Grant aids Chippenham musicians (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Grant aids Chippenham musicians

7:00am Saturday 6th February 2010

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Music workshops will continue to inspire homeless people in Chippenham thanks to a £990 grant awarded at last week’s Area Board meeting.

The grant, awarded to the Doorway Project, was just one of five to the value of nearly £12,000 handed out to various community groups.

Project organiser Lisa Lewis said: “We were delighted to find out we had been awarded the grant, which will be used to facilitate our music and IT workshops.

“These have been going for years at the Doorway Project, and we run them as extras because they give our guests so much more self confidence.

“Music can break down many barriers in communication and finding that common language where people can express themselves as part of a team on a long term basis.”

Each month musician Al Summers visits Doorway to lead the music classes, and the group has recently recorded a CD.

Miss Lewis said: “The music they create is just fantastic – in the summer we open up the windows and you can hear it down the street.

“The fact that they recorded their own CD is amazing.

“They are now looking at writing more songs and making a proper CD.”

The grant will be used to repair instruments and to pay musicians to lead lessons. Some of the money will also go towards continuing IT lessons, which allow Doorway guests to access the internet to apply for jobs and housing.

The Rev David Alderman was also overjoyed to be awarded £5,000 by the area board towards the Sheldon Road Methodist Church project to build a new community centre.

He said: “We were absolutely delighted that the board and council want to support our project.

“We are now just a little bit short of our total, but we will go ahead with everything as planned.

“At the moment we are still moving the groups out of the church, and we have packed nearly everything up.

“There are no chairs to sit on, and no hymn books or anything in the church hall now.

“We are one step closer to everything happening now.”

The board also awarded £500 to the Westinghouse Cricket Club and £4,292 to the Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal Trust from the community area grants fund.

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