High Peak parish smashes crowdfunding target for new community centre and lands £90,000 grants

Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside Community Association launched the crowdfunding appeal last month with a target of £25,000 and by the time it closed on Thursday, July 20, more than £31,000 had been pledged by nearly 500 supporters, including match funding of £7,500 from Sport England.

Campaign coordinator Sam Green said: “We have been totally overwhelmed by the support for our Crowdfunder campaign. Not only have we exceeded our fundraising expectations, but the comments on the page from our supporters have really highlighted what this project means to people living here and using the existing centre.”

Supporters were able to pledge money towards rewards donated by local businesses or make a direct donation. Over the course of the month, a number of residents and groups set up their own supplementary campaigns to support the project too.

The progress of the appeal was documented in visual form by local artist Chris Hollis, who painted a fundraising tree in the community centre and as people donated a leaf or bird was added to the tree with the supporter’s name on. By the end he had covered a large area of wall space in the dilapidated 1970s building.

Sam said: “It has really motivated us to keep working hard to make this new community centre a reality. We want to thank everyone who has donated a reward, pledged money, completed their own sponsored event or shared our social media posts and helped make our campaign so successful.”

Adding to the good news, the community association recently learned that it has been awarded £40,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation, a philanthropic body supporting charitable initiatives across the UK.

A further £50,000 has been pledged by the Bernard Sunley Foundation, which provides grants to charities in England and Wales working to raise the quality of life and provide greater opportunities for the young, the elderly, the disabled and the disadvantaged.

The three sources of funding combined are a significant step towards the project’s end point, with the remainder of the money needed by the end of this year to meet the terms set by earlier grants.

Phil Manford, a trustee of the community association who has been campaigning for a new community building for more than 15 years, said: “With the Crowdfunder campaign and other fundraising efforts, plus the monies from Garfield Weston and Bernard Sunley Foundations we have raised nearly £150,000 since Easter.

“We still have a little way to go to achieve our fundraising total but we are waiting on the outcome of a number of funding bids and hope that we will be in a position to move forwards to construction of the new building later this year. We can’t thank everyone enough for their support.”

For all the latest updates on the project, follow the Chinley, Buxworth & Brownside Community Association on Facebook.

For more information, contact Georgina Cooper via [email protected] or Sam Green, [email protected].

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