Winchester City Council has made the first grant awards under its new Community Chest scheme.

Awards were made to Badger Farm Friendly Group £275 for new equipment; Click2Connect £500 towards running a website for young people; Colden Common Regeneration Project £270 for special event management; Denmead Festival £500 towards festival events; Highcliffe Community Action Group £250 towards organising committee and public meetings; and Winchester-Geissen Anglo-German Society £250 for assistance towards a twinning trip.

Steve Tilbury, Director of Community Services, said "These small grants will help a number of valuable projects to enrich the communities they serve. We are delighted to be able to help out with this funding and look forward to considering other applications during the year"

The Community Chest - which has a budget of £10,000 - is an innovative new scheme, aimed at voluntary and community groups in the Winchester District, that offers small grants of up to £500 towards projects, activities and one-off areas of expenditure.

For further information and an application pack please contact Community Services on