SEVERAL local organisations will aim to raise money through the Aviva Community Fund which offers community projects the chance to win much-needed funding.

The Aviva Community Fund will finance over 800 projects across four different fund levels and six categories, spreading out awards to communities throughout the UK. Each community project is available to access online and the public are able to vote for a project of their choosing. The project that gets among the most votes and wows the Aviva judges will be in with a chance of receiving funds.

Four community projects fom Okehampton and the surrounding area have applied for funding, these include Okehampton and District Community Transport Group, the Community Links ASC and ADHD support group in Okehampton, Devon Rotary Youth Games, and Winkleigh Sports Centre.

Okehampton and District Community Transport Group provide transport for the frail, elderly and disabled people who are rurally isolated where there is no public transport service. The volunteers drove over 92,000 miles last year on 6,100 journeys assisting clients.The group is hoping to receive funding in order to purchase a new wheelchair accessible vehicle.

Sue Wonnacott, Okehampton District Community Transport Group co-ordinator, said: ‘If we were voted for we would like to purchase a new wheelchair accessible vehicle as demand for our services has increased with more people being encouraged to stay independent in their own homes and with the lack of a wheelchair accessible vehicle taxi in our area.

‘We currently have two wheelchair accessible vehicles but one of them has become unreliable and very costly to maintain, which as a small charity we can’t manage to sustain. We need a vehicle which is available when required due to the lack of an alternative in our area for clients. We use these vehicles for both medical appointments and also lifestyle trips, enabling clients to access social activities which improves their quality of life, reducing social isolation and keeping them fitter, which in turn hopefully reducing hospital admissions.’

The Community Links ASC and ADHD support group is made up of parents and carers of children with autism or ADHD who meet once a month in Okehampton. They aim to provide a safe, caring and nurturing environment for local families to meet and share their experiences.

The group hoped that the money from Aviva would secure the funding needed to reach more families, pay for speakers, run courses and workshops and organise family activities. The funding would also go towards providing a comfortable meeting place for parents and carers.

Mary Lovell, managing director of Community Links, said: ‘The challenges faced by these families makes them an amazing group of people, with incredible empathy and brilliant ideas. This group is a life line to parents and carers, allowing them to rediscover who they are and restore their self-esteem.                                

‘We have worked hard to maintain the group with help from Okehampton United Charities. The additional funding from Aviva would enable us to develop and provide more activities and training opportunities. Please vote for us to support all those families affected by ASC and ADHD in Okehampton and the surrounding areas.’

Another project hoping to receive funding is the Devon Rotary Youth Games. The Rotary Youth Games is a large multi-sport community event created and ran by the Devon Youth Games Charitable Trust. It has been designed to inspire children and young people through opportunities and a community led ‘Olympic experience’.

Backing this event is now a board of trustees and a new charitable trust, made up of highly talented professionals from across the public, private and voluntary sector.

A Devon Youth Games spokesperson said that the organisation is looking for financial support from Aviva to assist with the transport costs, free T-shirts for each participant, event costs, facility hire and equipment.

The fourth project, run by Winkleigh Sports Centre, proposes the installation of a community cinema. The centre wants to use the funding to establish, resource, maintain and properly operate a community cinema based in existing premises at the sports centre.

The sports centre is a non-profit charity registered organisation that offers a range of sports and community activity, for example, a youth club and drop-in childcare.

Tom Radcliffe, secretary of the sports centre, said: ‘The sports centre is a magnificent building, it’s used in sports and all kinds of other activities and events. However, we want to expand what it is used for. The trustee are discussing lots of different ideas of how we can utilise the centre, the community cinema being one of them. We are striving to create a lasting resource for the community. We really want to utilise the space we have and expand the facilities. The Aviva fund could really help this, and really benefit our community.

‘This sports centre offers excellent potential for a community cinema, as it has space for seating, a projector and screen. Black out facilities already are in place as is a fully furnished kitchen to offer a range of in-house catering facilities. Such facilities can be offered at no cost to the project. In addition the centre has a spacious car park and is fully accessible to all and has the required toilet facilities on-site.’

The Aviva Community Fund offers all of these local community projects the opportunity to win funding that will significantly help them achieve their goals.

To vote for a project you have to register, you will then get ten votes to use how you want. You can give all your votes to one project or spread them across various projects. To vote visit www.avivacommunity fund.co.uk