The Rye Fund announces a new round of grant-giving

Applications are invited from voluntary organisations in Rye and District for grant funding up to £1,500 from the Rye Fund. 

Last date for entries is September 15, 2017.  

For further information, visit :  http://sussexgiving.org.uk/apply-for-grants/how-it-works/ and scroll down to Round 2 – Rye Fund or contact info@sussexgiving.org.uk or you can speak to a member of our grants team  Tel:  01273 409440.

The Rye Fund at Sussex Community Foundation was formed in September 2008 and gave its first grants out in November 2009. 
The Rye Fund is an endowment fund of which an agreed percentage of the annual interest accrued is used to make grants to charities and community groups that benefit the local community, with an emphasis on improving social, cultural and educational provision, promoting the well-being and viability of the market town of Rye as a sustainable social and economic hub of the surrounding community, and improving and maintaining the built environment of Rye.

Since then, the Fund has given grants totalling over £35,000.

Last year’s awards went to groups as diverse as the Camber Community Group; Counselling Plus; Playden WI; Rother Youth Group; Rye & District Community Transport; Rye & District Dementia Action Alliance; Rye Harbour Sailing Club; Rye Wurlitzer Academy, and Rye Museum Association

Grants awarded to nine groups in 2016

Presentation in Rye Town hall.  Photo : Hugh Kermode

Winners in the latest round of Rye Fund awards gathered in the Council Chamber at Rye Town Hall last Wednesday January 18. Nine voluntary organisations received a total of £5,800, to help finance a variety of new projects and running expenses.

Kenneth Bird, chairman of the steering group, welcomed them and explained the origins of the Fund and how it is able to provide regular annual assistance from its endowment fund, administered by the Sussex Community Foundation and dedicated for use of local charities in Rye and District. Since its foundation in 2008, with the benefit of generous individual donations and government matched funding, the Fund has achieved an invested endowment fund of £120,000 and given grants totalling more than £35,000 to local voluntary organisations.

A representative of each recipient stepped forward to receive a certificate and give a brief description of their group’s work. These were:

• Camber Community Group, represented by Julie Kemp and Mike Botten
• Counselling Plus by Verra Papaspyrou and Jenny Willsher
• Playden WI by Joan Taylor and Amy Breeds
• Rother Youth Group by Meg Stone and Chris Hollands
• Rye & District Community Transport by Pat Hughes
• Rye & District Dementia Action Alliance by Daliea Redman;
• Rye Harbour Sailing Club by Caroline Wylson and Richard Hopper;
• Rye Museum Association by Jo Kirkham
• Rye Wurlitzer Academy by Richard Moore and Michael Wooldridge.

Also present were the Steering Group and local panel members, with town clerk Richard Farhall and Stephen Chamberlain from the Sussex Community Foundation. For the first time we had a video recorder operated by Hugh Kermode so that the proceedings can be embedded on the Fund’s website.