Stevenage community groups have been awarded a share of the £5,000 community chest sponsored by Stevenage Borough Council and its major works partners Waites and Mulalley.

The Stevenage Works fund was created in conjunction with North Hertfordshire College and Job Centre Plus in response to a desire to create a joined-up approach to delivering social value in the community.

Future contractors will be invited to support the Stevenage Works Programme as and when high value contracts are awarded by Stevenage Borough Council, just as Waites and Mulalley have.

Both Mulalley and Wates committed to delivering social value projects following the award of the five-year £45m Major Refurbishment Contract and agreed to contribute £2,500 each per annum to the Community Chest Fund.

Local community organisations and individuals were invited to submit a bid for a share of the £5,000 community chest fund. This year’s fund was shared between three groups:

The Green Space Volunteers group which meets weekly to maintain the Town Centre Park gardens, was awarded £1,000 to replace failing rose bushes with lavender bushes which will flourish in the poor soil conditions, enhance the gardens with their perfume and colour as well as being beneficial to insects.

Covid the Cobra, a snake created out of painted rocks during the first lockdown, brought together all ages in the community as people added their own painted contributions.

£2,000 was awarded to help restore the stones into an underpass on Grace Way where it grew, as a mosaic art installation.

Lastly, £2000 was awarded to Friends and Relatives Of Trotts Hill (FROTH) - a charity that supports Trotts Hill primary and nursery school to buy much needed equipment and resources. The money will be used to set up a forest school provision and create a safe and stimulating outdoor environment full of sensory diversity and variability.

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