Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund pledges over £33,000 to support good causes

Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund has pledged more than £33,000 to organisations in Cheshire and South Manchester.

The Fund, which celebrates is 25th anniversary this December, has made donations worth more than £3.5 million to community-led projects in that time and the latest 19 beneficiaries were decided at its most recent quarterly meeting in April. These covered the breadth of the Trust Fund’s catchment, including organisations in Manchester, Trafford, Stockport, Tameside and Cheshire.

Ian Costigan, Interim Managing Director, Manchester Airport, said: “25 years after it was first conceived, the Community Trust Fund continues to contribute enormously to the neighbourhoods surrounding our airport. The variety of organisations set to benefit from April’s donations is testament to the broad impact of the scheme and firmly anchors Manchester Airport within the community as we collectively recover from the impacts of the pandemic.”

Beneficiaries include Brooklands Bowling Club in Trafford, which will receive £1,500 towards a new bowling shelter. Ian Thompson, the club’s Chairman, said: “We are a community bowling club with a membership of around 70 men and women. In times of bad weather, we do not have enough shelter, so this donation will help us to provide a much more comfortable and enjoyable experience for our members and visitors alike.”

Drawing Board Productions, a not-for-profit organisation and publisher of Heatons Post, Cheadle Post and Didsbury Post hyperlocal community newspapers in the Stockport area, will receive funding towards 20 distribution stands to be placed in selected medical centres, community spaces and public libraries across the three communities they serve. Mel Page, one of the co-founders of the organisation, said: “We are grateful to Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund for its support in helping us reach more readers. We produce three monthly, not for profit free hyperlocal community newspapers filled with positive and informative news contributed by local community groups, businesses, schools, colleges, charities, students and residents. We do have a website where people can download the newspaper, however through research and feedback we have highlighted the need for news in print which can reach the digitally excluded, socially isolated, vulnerable or elderly members of our community who do not readily or comfortably access local community news online or on social media.”

Tameside Armed Services Community (TASC) received over £1,500 of funding to provide solar electricity for its Veterans’ Allotment in Denton. TASC’s Frank Travis said: “We are very grateful to the Community Trust Fund for its support. This new, clean electricity supply will allow us to stay open for longer and make better use of equipment onsite. That will include us being able to invite the wider community into a more flexible and welcoming space. The allotment is a project developed by TASC to bring together service veterans with a shared interest and fosters a sense of community. It also has close links with the Veterans’ Kitchen initiative, which employs veterans who provide meals to those in need.”

Friends of The Moor, which helps maintain the Moor Park in Knutsford, will receive £3,000 for the addition of exercise equipment, including parallel bars and an abs bench, as part of a new ‘Trim Trail’. Adam Keppel-Green, Chair of Friends of the Moor, said: “The Moor is already a popular space for those who want to keep fit and this equipment, aimed at both teens and adults, will provide free to use equipment for the community.”

Wythenshawe Black Belt Academy will get £2,820 of funding to purchase protective equipment for up to 15 members. The group aims to increase community participation in healthy recreation, focusing on taking part in martial arts. Eddie Bates, founder of the academy, said: “We’re thankful to Manchester Airport and the Community Trust Fund for their contribution. More equipment will allow us to increase participation in our classes. We are volunteer-led and offer a wide variety of martial arts, including Kenpo Karate, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai.”

The Community Trust Fund is overseen by the airport and is managed through a committee of independent Trustees made up of councillors from neighbouring communities. It provides funding either as a contribution to, or to meet the cost of, not-for-profit initiatives. Applicants located within 10 miles of the airport site can ask for up to £3,000 of funds for equipment or costed projects.