2003 major awards announced

Greenham Common Trust has announced the names of the organisations that have been granted one of its major charitable awards in 2003.

West Berkshire Citizen's Advice Bureau and The Mary Hare Foundation have both been awarded £20,000 each to assist the organisations with their work and ongoing projects.

The Mary Hare Foundation is raising funds to build a Performing Arts, Conference and Education (PACE) centre for deaf children and the local community at the Mary Hare School at Arlington Manor, Snelsmore Common, Newbury.

The grant to the West Berkshire Citizen's Advice Bureau (WBCAB) will be used to pay for essential repairs to its Newbury property in Bartholomew Street and to replace the property's substandard fire alarm system.

The Mary Hare School was granted planning permission in October 2002 for the PACE centre and when built the facility will permit the school to offer its acclaimed services for the profoundly deaf to children and adults from Berkshire and Hampshire who do not attend the school.

Jane McMillan, Development Director of The Mary Hare Foundation says: “The PACE centre will enable many more deaf children to benefit from the specialist work we do. Local groups and organisations will also benefit from this purpose built facility and we are very grateful to the Greenham Common Trust for its valuable support.”

The WBCAB's main office in Bartholomew Street is a listed property and the tenant is required to pay for 48% of all repairs. A recent structural survey revealed that significant amount of external work was required.

Laurian Tobin, district manager of the WBCAB says: “These repairs represented an unforeseen cost and without the Greenham Common Trust generous donation we would have been forced to restrict our hours of operation. At present we help around 14,000 people each year and a further cut to our services would seriously affect many socially excluded and vulnerable people in the area.”

Chairman of the Greenham Common Trust's distribution committee, Glenn Clarkson says: “Applications for our major awards this year were heavily oversubscribed and the decision making process once again proved to be a difficult task for the distribution committee.”

He adds: “Since the establishment of Greenham Common Trust in 1997, the income generated by New Greenham Park has allowed the distribution of nearly one million pounds to good causes, the arts and charity and as the business park continues to flourish, we will be in a position to make even more funds available to community and social projects in years to come.”

For a full list of Awards for 2003 see the 2003 grant awards page. For more information about Greenham Common Trust's Grant Awards contact Melissa Elliott on 01635 817445 or e-mail melissa@greenham-common-trust.co.uk