Dorset’s Hall & Woodhouse awards £50k to South England organisations
Hall & Woodhouse, a family brewer based in Dorset, has awarded £50,000 across 35 grants to organisations across the South of England.
The grants were awarded to charities and community groups at the firm’s annual Community Chest Awards across two events. Each event focused on different regions within its managed house estate, one for the South East on 12 January and one for the South West the next day (13 January).
In Dorset, 18 charitable organisations received more than £25,000, while a further four charities in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Devon were also recognised at the ceremony held in Blandford’s Brewery Tap.
Mark Woodhouse, Family Director of Hall & Woodhouse, said: “Our Community Chest was founded over 20 years ago to support and strengthen the local communities which make Hall & Woodhouse such a vibrant company that is committed to providing support for those in need.
“This year, we have found the need to provide people with food, warmth, and shelter to be extremely high due to the cost-of-living crisis. It is both an honour and a necessity to provide funding for these good causes that play such vital roles in our communities.
“With costs rising during a financially difficult time for many, being able to offer necessary support for those in desperate need is more important now, than ever before. We are proud to make it our duty to help where we can with this critical fund.”
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In Dorset, Hope Housing, Training and Support was one organisation to receive a grant, being given £3,000 to support its work with homeless, vulnerable adults in Bournemouth and Poole. The grant will be used to fund a Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer who will look to find way to help people finding it difficult to access advice and guidance.
A further £3,000 was awarded to Vale Pantry, a North Dorset organisation which offers help packages and advice to people with limited access to food. The money will be used to purchase fresh food to help it continue making food packages, having seen increased demand recently.
Cycling Without Age, an organisation working to help people in Weymouth with limited mobility continue to have an active life, was awarded a grant of £2,000. This charity provides a team of volunteer ‘pilots’ who ride trishaws around the town to allow their ‘passengers’ a fresh air bike ride. They will use the money to buy more trishaws, allowing them to expand to more Dorset towns.
In the 21 years since the Community Chest was established, Hall & Woodhouse has donated more than 750,000 to over 850 causes in the South England, working with both the Dorset and Susses Community Foundations.
The other charities to receive grants this year were:
- Axe Valley and West Dorset Ring & Ride - £1500
- East Dorset Parkinson’s Branch - £500
- In Jolly Good Company - £500
- Island Community Action - £800
- Poole Sailability - £1500
- Treads Young People’s Advice & Information - £1000
- Routes to Roots - £1500
- Read Easy Poole and Bournemouth - £600
- Poole Waste Not Want Not - £1000
- Bridport & District Citizens Advice – £1000
- Chiswell Walled Garden - £1000
- The Colour Works Foundation - £1200
- Fernheath Play - £1000
- Friends of Stour Connect - £1250
- Treads Young People’s Advice & Information - £1000
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Featured image: 2022 Western Community Chest Awards. Credit: Liz Lean PR/Hall & Woodhouse
