Round 2 of our Grants for Organisations 2025 programme comes at a time when the cost of living continues to place significant pressure on families across Chippenham.
Alongside our newly expanded School Social Fund, which provides flexible financial support to ensure pupils can take part in school life without barriers, our latest round of community grants further demonstrates our commitment to supporting residents of all ages.
From counselling for young people to meaningful social activities for older adults, these grants help build a more resilient, connected, and confident community.
Below is an overview of the organisations and projects we are delighted to support:
As the number of young people requesting emotional and mental health support continues to rise, Abbeyfield School has identified a critical gap between pastoral care and access to professional counselling.
Our grant of £15,300 over three years will fund four hours of qualified, face-to-face counselling each week throughout the 35-week school year. This additional support will ensure that students aged 11 to 18 have timely access to professional help when they need it most.
By expanding Abbeyfield school’s capacity to offer counselling, we aim to improve students’ mental health, increase their confidence, and help them better engage with their education. Stronger emotional wellbeing often leads to improved academic outcomes, healthier peer relationships, and greater resilience. Ultimately, the project strengthens social cohesion within the school community, ensuring young people feel supported and understood.
Chippenham Shed is a thriving hub where people come together to share skills, creativity, and companionship. With members ranging in age from 19 to 93, the Shed supports a diverse group of people, many of whom are retired, living with health conditions, or seeking a sense of belonging.
Activities like woodworking, crafting, and DIY projects generate fine dust, which can create health risks over time.
Our £900 one-off grant will fund two new air filters for the workshop and office areas, helping to maintain a cleaner, safer environment for everyone who uses the space. This simple but important investment will contribute to members’ physical health while enabling Chippenham Shed to continue offering the creative and social opportunities that make it such a valued community asset.
EduCafe is an exciting new initiative that will be launched at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. The project aims to create a warm, welcoming weekly drop-in space specifically designed to support Chippenham’s Black and Minority Ethnic communities, while also welcoming the wider public.
Inspired by a successful EduCafe in Newbury, the Chippenham version will follow a community-led model, allowing participants to shape how the sessions develop over time.
The £6,600 grant will support the establishment of this new service. EduCafe will offer opportunities for people to explore heritage collections, share stories, engage in creative activities, and connect with others in a relaxed social environment.
Although it has not yet begun, the project plans to encourage language learning, build employability confidence, and help reduce loneliness. By bringing people together through shared history and culture, EduCafe aims to build a stronger sense of belonging and improve overall wellbeing once it launches.
The History Centre is also working closely with Chippenham Museum, the Community Hub, local libraries, the Town Team, and the Black South West Network’s UnMuseum project. Mentoring support from the original EduCafe team and additional funding from the National Archives Seed Corn grant will help ensure a strong and successful launch.
Our three-year grant of £18,000 will help the Chippenham Day Centre continue offering essential weekly gatherings for elderly and vulnerable residents. For many of the members who attend, this session is the highlight of their week and, in some cases, the only time they leave their homes.
The Day Centre provides a full programme of social, mental, and physical activities ranging from quizzes and board games to chair exercises and gentle sports such as carpet putting.
Members enjoy entertainment throughout the day, along with coffee mornings, snacks and a hot two-course lunch. Transport is provided by Chippenham Transport for the Disabled, ensuring the Centre remains accessible to those who might otherwise be unable to attend.
By bringing people together in a friendly, supportive environment, the Centre helps improve mental and physical health, reduce loneliness, and build new friendships. Members regularly share how much the Centre means to them, describing it as a lifeline that brings joy, structure, and social connection into their lives.
Rough sleepers and people living on the edge of homelessness often face daily challenges that many of us rarely consider: finding a safe place to wash, cleaning clothes, accessing advice, and simply being treated with dignity. Unity House’s Comfort Zone provides this support every day of the year from 1pm to 3pm, including bank holidays.
Our grant of £8,892 each year will help fund additional staffing hours, ensuring that the drop-in remains a reliable and welcoming resource. Visitors can access showers, laundry services, food and clothing donations, and friendly, informed advice about housing, health, benefits, and wellbeing. For individuals who may be struggling to maintain tenancy, are battling addiction, or face mental health challenges, the Comfort Zone provides a crucial safety net that helps prevent crises before they escalate.
This project restores a sense of dignity and community belonging for people who are often isolated. Through regular contact, the team can monitor wellbeing, identify concerns early, and provide pathways out of homelessness. Access to nutritious food, clean clothing, and a supportive environment contributes significantly to both mental and physical health, reducing reliance on emergency services and offering a route towards stability.
Allington Netball Club offers an affordable, friendly, and inclusive way for people of all ages to stay active. However, poor lighting has long forced the club to halt outdoor sessions during winter months, limiting participation and reducing opportunities for physical activity and social connection.
A £3,000 grant will enable the club to install upgraded LED lighting, replace old wiring and posts, and complete essential groundworks to secure the site. These improvements will ensure the court can be used safely throughout the year, allowing members to enjoy continuous play and enabling the club to welcome additional teams and new members.
The club is proudly community-focused, encouraging players of all abilities, from those returning to the sport after many years to people discovering netball for the first time. Members speak warmly about the friendships, fitness benefits, and confidence they gain through taking part. Improved lighting will support the club’s ambition to grow and strengthen its community impact.
As teenagers navigate complex social pressures and an increasingly digital world, schools are seeking new ways to support healthy relationships and responsible online behaviour. Our £3,000 grant will fund two complementary programmes delivered across Sheldon, Hardenhuish, and Abbeyfield Schools, reaching approximately 1,800 students.
The Boyz-2-Men programme works with teenage boys and young men to explore positive masculinity, challenge harmful online influences, and address issues linked to violence against women and girls. The workshops encourage respectful relationships, kindness, and confidence rooted in empathy rather than peer pressure.
Alongside this, the Digital Empowerment programme equips young people with practical tools to use technology safely and positively. Students will learn about digital wellbeing, critical thinking, balanced screen time, and how to navigate online spaces responsibly.
Together, these programmes provide essential support that schools often cannot deliver alone. By increasing resilience, promoting healthier behaviour, and boosting self-esteem, the initiative helps young people feel safer and better supported, both online and in their daily lives.
Our final grant of the round is £670 to help deliver a monthly pop-up pantry and social event primarily for residents of Queen’s East. This area experiences high levels of social isolation, with many people living alone and facing barriers to engaging in existing community activities. Some residents may struggle with mobility, confidence, or the stigma associated with visiting a food bank.
The pop-up pantry will offer more than food support; it will be a warm, friendly space where neighbours can meet, talk, and share a simple meal together. Donations come from Olio collectors, supermarkets, and local residents, with a strong focus on preventing food waste. By pairing food provision with a relaxed social setting, the project helps reduce isolation while supporting any residents experiencing food poverty in a dignified, accessible way.
This initiative grew from a successful trial project which took place during the summer and has been shaped closely by the residents themselves. It represents a practical, community-driven approach to tackling loneliness, strengthening neighbourhood connections, and supporting vulnerable individuals during the colder months.
Our School Social Fund: Supporting Pupils and Families Across Chippenham
Alongside our organisation grants, we continue to invest directly into Chippenham’s schools through our expanding School Social Fund. We understand that the rising cost of living can make it difficult for families to cover school-related expenses such as uniforms, trips, enrichment activities, and essential learning resources. These costs can quickly add up, and too often they create barriers to participation, confidence, and inclusion.
The School Social Fund exists to remove these barriers so that no child misses out due to financial pressure at home.
Each school receives a yearly allocation based on its Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility figures, along with a small uplift to acknowledge that some purchases—such as equipment or resources—benefit the wider school community. This flexible funding allows schools to respond quickly and sensitively to pupils’ needs throughout the academic year.
How Schools Can Use the Fund
We have broadened the remit of the fund following feedback from local schools, giving them greater freedom to respond to a wider range of needs. Schools can still use their allocation for uniform support, trip subsidies, and breakfast or after-school clubs, but they now have the option to fund a much wider variety of activities and resources.
2024–25 School Allocations
We have recently awarded the following amounts to our local Chippenham schools as part of the School Social Fund. Each school will use its allocation flexibly to support pupils throughout the year and will provide a short monitoring report at the end of the academic year outlining how the money was spent.
| School | Allocation |
| St. Paul’s Primary School | £4,087.40 |
| Charter Primary School | £2,696.40 |
| St Mary’s Catholic Primary School | £1,690.60 |
| Frogwell Primary School | £4,290.70 |
| Monkton Park Primary School | £1,401.70 |
| Redland Primary School | £2,247.00 |
| Queens Crescent Primary School | £1,358.90 |
| St Peter’s C of E Academy | £1,840.40 |
| Ivy Lane Primary School | £1,294.70 |
| Kings Lodge Primary School | £1,209.10 |
| Abbeyfield School | £2,578.70 |
| Sheldon School | £1,829.70 |
| Hardenhuish School | £1,380.30 |
By investing in both community organisations and schools, we aim to ensure that people across Chippenham including children, families, older adults, and vulnerable residents all have access to the support they need to thrive. Our organisational grants help strengthen community services, while the School Social Fund empowers schools to respond directly to the day-to-day needs of their pupils.
Together, these initiatives reflect our ongoing commitment to building a more inclusive, supportive, and resilient Chippenham for everyone.
The next deadline for our Grants for Organisations programme is Sunday 1st February. Find out about more including how to apply here:
