ELEVEN Cheshire communities are celebrating after scooping more than £384,000 in the latest quarterly grant allocation from WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental).

This takes the total value of funding granted to Cheshire projects during 2008 to more than £856,000.

The money is generated by Waste Recycling Group Ltd (WRG) landfill operations throughout the UK. Projects applying for grants from WREN need to be located with 10 miles of a WRG landfill site and are assessed locally by a panel of experts, all of whom either live and/or work in Cheshire, Halton or Warrington.

Project manager Richard Smith said: “It’s hard to believe that we have received yet another record-breaking suite of projects.

“WREN has now awarded as much funding to Cheshire communities in the first two quarters of 2008 as we did in the whole of 2007.

“In addition we are pleased to announce that we have now launched a small grant scheme aimed at simplifying the application process for groups looking for grants of between £2,000 and £15,000 towards projects costing no more than £50,000.”

Peter Cox, managing director of WREN, said: “2008 is proving to be a bumper year for WREN and we have seen an increase in the number of applications received throughout our operational areas.”

The next deadline for applications to WREN is September 26 and community groups are being encouraged to come forward with applications of between £2,000 and £50,000 for capital projects.

WREN staff are happy to give support and advice to anyone thinking of making an application. For further information log on to www.wren.org. uk.

Recent awards include:

Helsby Community Park Phase 1/Groundwork Cheshire £47,650 – provision of new play equipment and safer surfacing at Helsby Park.

Kelsall Green Phase 1/Kelsall Parish Council Recreation Sub Committee £50,000 – purchase and installation of play equipment and safer surfacing on the newly purchase Kelsall Green.

Kingsley Recreation Area/Groundwork Cheshire £32,000 – purchase and installation of play equipment and safer surfacing to form a new play area for the residents of Kingsley.

Utkinton Village Hall Refurbishment/Utkinton Village Hall Management Committee £24,347 – refurbishment of Utkinton Village Hall including, plastering, decoration, re-cladding of exterior, double glazing, insulations and repairs to support pier.