A COMMUNITY organisation that provided a lifeline to people in the lockdown will itself get a helping hand through a rough period.
TCR Hub, in Barnard Castle, delivered care packages to those who had fallen on hard times including food and everyday essentials. The centre also provides a base for community and family activities.
The Hub applied for a £27,317 grant from Teesdale Action Partnership (TAP) which was approved.
Adam White, partnership co-ordinator, said The Hub needs the money to get back on its feet after the pandemic and pay staff wages and it is seeking a further £251,000 from other funding bodies.
He added: “Like a lot of other organisations and charities, their revenue streams have dried up during Covid-19. The money will put them on a good footing over the next 12 months and help them increase their income so they can start to cover staffing costs themselves.
“It’s to get the doors open after Covid and give them a leg up and get them going again.”
Mr White told the TAP board meeting that the The Hub was now one of the busiest community buildings in Teesdale. The board also backed a number of other bids for cash.
Teesdale Sailing and Watersports Club is hoping to install solar panels to provide green energy to its clubhouse on the shores of Grassholme Reservoir. Members applied for £13,000 to help fund the £17,000 project.
Mr White said: “The funding is to provide off-grid power to the clubhouse which doesn’t have mains electricity at the moment. Solar power will help the club to grow.”
Middleton and Teesdale Silver Band is to get cash to help fund workshops in schools to boost junior membership. Money will also be provided to replace old instruments.
Bright Woods Forest School, in Deepdale, will be given £9,944 so it can continue its programme of sessions for adults with mental health problems for the next seven months.
St Mary’s RC Primary School, in Barnard Castle, is in line for £2,200 from county councillor budgets to help set up a community garden in the school grounds.
TAP project officer Annalisa Ward said the cash would go towards fencing and a water supply. The monthly gardening club would hold regular produce sales and help bring the community together with regular events such as coffee mornings, she added. The plot would also include a sensory garden.
A grant of £1,200 from county councillor budgets is to be given to Barnard Castle Town Council towards a defibrillator at its offices at Woodleigh.
The partnership was told this would plug a gap in coverage as the next nearest ones are at the cricket club in Vere Road and at St Mary’s Parish Hall, in Newgate. TAP members agreed one was needed near Scar Top because of the area’s popularity with visitors. They also suggested putting up clear signage to locate the heart-start machine.
Whorlton Parish Council is planning to remove the modern phone box on the village green and replace it with a traditional red booth – similar to the one removed in 1984. This project is in line to receive £2,200 from county councillor budgets and it is hoped the phone box will be used by the community as a produce or book exchange.
All the projects are expected to be rubber stamped by Durham County Council, which oversees the action partnership.
