The Prince’s Countryside Fund brings Christmas cheer to 27 resilient rural communities across the UK

The Prince’s Countryside Fund awards grants to local organisations, and our grant programmes enable us to support villages and market towns to become more self-sufficient and viable.

The successful projects are working in a broad range of impressive and unique ways to deliver solutions to their local community’s needs. There is everything from creating local, traceable leather, to ‘Dial-A-Delivery’, to digital skills training. Nineteen projects have been supported across England, five across Scotland, two in Wales and one in Northern Ireland, with a total of £203,481.68 awarded to these projects. The Fund would like to thank players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their support, contributing £159,000 to this grant making round.

Announcing the grant recipients, Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “In a year like no other, The Prince’s Countryside Fund, has provided a vital boost to nearly 100 rural communities through our grant programmes. We wanted to help those community organisations who are often at the forefront of responding to the needs of their locality, particularly in dealing with the impact of the pandemic.

“We had nearly 200 applications requesting about £1.5 million, and although we wish we could help all the applicants, we look forward to working with the 27 successful beneficiaries. It has been both amazing and humbling to see the individual ways so many organisations have developed support for their communities in these testing times, whilst also focusing on the need to make their operations sustainable. From tackling digital isolation in Devon to supporting a community transport scheme on the Isle of Mull – The Prince’s Countryside Fund is committed to improving the quality of life, in every aspect, for all people living and working in our great British countryside to ensure our rural communities continue to thrive.”

Emma Stockley, Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Community Engagement Officer said: “The Dartmoor Community Resilience Project will develop a support network to bring together the collective knowledge, skills and experience to sustain and develop the many embryonic community ventures on Dartmoor that have arisen because of the pandemic. The network will also support existing ventures which demonstrated a critical role in local resilience over the last year. Through the network we will develop Buy Moor Local initiatives, provide training, share learning and best-practice and link community and private sector businesses across the National Park.”

More details about our grant programmes can be found here. 

Grants were awarded to the following:

England:
Minety Community Shop Ltd, £2,700
Cosmic, £9,400
The Ennerdale Hub, £10,000
The Farming Life Centre, £10,000
Pasture-Fed Livestock Association, £9,787.50
Shropshire Rural Communities Charity, £8,142.43
Warwickshire Rural Hub, £6,890
Eastrington Village Hall Association, £582.00
St Dominick Community Shop Ltd, £7,971.68
Countrymen UK, £5,000
Dartmoor National Park Authority, £10,000
Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services Ltd, £9,124.80
Hawkesbury Community Shop Ltd, £6,000
The Moorlands Community Charity, £10,000
Wadebridge Foodbank and Storehouse, £5,000
The Estuary League of Friends, £5,000
TRIP Community Transport Association, £8,000
Godolphin Cross Community Association, £7,500
Citizens Advice Mid-North Yorkshire, £5,000

Wales
RISCA CV19 Volunteers, £5,909.98
The Arches (Rhayader & District Community Support), £8,830

Scotland:
Palnackie Village Shop Ltd, £9,922
Propagate (Scotland) CIC, £9,660
Mull and Iona Community Trust, £9,000
Dunadd Community Enterprise, £8,061.29
Isle of Bute Resilience Team, £8,000

Northern Ireland:
Rural Housing Association, £8,000