
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is proud to update on another successful year of funding allocation to local community groups across the Borough for exciting and innovative environmental improvement projects.
Council works in partnership with the Live Here Love Here (LHLH) campaign (from the environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful) which promotes civic pride and creates better environments for local communities.
The Live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme was an opportunity for local communities to apply for a grant between £500 to £3,000 to improve their local environment and promote a cleaner, greener and safer place to live.
Grants were available to community and voluntary groups and schools across 10 council areas and for communities in Housing Executive areas in the Causeway Coast & Glens area.
The most recent round of LHLH Small Grants funding closed in early May. Judging took place in mid-June with an impressive 30 applications from a wide range of community groups hoping to deliver environmental improvement projects - ranging from sensory gardens, raised beds, reflective gardens and waste reduction proposals.
Council, in partnership with LHLH are funding ten local projects:
- Braidside Integrated Primary and Nursery School, Ballymena - Community Woods & Sensory Garden
- County Antrim and Derry Country Fiddlers Association, Ballymena - Braid Community Garden
- The Grouped Parishes of Craigs Dunaghy & Killagan (Cloughmills), Ballymena - Mindfulness and Wellbeing Garden
- Friends of Partytime Garden, Portglenone - C2C - Conviction 2 Conservation
- Playaway Group, Islandmagee - Playaway Playgroup Summer House and Garden Project
- Raloo Rural Cultural & Educational Group, Larne - Raloo Rural Volunteer Enhancement
- Simon Community NI, Larne - Urban Sanctuary
- Carrickfergus Community Church (Sunnylands area) - Growing Together
- Whitehead Community Association, Carrickfergus - Kids Kitchen Garden
- Woodlawn Primary School, Carrickfergus - Gardening with Grannies
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has supported this campaign along with nine other Councils since 2015/16. Council commits funding each year and the campaign returns fifty percent of this funding through the Small Grants Scheme which enables volunteers, groups and schools to undertake practical community-based projects that will improve the quality of their local environment.
The projects being delivered will not only enhance the local area, but they will also bring people together to learn more about the natural environment, how to protect it and to value it for health and wellbeing purposes.
If you are interested in undertaking a local environmental improvement project, visit the Live Here Love Here’s Small Grants webpage for further information.