A charity that helps to equip voluntary and community groups with vital expertise is much better off - thanks to a £40,000 grant from Babergh District Council.
Babergh Communities Together (BCT), which is based in Sudbury at The Christopher Centre, has a dedicated training room and other meeting rooms - as well as providing office services and the loan of items of equipment, such as display boards, overhead and multimedia projectors.
It aims to help many voluntary or community groups that might struggle to survive without expert knowledge.
With the cash boost from Babergh, BCT is able to continue to provide this service.
Tim Mutum, Babergh’s Project and Programme Executive, said: “This was a real chance for Babergh to use BCT to engage the voluntary sector and vice versa.
“Our funding will give it the stability to enable it to develop as an organisation.”
And Marian Sedwell, Acting Chief Executive of BCT, added: “One of the main things we concentrate on is funding – or rather the lack of it.
“It is a very common cry from the community and so too is the need for more volunteers and access to resources that help to promote activities - or enable everyday activities to be done more easily.
“We hope that BCT can help those community and voluntary groups flourish.
“We are always keen to know what other things groups need. So please get in touch if there is something that we could help with. If we can’t, it is likely we know an organisation that can.”
Babergh Communities Together works in partnership with a number of organisations in other districts in Suffolk that deliver local support services to the voluntary and community sector. These include Ipswich Council for Voluntary Service, Mid Suffolk Action in Partnership, Suffolk Coastal Resource Network, Waveney Community Forum and the West Suffolk Consortium for Voluntary Organisations.
For more information on BCT, visit www.bctsuffolk.org.uk, email: info@bctsuffolk.org.uk or call 08453 70 63 40. ENDS
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