Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, is delighted to welcome funding for Kingswood Trust in his constituency.
The educational charity based near Perton was awarded £215,200 in the first round of funding under the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund. This project will help to sustain the trust, offering a Forest School and other activities to promote health and wellbeing among local communities hard hit by Covid-19. The project will improve the condition of woodland and orchards and create a new full-time Volunteer Coordinator post as well as safeguarding three existing staff posts.
Earlier this year, Gavin had paid a visit to the trust to see how they were coping with the challenges that Covid-19 had brought about.
The £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund is kick-starting a pipeline of nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment. Funding is being distributed on behalf of Defra by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The award is focused on delivering a project around ‘Nature for All’ to target all age groups around the health and education benefits of being outdoors.
Speaking of the funding, Gavin said: “It’s brilliant to see a great charity like Kingswood Trust being given the support they need, during a time of such uncertainty. I know how far this money will go for the team at Kingswood and I will be looking forward to seeing the changes they will make”.
Discussing the support, Charity Manager, Rachel Wells said: “The funding has come at such a vital time for us as we have been working tirelessly to get as much money into the charity as possible. We wouldn’t be here without the support from the local community and it will be so refreshing to be able to give back to them.”
