Picture - supplied by parish
Spennymoor church project set to bag a big cash boost
St Paul’s Church Spennymoor’s green spaces project has been shortlisted to receive a cash boost of up to £12,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.
The ‘Grow at St Paul’s’ project will create a new growing space around the building for local residents to use and benefit from. Initial plans include creating a new wildflower area, building raised beds and planting fruit and vegetables, as well as other initiatives to encourage wildlife.
And now the project is set to receive a cash windfall as shoppers at Tesco’s Bishop Auckland and Newton Aycliffe stores can vote on which of three local environmental and green-space projects should take away the top grant of £12,000.
Voting takes place between October 31st and November 13th and customers can cast their vote using a token given to them at the checkout in store each time they shop.
Revd Matt Tarling, vicar at St Paul’s church said: “Our vision is to transform the green spaces around the church building and we want our community to be at the heart of this vision.
“We like it being well used as it is now but think we can go beyond that, a growing space will be more constructive for building community, helping people get to know each other and learn skills by getting involved.”
The ‘Grow at St Paul’s’ project launched in early October and saw parishioners start clearing up the existing conservation area in preparation for their plans.
The Tesco initiative, supported by the charity Groundwork, gives community groups a share of the money raised from 5p plastic bag levy and ‘Grow at St Paul’s’ is one of 1,248 organisations from Tesco’s 416 regions to receive a share of the Bags of Help fund.
The St Paul’s project is guaranteed to secure funding worth £8,000, but local shoppers can help boost that to £12,000 when voting opens at the end of October.
Story Submitted By St Paul’s Spennymoore