Don Foster, the MP for Bath, is encouraging all of his Bath constituents to start voting for local good causes to win grants in this year’s Lloyds Bank Community Fund.
The Community Fund is part of Lloyds Bank’s ‘Helping Britain Prosper Plan’ which aims to bring communities closer together and to help them thrive.
The fund is set to benefit around 1,400 good causes in 350 communities this year across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands this year with grants of up to £3,000 available.
Earlier this year, people were able to nominate local good causes to invite them to apply to Community Fund this year. Over 8,300 groups were nominated, with nearly 5,200 applications.
Nearly 600 Lloyd Banking Group colleagues worked together to assess the applications and decide the final shortlist.
The shortlisted groups in and around Bath are:
- Bath Opportunity Pre-School
- Percy Community Centre
- Bath FoodCycle
- Larkhall United Reformed Church
- Mentoring Plus
- Trauma Recovery Centre
Commenting, Don Foster MP said: “I want to encourage all my constituents and all the brilliant community groups to get involved with this scheme and vote. It is a great way for any project to find that extra funding needed so that they can go and deliver more for their local community.”
The grants are awarded to projects and services that make a positive difference to local communities. In 2013, 2.3 million votes were cast for the Community Fund and over 380,000 people benefited from the fund.
This year the fund is aiming to go further, as more than 700,000 people set to benefit from a Community Fund award.
A public vote will run until 10th October, so people can vote for the good causes they would like to support.
Votes can be cast in Lloyds Bank branches, online, by SMS or by Twitter. Last year over 2 million votes were cast but with the inclusion of Twitter voting for the first time, last year’s total is expected to be surpassed.
Don concuded: “I know that there are many brilliant community projects in Bath and if one that you truly appreciate has been shortlisted, then you should vote for them and show your appreciation for the work they do for your community.”