To date, we have raised more than £200,000 towards the restoration of the Village Hall. Over £40,000 of this has been from the local community, in the form of donations and fundraising. This money has allowed us to undertake the vital work that was necessary to make the Hall safe and habitable. There will be a Grand Reopening on May 2nd, and it will be an impressive building.

 

However, we still have insufficient funds to equip the Hall to the standard that will make it fit for the 21st Century. In particular, the kitchen and bar do not meet current requirements. We estimate that the cost of modernising this area, including structural work and equipment, will be in the region of £20,000.

 

Therefore, whilst we will attempt to source external funding, we are making an appeal to local residents and other readers of this web site for donations towards the refurbishment. We do have a specific opportunity at the moment to turn every £4 that is donated into almost £7, by a combination of Gift Aid and the matched funding that we receive from Tewkesbury Borough Council. For example, if you were to give a Gift Aided donation of £40, we will recover £10 in Gift Aid, making £50. Tewkesbury Borough Council will then give us matched funding of 39%, and this further £19.50 will make your £40 donation worth £69.50 to us.

 

Many of you have been extremely generous already, but we really do want our new Village Hall to fully meet the needs of its users and the community. Any contribution that you may be able to give will be gratefully received.

If you would like to contribute, please click the “Donate” button above.

For the latest issue of Witcombe and Bentham Village News please click on the link in the list below, the scrolling image to the right, or the image on the left.

 

(more details to follow)

 

Residents of Witcombe and Bentham are celebrating a £32,653 grant from Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK. The award includes a major contribution from village fundraising.
The funding will help to breathe new life into the Village Hall, which was in desperate need of a new roof and internal refurbishment. It is hoped that new roof structure and tiles will no longer crack and allow ingress of water, thus spoiling the internal hall which will also be renovated. All of the improvements will be fully accessible, for use by the whole community.
The Biffa Award grant will fund the new roof structure and tiles.
Gillian French, Programme Manager, Biffa Award, said “Communities need places to meet, and it is great news that some local clubs and groups have already expressed an interest in using the Village Hall. Biffa Award is pleased to support such worthwhile projects, which make a big difference in their communities.”
John Millington, Chairman of the Witcombe & Bentham Village Hall, said: ― “This was our first major grant award and, as such, galvanised the community fundraising. As a result we are able to modernise the cloakrooms and add a Toilet for the disabled with baby change facilities. We are also able to update the hall and reduce the carbon footprint with additional insulation.”
For more information, contact John Millington or Jane Wintle.

Since 1997, the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) has been awarding grants to environmental and community projects under the fund name Biffa Award. The fund administers money donated by Biffa Group Ltd, a leading integrated waste management business.

Biffa Group Ltd
Under the Landfill Tax Regulations 1996, landfill operators like Biffa Group Ltd are liable for taxes on waste deposited in landfill sites. The Landfill Communities Fund allows them to donate a small percentage of their tax liability to projects working to improve communities living within the vicinity of landfill sites. To date, Biffa Award has awarded grants totalling more than £140 million to thousands of worthwhile projects. www.biffa-award.org

Landfill Tax and the Landfill Communities Fund
Any waste that is discarded which cannot be reused, reprocessed or recycled may ultimately be disposed of in a landfill site. To encourage Landfill site Operators (LOs) to re-use, recycle, recover more value from waste and use more environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal, Landfill Tax is charged on each tonne of waste sent to landfill.
LOs are able to redirect a small proportion of landfill tax liability (currently 6.8%) to support a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of their landfill sites through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF). The LCF is regulated by ENTRUST on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs, and the projects are delivered by enrolled Environmental bodies (EBs).