Swallowdale Children's Trust and Gazette's £25,000 giveaway winners are revealed

Hundreds of applications for a share of our £25k childrens giveaway were whittled down to a list of 11 winners.
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The Gazette once again teamed up with the Swallowdale Children’s Trust to help give the money to deserving groups and individuals - all with the aim of improving life for young people on the Fylde coast.

It is the ninth year The Gazette has partnered with the trust and the prize pot this year has seen the total handed out since 2013 climb to more than £135,000.

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The biggest winners in this year’s competition were the Windmill Group and Carleton Scouts which both received £5000 grants.

Members of the Windmill Youth GroupMembers of the Windmill Youth Group
Members of the Windmill Youth Group

Peter Westhorpe, a trustee from the Windmill Group, a local group offering the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to youngsters, said he was delighted they had been chosen in the competition.

He said: “We’re very grateful to Swallowdale Children’s Trust, for making this grant of £5,000 at a time where following the pandemic year our youngeters are involved in more activities than normal, they are catching up basically over the lost year.

“We have a full summer of activities involving outdoor education andDuke of Edingburgh award and service to the community.

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“All these activities will be benefited by the funding that we’ve been given. We’ve got about 25 young people involved in their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, and the outdoor activities they’re involved with are taking place all throughout the summer and the £5,000 will be beneficial to helping them achieve this. A huge thank you from everyone here at the Windmill Group to Swallowdale and the Gazette.”

A-Team Youth Club during one of their acitivity daysA-Team Youth Club during one of their acitivity days
A-Team Youth Club during one of their acitivity days
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Latoya Sykes, direct services manager for the disabled children, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been very challenging and we’ve had to be creative and diversify our service and delivery over the past year and a half.

“We’ve actually made use of virtual platforms in order to interact with our young people and this has had an impact on our youth group A-Team particularly, which is a group specifically for young people on the autism spectrum.

“The group, as you can imagine have struggled with the lack of face to face interaction . The money from the Swallowdale Children’s Trust will have a huge impact on our young people as they once again can meet up with their peers and work on building their confidence.

members of the Windmill Youth Groupmembers of the Windmill Youth Group
members of the Windmill Youth Group
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“We have a fun programme of activities lined up for the upcoming month, and we’re looking forward to seeing the smiles on the children’s faces once again.”

Nigel Law, chairman of the Swallowdale trust, said both he and the trustees were “delighted” to have joined up with The Gazette once again to hand out thousands of pounds to good causes across the Fylde coast.

He said: “The trustees of the Swallowdale Children’s Trust were delighted that The Gazette agreed again to join forces with us to give grants to the total value of £25,000. During the application process we wanted people to be able to show to us that the money we were potenitally awarding them would benefit them and benefit the local community because it’s a double-edged gift.

“We always want to see some benefit to society in general from the money we donate to causes across Blackpool and the Fylde coast. All of the winners were chosen for showing how they were able to achieve this and as always the trustees will be keen to follow up and see what difference the outcome has made for the winners and how successful it has been.”

Carleton ScoutsCarleton Scouts
Carleton Scouts
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This year’s other winners include Blackpool Music School (£2000), Blackpool Sea Cadets (£1,500), Ultimate Taekwando Bispham (£1200) and the Fleetwood Royalettes ( £1000).

The Gazette’s promotions manager Jan Cullen said: “Since Swallowdale first approached us about a giveaway in 2013 we have handed out more than £135,000 to dozens of worthy groups right across the Fylde coast.

“It is great to see how the money is used to make a real difference to the lives of young people in our community. Congratulations to everyone who was successful and there are still opportunities for people to receive grants from Swallowdale.”

What is Swallowdale Children’s Trust?

Swallowdale Children’s Trust has, for over 100 years, provided assistance to disadvantaged children and adults under the age of 25 years, living in the Blackpool Fylde and Wyre area.

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This trust was set up on the death of a Miss Sarah Massey who by her will left money towards the funding of an orphanage in Blackpool. With the assistance of a ladies committee fund raising took place and in 1914 an orphanage was opened at 121 Talbot Road Blackpool. The first matron was a Miss Swallow, after whom the trust was renamed.

Until 1960, the trustees ran the orphanage entirely supported by voluntary contributions and investments. Then the trustees purchased land on Hornby Road Blackpool and opened a new home on that land, The Swallowdale Children’s Home.

This home is now run by Blackpool Council as a respite home for a small number of children. The trust continues to meet written applications supported by independent or professional third parties, which establish a need as opposed to a desirability.

The Trustees grants assistance by payments to third parties or by issue of vouchers for, by way of example, new beds and bedding for children whose parents have lost their homes, clothing grants to young people, safety equipment in a home to protect young children, part payment of nursery or training fees.

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In addition the Trustees have supported applications from local groups including Homestart and Surestart, Life education Centres, MOSAC and Lancashire Outward Bound Association, as well as giving £135,000 in grants to Gazette readers since 2013.