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Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund has pledged more than £33,000 to organisations in Cheshire and South Manchester, with 19 community-led projects benefiting.
With the trust celebrating its 25th anniversary in December 2022, the latest funding pledges bring the total donations to community projects made to £3.5 million. The fund is supported by an annual £100,000 contribution from Manchester Airport, topped up by fines levied against airlines that breach noise limits; community organisations within a 10 mile radius of the airport can apply quarterly for grants of up to £3,000.
Among beneficiaries of the Manchester Airport Community Trust Fund’s latest round of donations include Stockport-based Drawing Board Productions: the non-profit organisation publishes hyperlocal community newspapers, Heatons Post, Cheadle Post and Didsbury Post. Funding received will support the installation of 20 distribution stands in selected medical centres, community spaces and public libraries across Stockport and South Manchester.
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.”
Elsewhere in Stockport, funds will support a diverse range of initiatives, including a community centre defibrillator, display freezer for a food bank and bird boxes to encourage swifts to nest in the borough. Other beneficiaries included Tameside Armed Services Community (TASC), which received over £1,500 of funding to provide solar electricity for its Veterans’ Allotment in Denton (pictured).
Ian Costigan, Interim Managing Director at Manchester Airport, said:
“Twenty-five 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.”
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.
Details on how to apply for a Community Trust Fund grant, and the full criteria, can be found here. The deadline for applications to be considered at the next quarterly meeting in July is Monday 6th June.