Football sessions, creative workshops, a carers support group – and a big shoe

These were just some of the community projects pitched to Exmouth Dragons at a Dragons Den event at Exmouth Community College on 21st February 2019.

Exmouth Town Council was distributing a community grants fund of almost £31,000 and wanted the local community to vote for their favourite projects that should get the cash. The £31,000 of funding came from Devon County Council and East Devon District Council through their Communities Together Fund.

‘It was a great event’ said Town Councillor Khristine Norton who chaired the Dragons Panel. ‘ The community groups presented their projects to the Dragons Panel and an invited audience of over 100 Exmouth people were asked to vote their top 5 projects for funding. There were great projects supporting carers, emotional wellbeing and mental health, sports and physical exercise as well as creative workshops and festivals. There’s a lot going on in Exmouth!’

The top 5 projects were ‘Open Door’ Creative Workshops, St John’s Court Carer’s Support Group, Brixington Blues Inclusive Football Coaching for young people with additional needs, Health and Local Food for Families (HALFF) cookery sessions for young carers and Exmouth Sailing Club Sailability.

Councillor Jeff Trail BEM, Exmouth Mayor and a Devon County Councillor for Exmouth Town said: “Exmouth is a vibrant community and we are very lucky to have so many residents who freely give their time to run the town’s many community groups.
“These groups are run by the community and so it’s right that Exmouth residents should have a say on who benefits from funding.
“This event was a great idea and I hope to see more events like this in the future.”

Councillor Dean Barrow, East Devon District Council’s portfolio holder for Finance and one of the dragons on the panel said: “We were really pleased to see applications from many organisations wanting to help hundreds of people in Exmouth. All the groups gave a good pitch, it was difficult to choose the best five.”

The funds were awarded as follows:

1. Sea Cadets:
Purchase of support vehicle to help launch and retrieve safety vehicle and for towing when attending training and competitions | £4,000

2. Open Door:
Weekly creative arts workshop | £5,000

3. HALFF:
Fortnightly cooking sessions at Community College for young carers of helping to care of family member with a disability or medical condition | £3,141

4. Brixington Blues:
Weekly inclusive football sessions at the Community College for young people with additional needs
and disabilities | £800

5. Pete’s Dragons:
Indoor Festival on World Mental Health Day | £3,695

6. Whizz Kids:
Monthly pop up balance bikes and trike circuit Events | £1,700

7. Exmouth Museum:
Pop up mobile museum | £950

8. Exmouth Pride:
Key stage props for Pride Event to be made in conjunction with Exmouth Youth Centre & Exmouth Artists and Creatives Hub | £300

9. St John’s Court:
Start-up of carers support group | £500

10. Exe Sailing Club:
Purchase motor boat for use by disabled individuals in the community to experience the feeling of being
on water | £5,000

Exmouth Town Council will be repeating the Community Fund again. Further details to be published late September/Early October when the amount of funding available will be announced and the application process will go live.