We have received grants from the following sponsors. (2003-2010)
Kellogg’s
Gave us £100 when we started the group in February 2003, and sponsored our first Easter Egg Hunt in March 2004 with a donation of £300.
The Rotary Club
The Rotary Club donated £200 in February 2003 to plant a wildlife garden with local schoolchildren. They then gave a further £100 in March 2004 to improve upon the wildflower meadow.
North Trafford College
North Trafford College donated £75.00 to the group in March 2003 to help us on our way.
Ad Holdings
AD Holdings gave us a donation of £300 in May 2003 and £600 in March 2005 for our general funds. We used these amounts to stage our event programme.
In November 2003 Ian Trickett [our Park’s Development Officer] won a photography competition run by Trafford Council’s Area Service’s using a photo he had taken of a Cabbage White Butterfly in Victoria Park. He donated the £100 prize money to our group.
Trafford Metropolitian Borough Council
Stretford Area Board gave us funding of £383.52 for sports equipment in January 2004. We bought footballs, uni-hockey kit, rounders kit, bibs and basketballs. Later that year in May 2004 our group were successful again with Stretford Areas Board and received a grant of £1,125.00 which paid for 3 totem sculptures in the under 5’s play area to be carved by Mick Burns [the snake, the owl and the woodpecker].
Paul Birtles Estate Agents
In March 2004, Paul Birtles Estate Agents gave us a donation of £50 to be used for our Easter Egg Hunt as they had heard how good our event was last year and approved of our work.
Awards for All
In August 2005 our group was asked by Trafford Council to apply for some funding to pay for an artist called Valerie Clarke to come and work with 3 Friends groups across Trafford on a park related art project. We applied and were successful with Awards for All for a total of £1,800.00. The project involved making an organic 3D representation of what the park meant to us. These pieces were then displayed at the Waterside Centre in Sale and then when the display was finished the pieces went back to their respective parks to be displayed until they rotted away. In June 2009 we again applied to Awards for All for £9,998.07 and were successful in August 2009. This money was used to purchase bowls for public use, 3 new park litter bins [1 next to each new bench], 3 beautiful new chunky wooden park benches [1 in the over 5’s play area, and 2 on the main sports field], and 3 new noticeboards [these were placed at entrances and ensured that there would be a welcome noticeboard with pertinent information at each entrance to the park.]
Groundwork
November 2005 we applied and were granted £2,296.00 to create a bird feeding station from Greening Greater Manchester [round 7] a fund administered by Groundwork. In November 2006 we again got a grant from Greening Greater Manchester [GGM round 8] for £11,180.00 to create the Garden of Tranquility. In November 2007 we were again successful with GGM [round 9] and received £1,777.02 for our wildlife garden improvements – which included our amazing carved benches, a bin and a new interpretation board.
Community Champions
In March 2007, Pauline Law became a community champion and we received a grant administered by the Community Foundation for £2,749.20 which was used to purchase bulbs and an interpretation board. The bulbs were then planted at our bulb planting event that year.
Action Earth. Morrisons
In April 2008 we got a £50.00 grant [the maximum amount]from CSV Action Earth which administers funding from Morrisons’ stores. We used this money to buy some bird and bat boxes for our wildlife garden which Steve Johnston one of our friends kindly installed for us. In March 2009 we again got £50.00 which we used to buy litter pickers for use at our clean up days. In February 2010 we again got £50.00 which we used to buy refreshments and cleaning equipment and gloves for our clean up day held in March.
O2
In May 2008 we were awarded the maximum grant of £1,000 from O2 It’s your community to spend on refurbishing the community building.
Grassroots Grants
February 2009 saw the group being successful in gaining £4,280.00 from the Grassroots grant administered by the Community Foundation for the creation of a Welcoming Wall mosaic. This was created in association with Amanda McCrann, local teenagers, the community as a whole, Moss Park Junior School, Victoria Park Junior School, and St Matthew’s Junior School. This project was a sensational success and we are very proud of both the finished product but also of how the project bought people together.
Manchester Airport Community Fund
In July 2009 we received a grant from the Manchester Airport Community Fund for £3,125.00 to add some more sculptures and an outdoor classroom into the under 5’s play area. This gave us the classroom area, another boat, the fort, and the train in the under 5’s play area and a duck in the over 5’s play area.
Greggs’ Foundation
In June 2009 we received £150.00 worth of Greggs’ products for our first ever community picnic. We purchased drinks, sausage rolls, and cakes which went down very well with our guests.
Greater Manchester Police Authority
In July 2009 a grant for £500 was given to us from Greater Manchester Police Authority to purchase bowls equipment for community use. We have bought bowls and along with the Awards for All grant bowls we now have a comprehensive collection of bowls to suit all ages and abilities.
Mersey Basin Campaign
Also in September 2009 we were awarded a £100.00 grant from the Mersey Basin Week 2009. We used this money to buy refreshments and equipment for our clean up day.
Trafford Metropolitian Borough Council
In October 2009 we were awarded a Small Grant from Trafford Council totalling £2,000 to fund our events programme for the rest of 2009 and into 2010. This has enabled our events to keep up with the rate that they are growing in both number and community attendance.
Forestry Commission
This grant was awarded to us in October 2009 and was for £2,000 to fund our Tree Time project. This project was to provide an interpretation board dedicated to tree information, 100 tree identification plaques, 2 semi-mature Cox’s Orange Pippin Apple trees to be planted, and a semi-mature Weeping Willow tree to be planted, and to hold a tree themed event involving local schools.
Co-Op Community Fund
November 2009 saw us gain a grant from the Co-Op Community Fund for £1,875.00 for our mini-beast project. This money will be used to create a mini-beast mansion in our wildlife garden, a mini-beast area and interpretation board in the under 5’s play area, and host our mini-beast hunt event in 2010.
The National Lottery
In November 2009 we found out that we had been successful in the first stage of our changing spaces community spaces grant. Our initial stage 1 bid was for £25,000 and consisted of the following elements: 1 Totem sculpture, some balance beams for the under 5’s play area, a Petanque court, a trim trail, a huge mural in the under 5’s play area, mosaic stepping stones in the wildlife garden. We submitted our stage 2 bid in February 2010 and the bid application is now for £43,500.53 and contains all the previous elements, now fully costed and also a huge opening party. We should hear if we have been successful on or about the 18th April 2010 – fingers crossed.
Play Builder Fund
Jan 2010 gave us the news that we had been successful in our application for Playbuilder funds of approx £50,000.00. This will be administered and delivered by Trafford Council and will involve local children of ages 8-13 working with council landscape architects to design a new play area within the park. Since the change in government in 2010 this project has been put on hold by the government and we are awiting further news to see if it will be funded at all.
Trafford Housing Trust
April 2010 gave us the good news that we had been given a grant for £1,000 to provide drop in bowls coaching sessions throughout the summer of 2010. This will ensure that people who wish to use the greens are able to have a go as we have the bowls for them to use and by having coaches on hand, no-one needs to fear not knowing how to play. We hope that this will go onto creating a family team for Victoria Park and lead to many happy tournaments in the future.
Big Lottery Fund
Its April 2010 and we have been awarded £43,500 from the Big Lottery Fund, Community Spaces programme. This will fund a trim trail, huge mural, totem sculpture, petanque court, balance beams, mosaic stepping stones, noticeboards and gate signs, newsletter and massive party. This grant will transform the park.
Trafford Metropolitian Borough Council
In May 2010 we were successful in applying to host some Destination Park events on behalf of Trafford Council. This gave us funding of £940.00 and allowed us to run 7 weekend sessions of arts and crafts, 7 weekend sports sessions and run a bowling tournament. All of these sessions went well and we hope to run them next year.
Trafford Housing Trust
In August 2010 we were successful in gaining £990.52 from Trafford Housing Trust to put some heaters and new tables and chairs and a couple of high chairs into the community building.
Community Spaces Grant
In September 2010 we were awarded £3,500.00 as a sustainability grant linked to our community spaces grant. This grant will allow us to run and promote our extensive event programme in 2011 and also pays for Commando Joe to deliver 3 months of weekly military style fitness clases for children aged 5-15 in the park. See http://www.commandojoes.co.uk/ for more details about Commando Joe.
Private Donors
Mavis Thornton
In June 2008 we met an amazing woman called Mavis Thornton. She got in touch with the group through our website as her and her husband were looking to move to Stretford from Sale and had enjoyed a wonderful afternoon in the park. Mavis had a small Christmas tree that they had had for a number of years but it was now too big for the pot and needed planting outdoors. As they did not have a garden and they were planning to move into the area Mavis wondered if the tree could be planted in the park. We got all necessary permissions and then our volunteers planted the tree and Mavis and her husband came to officiate. Unfortunately the move didn’t happen due to the crash in the housing market – but the tree is thriving and we wish Mavis and her husband well. Mavis and her husband donated £50.00 to the group to further our works.
Andrew Winn
In March 2008 we had a donation of £100 from a local resident, Andrew Winn. This donation was done through our website using the paypal facility and was a wonderful surprise. We used this money to purchase bird feeding supplies as we believe that Mr. Winn is fond of birds in the park.
Rita
In Oct 2004, one of our committee members moved out of the area. Rita was a staunch supporter of the group and as a parting gesture she donated £100 to the group. She asked that this money was used to fund a birdtable for the park. The money bought a large slab of stone which has since been turned into an amazing bird feeding table in the bird feeding station. Thank you Rita.
