The Prince’s Countryside Fund brings Christmas cheer to 27 resilient rural communities

The Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF) has awarded over £200,000 of grant funding to 27 community-led projects across the UK, which are working to create resilient rural communities. Since 2010, PCF a subsidiary of The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund, has distributed over £10 million in funding to nearly 400 projects.

The Prince’s Countryside Fund’s mission is to help ensure thriving and resilient rural communities with farming at their heart, and our grant programmes enable us to support villages and market towns to become more self-sufficient and viable.

The successful projects are working in a broad range of impressive and unique ways to deliver solutions to their local community’s needs. There is everything from creating local, traceable leather, to ‘Dial-A-Delivery’, to digital skills training. Nineteen projects have been supported across England, five across Scotland, two in Wales and one in Northern Ireland, with a total of £203,481.68 awarded to these projects. The Fund would like to thank players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their support, contributing £159,000 to this grant making round.

Announcing the grant recipients, Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “In a year like no other, The Prince’s Countryside Fund, has provided a vital boost to nearly 100 rural communities through our grant programmes. We wanted to help those community organisations who are often at the forefront of responding to the needs of their locality, particularly in dealing with the impact of the pandemic.

“We had nearly 200 applications requesting about £1.5 million, and although we wish we could help all the applicants, we look forward to working with the 27 successful beneficiaries. It has been both amazing and humbling to see the individual ways so many organisations have developed support for their communities in these testing times, whilst also focusing on the need to make their operations sustainable. From tackling digital isolation in Devon to supporting a community transport scheme on the Isle of Mull – The Prince’s Countryside Fund is committed to improving the quality of life, in every aspect, for all people living and working in our great British countryside to ensure our rural communities continue to thrive.”

Emma Stockley, Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Community Engagement Officer said: “The Dartmoor Community Resilience Project will develop a support network to bring together the collective knowledge, skills and experience to sustain and develop the many embryonic community ventures on Dartmoor that have arisen because of the pandemic. The network will also support existing ventures which demonstrated a critical role in local resilience over the last year. Through the network we will develop Buy Moor Local initiatives, provide training, share learning and best-practice and link community and private sector businesses across the National Park.”

Grants were awarded to:

England:

Minety Community Shop Ltd, £2,700

Cosmic, £9,400

The Ennerdale Hub, £10,000

The Farming Life Centre, £10,000

Pasture-Fed Livestock Association, £9,787.50

Shropshire Rural Communities Charity, £8,142.43

Warwickshire Rural Hub, £6,890

Eastrington Village Hall Association, £582.00

St Dominick Community Shop Ltd, £7,971.68

Countrymen UK, £5,000

Dartmoor National Park Authority, £10,000

Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services Ltd, £9,124.80

Hawkesbury Community Shop Ltd, £6,000

The Moorlands Community Charity, £10,000

Wadebridge Foodbank and Storehouse, £5,000

The Estuary League of Friends, £5,000

TRIP Community Transport Association, £8,000

Godolphin Cross Community Association, £7,500

Citizens Advice Mid-North Yorkshire, £5,000

Wales:

RISCA CV19 Volunteers, £5,909.98

The Arches (Rhayader & District Community Support), £8,830

Scotland:

Palnackie Village Shop Ltd, £9,922

Propagate (Scotland) CIC, £9,660

Mull and Iona Community Trust, £9,000

Dunadd Community Enterprise, £8,061.29

Isle of Bute Resilience Team, £8,000

Northern Ireland:

Rural Housing Association, £8,000

The Fund will be open again for grant applications in February 2021. More details can be found at www.princescountryside.fund.org.uk/grants.

For further information or interview requests please contact Tessa Berridge, Communications and Events Officer at The Prince’s Countryside Fund on tberridge@countrysidefund.org.uk or 07990 374073.

Notes to Editors

The Prince’s Countryside Fund was established by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2010 and aims to enhance the prospects of family farm businesses and the quality of rural life. We believe that the British countryside is our most valuable natural asset and its contribution to our everyday life cannot be underestimated.

Over the past decade, The Prince’s Countryside Fund has given away over £10 million to more than 350 projects working across the UK which improve service provision in rural areas, support farming businesses and rural enterprises, and provide training opportunities for young people. In short, we look after the people who look after the countryside.

To help support and secure the future of the countryside, we work in several ways:

• By providing more than £1m in grant and initiative funding every year to projects across the UK that help to provide a secure future for the countryside.
• Leading initiatives, such as The Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme which offers free business skills training to family farms across the UK.
• Commissioning research into issues affecting farming families and rural communities.
• Being an advocate for the countryside by bringing together individuals and businesses to help tackle current challenges.
• Working with partners to provide exciting schemes for those from rural areas.
• Helping communities in crisis through our Emergency Fund.

To find out more, visit the Fund’s website at www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk