Girton Town Charity: case studies

Girton Town Charity works with other Village charities and organisations, and charities from outside the Village, to provide support for the residents of Girton. This page describes recent projects in Girton carried out with funding from Girton Town Charity.

Some of these activities are now

completed but we welcome proposals for new projects which will benefit residents of the Village. There is an application form and a set of guidelines to help with the preparation of requests for help by organisations providing for inhabitants of the Village. The guidelines also outline the procedures followed by the Trustees when considering requests; copies of these are available on request to any Trustee.

Help to Girton Institutions

The Cotton Hall - our biggest project
Visitors to Girton cannot fail to notice the spruced up Cotton Hall standing next to St Andrew's Church. The extension and updating of this Victorian school building, used as the village primary school until Girton Glebe School was opened in 1951, were enabled by a grant of half a million pounds from the Town Charity to the Cotton Hall Foundation. The Cotton Hall Trustees are also fundraising hard to meet their share costs of the build and of furnishing the building. This landmark project has provided modern facilities for the users of the Hall which is used primarily for children and youth activities. The pre-school, Cottontails, is based here as is the Sunday School for St Andrew's Church and the Chill Out Zone. These, and the other groups meeting there like the Brownies, Scouts, and the Baby and Toddler Group, now enjoy a bright and airy building well-designed for their needs.

Girton Churches
We have made grants to both St Andrew's Church (directly and through the Friends of St Andrew's) and the Baptist Church to help them improve their buildings and accessibility. The recipient churches have made major financial contributions of their own as well as having grants from the Town Charity.

St Andrew's Church has seen the Porch Room repaired and brought into use on a regular basis, and improved pathway lighting which discretely lights the way at path level. The Baptist Church will have modernised facilities and disabled access and this should greatly enhance the contribution the building makes to the life of the church and the village.

Girton Glebe School
We have supported a number of projects in the School. These include the very successful After-School Clubs which provide a wide variety of opportunities for the children. Other grants have provided IT equipment, helped with a project to enhance the functions of the library, restored the swimming pool and made a contribution to providing playground shading and an enhanced entrance area to the Key Stage 1 entrance area.

Work with other charities

Youth Project with the YMCA
The YMCA started their Youth Scheme, funded for three years by Girton Town Charity, in the summer holiday of 2005 with 10 days of Summer - an exciting set of activities for youngsters of different ages which also ran in 2006. There is a full time Youth Worker, Darryl McMurray, who has put together a wide range of activities including the Chill Out Zone. Activities have also taken place outside Girton; for example ten-pin bowling and a visit to a pantomime.

Camsight
In 2005 and 2006, Girton Town Charity funded Camsight to run a scheme in Girton to assist those with visual difficulties. The scheme was launched at the Annual Parish Meeting in 2005 and a number of residents were helped by the advice available from these experts and by the funds that we made available to allow Camsight to supply aids to those in need.

Cambridge Citizens Advice Bureau
Cambridge CAB run outreach sessions, based at the Pepys Way Surgery. These are on Mondays (1.00 - 3.00 p.m.) and no appointment is necessary.

Cambridge CAMTAD
The Campaign for Tackling Acquired Deafness in Cambridge was awarded a grant, renewable up to three years, for a series of sessions to help the residents of Girton with hearing difficulties. These sessions offer advice and help, for example they have a battery replacement service, thus saving the difficulty of a trip into Cambridge to sort out the problem.

Help to Girton Clubs and Community Groups

Sports Clubs
We have made many grants to Girton organisations to improve their facilities or their provision of activities. The Parish Council has bought a heavy roller and storage facility at the Recreation Ground to help with maintaining the cricket and other pitches using money from Girton Town Charity. We have also sponsored the Presentation Days of the Girton Colts Football Club and helped Girton United Football Club have been helped to buy training equipment.

Our aim is to help clubs to widen the facilities they are able to offer but it is not intended that an application to the Charity, if successful, should replace the normal fund-raising activities of the clubs. We all want to see the Village's clubs and societies build up strength in order to increase the enjoyment that their members get from what they do.

Village Societies
Girton Town Charity has helped the Girton Show with a loan and made grants to the Allotment Society to help with fencing and storage in order to make the allotments more secure and attractive. Girton Operatic has been helped to improve their lighting facilities and the Sustainable Girton project been helped with a grant towards the restoration of an electric truck.

Children and Youth Groups
We have been delighted to help The Primary Theatre Workshop, which meets in the WI Hall with grants for mats and sound equipment, and we have also helped Girton Youth Works with their Gardening Scheme and Babysitting Courses. A recent project is to help provide equipment for a children's gym club.

What can we help you do?

We want to hear from any Girton club or group who would like to enhance their activities. This might be to do something special which you couldn't pay for with your own funding efforts, or you might want help to start a new society because you know there is a group interested. Whatever it is, contact us soon to have a talk about it.