It's been tough sifting through all the applications for community grants from the Wishsprite Foundation deciding where the £10,000 would go. This week REBECCA TAYLOR broke the good news to six organisations and found out what difference the money will mean for the work they do.
THE applications came in by post and e-mail throughout the summer - modest requests for help from modest people doing wonderful things in our community.
They were responding to a Wishsprite Foundation campaign launched 15 weeks ago, giving non-profit making organisa-
tions in the Chester area the chance to apply for between £500 and £5,000 towards a specific project.
As soon as that week's Chronicle hit the shops, dozens of applications began arriving showing just how many volunteers in the community are desperate for more cash to aid their work.
Among the applicants featured in The Chronicle each week were children's activity centres and clubs for people with disabilities or special needs.
Some projects were aimed at a small number of people with specific needs, others would aid a whole community with various activities.
Some could be completed with a few hundred pounds from the Wishsprite Foundation, others needed thousands of pounds to top up money they had already raised through other means.
Established charities applied for extra funding to help them continue their work in the Chester area, while other applicants wanted money to help them put a good idea into practise.
Eric Langton, editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror Cheshire, said he was delighted at the number of entries received for the campaign.
'Even after all these years working in Chester I am astounded by the amount of work done by volunteers to benefit their fellow citizens. It was heartwarming to read the details of the work that the un-sung heroes did everywhere. 'This campaign was a good opportunity to give them recognition but also in a practical way to ensure that the good work is given financial assistance.
'Unfortunately there is never enough money to help all the charities who ask for assistance.'
Terry Lindon, the Wishsprite Foundation's creator and benefactor, said: 'All in all there was a huge pile of applications in our office and I am delighted that there has been such a fantastic response.
'What amazed me was the number of groups who were requesting donations for things that you think they should get funding for from the Government as a matter of course, things like cycling helmets to go with bikes that have been donated to schools. These are things that are vital for them and yet they don't have them.'
Mr Lindon, 48, is a semi-retired businessman who annually donates around £100,000 from the profits of his insurance companies to enable the Wishsprite Foundation to directly aid charitable organisations in the North West.
He says his motivation is that he likes helping others: 'I grew up in Liverpool and saw lots of poverty, so it is nice to think that you can directly help people in your local community as well as running a business.'
Volunteer groups benefit from some wishful thinking
WHEN Mike Tanswell applied to the Wish-sprite Foundation for funds for the children's drama group he founded, he said anything over a fiver would be gratefully received.
A single parent, Mike started UPSTAGE THEATRE GROUP at Queen's Park High School because he realised that some parents could not afford the high costs of many of Chester's drama societies.
The result, after much hard work, is Up-stage - a non profit-making drama group for forty 8- to 16-year-olds that prides itself on demanding as little money from parents as possible, while giving maximum enjoyment and benefit to its young members.
The group's philosophy that 'drama is for everyone' proved popular, but meant that there was never any spare cash for luxuries like theatre rental or proper equipment.
Thanks to the Wishsprite Foundation, which granted Upstage a £2000 grant this week, that is all going to change.
Mike says his first priority with the Wish-sprite windfall will be to give the young actors a taste of professional theatre.
'It would be fantastic to get the Gateway for a day and a night, so that they could use their professional lighting and sound technicians - just imagine their faces.'
He will also finally be able to get round to replacing the group's keyboard, which was secondhand when they bought it and is now obsolete because they use it so much.
Finally, Mike says the grant will help him to give more aspiring actors and actresses in Chester the chance to take to the stage without breaking their parents' budget.
'We have had parents enquiring about the group for their children, and existing members often say they would prefer it if we had another branch in another part of the city.
'It cost me £1,000 to start the group originally, so I should be able to do the same again.' nYOUNG children in Barrow will be able to use an outdoor play area to the full in the future, thanks to a sand tray and water play table to be bought with a £500 Wishsprite Foundation grant.
BARROW PRE-SCHOOL appealed to the foundation to replace outdoor toys that had become old, rusty and in some cases unsafe, and were delighted to find out this week that their wish has been granted.
Chairman Fiona Rackham said: 'We have a purpose-built outdoors area that is covered and secure, but the only equipment we have is a few footballs that aren't fully inflated so the children tend to go outside and run around in circles to burn off their energy.
'With a water table and sand tray we can do outdoor play and also science and maths exercises with the children.'
The pre-school, which operates three times a week for 16 children under the age of four, was started by community members and is run by a community committee.
Fiona said that a pre-school plays a vital part in a small rural village like Barrow.
'Without the pre-school the nearest play facility would be Tarvin or Manley. It is very important for them to be able to play socially with children who live nearby and to learn how to share things.
'Being a small group it means we can give them lots of individual care, but it does make
it difficult to raise funds because you can't ask parents for money all the time.
'This is why I am so pleased that my application to Wishsprite paid off.' nWHEN new members join the CHESTER AND ELLESMERE PORT YOUNG CARERS PROJECT, they usually express the same wish - for a trip to Disneyland.
In her application t, organiser Bethan Cooper said she would like to make their dreams possible.
'Usually we have to say we can't afford anything like that so it would be wonderful if we could grant their wish.'
This week the foundation announced it will be able to make the young carers' wish come true, with a grant of £1,500.
Jolene Hartley, who runs the project with Bethan, said they were overjoyed with the windfall, which will mean they can take eight young carers from the under 12s group to Disneyland Paris later this year.
'This will be a massive help, it will let us to give young carers under 12 a much-needed break and a once in a lifetime chance to go somewhere like that.
'We are very grateful to the WishSprite Foundation and The Chronicle.'
The Chester and Ellesmere Port Young Carers Project gives children who care for a sick or disabled family member a fort-nightly chance to escape the pressures of home.
They are picked up from home and given an evening of sports, arts and social activities that take their mind off their usual duties.
Jolene added that when she and Bethan are able to take the young carers away on residential holidays, they notice the difference it makes to them.
'We take them on activity holidays sometimes, where children build up confidence, but this trip to Disneyland
will be more about giving them a chance to be kids for a weekend.' nCASUALTIES in the Tarvin area will soon be receiving expert help quicker than ever, thanks to the Wishsprite Foundation.
FIRST RESPONDER for Tarvin and district, Anne Christine Skyrme, has been granted her wish of £900 for a satellite navigation for her car, helping her to help those who need emergency care.
As a volunteer for Mersey Regional Ambulance Service, Anne Christine is trained to give assistance to casualties in rural areas where it may take paramedics up to 20 minutes to arrive.
She says that the navigation system will make her even more efficient, as it will help her find obscure addresses within seconds.
She said: 'I would benefit from satellite navigation like they have in ambulances. It would make my job so much faster. I can get out of the house in 20 seconds and sometimes faster but it takes that little bit longer when I am reading a map.'
Anne Christine is performing a vital support system to a stretched ambulance service, according to her manager
Steve Evans.
He says the six first responder groups across Cheshire save lives by starting medical assistance within minutes of a 999 call. 'As soon as Anne Christine gets to someone who has collapsed with chest pains she can start defibrillation and do the same initial things as the paramedic would do.
'The sooner we get a patient into the chain of survival the better.
With every minute of delay, a patient's chances of survival diminish by 10%, so if that is within five minutes they will have a 50/50 chance.'
Anne Christine says that now she has been given the means to buy time-saving equipment, she will concentrate on fundraising to buy herself more life-saving equipment, starting with a properly-marked response car that people will instantly recognise.
She added: 'I am thrilled and very grateful to the Wishsprite Foundation, I was over the moon when they phoned this morning.' nCHILDREN in Blacon will be given a new set of toys to play with, thanks to a Wish-sprite Foundation grant of £500.
Charitable playgroup JOLLY TOTS, held in Blacon Community Centre, gives children aged two-and-a-half to five the chance to play together five days a week and allows parents to have time to themselves.
Supervisor Muriel Paddock applied to the Wishsprite Foundation for money for new educational toys like puzzles and building blocks, which she says will aid the children's co-ordination and confidence.
She said: 'When you have got educational toys you can do something with the children and get more out of it.
'With a puzzle, you start the child off on a small one with a few pieces, and when they can do those move on to one more pieces.
'You can also talk to them about what is on the puzzle, and pretend that you don't know what it is, so that they feel like they are telling you something.'
Muriel added that the playgroup staff, who are all volunteers, notice a big difference in the children after they join the playgroup.
'A lot of them come in really shy, but they leave quite confident. Because we are a small group we can give them one-to-one attention and that gives them the confidence to move on to something bigger when they are old enough.'
Grant keeps out the rain at charity
THE NEWS of a £1,300 Wishsprite Foundation grant came as a ray of sunshine in a summer of storm clouds for the Yew Tree Carriage Driving Trust.
The charity, based in Pulford, offers disabled and disadvantaged people the chance to ride in a horse-drawn carriage or to learn to drive one, but only when weather permits it.
'One of the problems we have is that people coming from urban backgrounds don't have a vast amount of outdoor footwear and clothing suitable for a cold or wet day out on the farm,' said Jan Fair, who founded the trust.
'This restricts us to being watchful over the weather and at times having to cancel, to the upset of visitors, as we know they will go home wet through.'
Jan asked the foundation for money to pay for a bank of warm, weatherproof clothing to cater for children and adults of all ages.
As heavy rain caused flash flooding across Chester, she said the Wishsprite money would make a big difference to visitors and volunteers.
'It couldn't come at a better time, the rain has been particularly bad this summer. This is our second year and we have been really busy.
'But we have had to put off about 60 children because of the weather, which is heartbreaking.'
Jan and 23 volunteers operate the trust and believe that it offers people the chance to do something different and to forget the troubles of everyday life.
Says Jan: 'For the children in wheelchairs means that for a short time they can take themselves where they want to go and access places on land that they couldn't get to in wheelchair.
'Many kids who come here have never seen a rabbit before and like to sit in the carriage looking at the countryside around them.'
