We want to use the opportunity of the Hydrogen Community in Redcar to create a positive legacy, that empowers local people and creates sustainable positive change in the Redcar area.
For 2023, twenty Redcar-based community groups are celebrating, after scooping a share of cash grants totalling £55,000.
Northern Gas Networks (NGN), who are developing a proposal to heat parts of Redcar with locally produced, low carbon hydrogen from 2026 contributed £35,000 and a further £20,000 was made available from British Gas, who are supporting the proposal.
Our Redcar Hydrogen Community Fund provides financial support to local projects and community groups who want to make a positive change in their local community.
The fund is open to projects that address any of the following issues;
- Offers advice services for people struggling with finances, homelessness or unemployment
- Addresses a local social issue
- Improves the local environment or community spaces
- Offers support to those with physical impairments or mental health conditions
- Provides education and training
Projects must be able to demonstrate that they will provide benefit to some or all of the areas in the Redcar Hydrogen Community (Warrenby, Coatham, Kirkleatham), but can have a wider impact footprint across Redcar.
Our 2023 Winners
- The Good Life Community Project, £4,218 – supporting The Good Life Winter Wonderland allotment, for residents coping with loneliness, isolation and mental health difficulties.
- In Harmony Food Revolution £2,154 – delivering weekly training sessions to learn how to grow food, while combatting social isolation and fresh food poverty.
- The Shed Redcar £3,000 – training in practical skills, including use of tools for people experiencing mental health problems, physical disabilities, young people, those on probation or using drug and alcohol services.
- Redcar Baptist Church £1,650 – providing a weekly lunch club and ‘warm space’ for isolated members of the Coatham community managing financial hardship.
- Redcar Rugby Club £3,000 – to develop additional playing surfaces for new women and girls teams.
- The Imaginarium Creative Studios £3,000 – offering weekly creative sessions, including a hot meal for every child
- Friends of Locke Park £1,441 – providing volunteers with gardening tools to expand and create sensory garden beds and build bug hotels to enhance the visitor experience.
- The Junction Foundation £2,492 – supporting young carers and young adult carers by giving them an opportunity to improve their wellbeing, reduce isolation and gain peer support in a safe environment.
- Redcar Community Grocery £3,000 – providing volunteers with the horticultural skills to grow their own food and ornamental plants.
- Kirkleatham Together £3,000 – providing volunteers with the horticultural skills to grow their own food and ornamental plants.
- Ladies of Steel £2,100 – ‘Christmas Cracker’ supporting children from broken homes to have a magical Christmas experience.
- Friends of Zetland Parks £3,000 – renovating the park shelter, allowing it to be used for group exercise activities, and installing a public education weather station.
- Teesside Athletic FC £2,346 – supporting two weekly sessions for people with low self esteem or at risk of self-harm, plus access a professional mental health counsellor.
- Tees Valley Women’s Centre £1,296 – providing transport to the Tees Valley Womens Centre, which offers a warm and safe space for local women, plus learning and leisure opportunities.
- Southgare Litter Pickers £3,000 – Storing the trolley purchased from the 2022 community fund and buying further equipment to help with litter picking
- Power of Women £3,000 – funding sessions, for year 5 and 6 students in conjunction with local and national businesses to expose young people to the world of work and opportunity.
- Kirkleatham PCC £2,932 – Continuing the ‘exercise on chairs’ project to give older people an opportunity to get out of their home, stay active and socialise.
- The Chris Cave Foundation £3,000 – Enabling young people, aged 14 – 18, to join a three-week project to highlight the risks and repercussions of violent crime and exploitation, and the opportunities for apprenticeships.
- Whippet Up £2,562 – supporting socially isolated residents to create ‘People’s Palaces’, a large lantern structure, which will be displayed at the Nightfall Festival.
- Redcar Development Trust £4,800 – funding extra heating to help boost attendance and increase usage of Coatham Memorial Hall during winter.
Who can apply
To be eligible to apply for a grant your organisation delivering the relevant project needs to meet all of the following criteria:
- You are a volunteer-led group, a registered charity or a not-for-profit organisation with charitable aims
- You have a governing document (g. set of rules, constitution, memorandum and articles of association, trust deed etc.)
- You have a management committee, board of trustees or board of directors with at least 3 people who are not related or living at the same address and form a majority
- You have a separate bank account under the name of your group with at least two unrelated signatories or you have a charitable partner organisation willing to bank any grant awarded for your group (please get in touch if the latter case applies)
We will prioritise projects that:
- Are run by local people, for local people
- Can demonstrate good local links and an understanding of the needs of the community that will benefit –
- Are relevant to local needs and have a direct impact on the community
- Are not one off but could be sustainable in the longer term
We will not fund:
- Projects that have already taken place or applications for retrospective funding
- Activities that would normally be funded from statutory sources
- Projects that are primarily for the advancement of religion or politics
- General appeals and contributions to large scale projects
- Applications from individuals or to support an individual
- Organisations raising funds to donate to other causes or charities
Application Process
Applications are now closed. Please follow us on our social media profiles for when the 2024 applications open.
