Manchester Airport shares £16,000 funding with local good causes

Manchester Airport has pledged £16,000 from its Community Trust Fund to a variety of community-led projects and local good causes.

Established in 1997, Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund is managed by a committee of trustees from the area, alongside representatives from the airport, which pays £100,000 per year into the fund. Groups based within 10 miles of the airport, which covers parts of Manchester, Tameside, Trafford, Stockport and Cheshire, are able to bid for up to £3,000 for initiatives with a clear and lasting community benefit. The fund is also supported by fines levied against airlines for breaching noise pollution limits.

Among more than a dozen to benefit from the latest round of funding is Read Easy Stockport, a group dedicated to helping adults learn to read. The charity estimates that there are 2.4 million adults in England alone – over 7% of the working age population – who struggle with reading or cannot read at all. Read Easy Stockport has been awarded more than £700 in funding to purchase new reading materials.

Fiona Clear, a fundraiser for the group, said:

“Read Easy Stockport offers weekly one-to-one reading coaching sessions to any adult in the local area who finds reading challenging. Our reading coaches are all local volunteers, who commit their time for up to two years.

“The donation from Manchester Airport’s Community Trust Fund will enable us to purchase additional books and resources, which will help to make learning to read fun, and to overcome a fear of text, which can be a barrier to learning to read fluently.”

Other organisations in Stockport to receive funding from the latest round of donations from the airport’s Community Trust Fund include:

• Baxter Park and Brookside Tennis Club
• Your Local Pantry – Woodley
• LAST
• Cheadle & Gatley Junior Football Club
• Read Easy Stockport
• Young Star Mentoring
• Manchester County Football Association
• Stockport Sea Scouts
• Stockport Handball Club

Robert Pattison, Head of Community Engagement at Manchester Airport, commented:

“Supporting good causes in our neighbouring communities is very important to us at Manchester Airport, and to see such a wide range of local charities and initiatives benefitting from a Community Trust Fund grant is fantastic news.

“We have now made over £4 million worth of donations since the Community Trust Fund was established and will continue to do all we can to ensure that neighbouring communities share in the benefits of the airport’s success.”

Details on how to apply for a Community Trust Fund grant, and the full criteria, can be found here. The trustees will next meet on Monday 8^th January, and applications for funding to be considered at the next meeting must be submitted by Friday 17^th November.

Pictured: L-R: Cllr John Taylor, one of the Manchester Airport Community Trust Fund trustees, with Fiona Clear and Marie Joyce of Read Easy Stockport.