Creating a real future for rural Britain: The Prince’s Countryside Fund grants programme improves, regenerates and supports 20 rural communities across the UK

The Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF) is has announcedthat it is awarding grants to projects in the South West of England: Ashwick and Oakhill Village Hall (Somerset), North Petherwin Mini Badgers (Cornwall), Smart Communities (Somerset) and Kingston St Michael Village Shop (Wiltshire). This is part of a total investment of £275,000 in 20 rural communities across the UK.  

Since 2010, the PCF has been empowering family farms and rural communities through their grant making programmes, supporting over 500 projects including 121 community spaces, 22 transport schemes and 118 training and skills projects. 

From investing in pubs as community hubs to funding healthcare initiatives, the PCF wishes to support schemes that focus on creating long term solutions for rural communities. The innovation demonstrated through the projects PCF supports means that thousands of people will directly benefit, creating a more sustainable way of living. The PCF aims to make available at least £500,000 each year to ensure that projects that will transform hamlets, villages, and small market towns continue to flourish. 

Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “The PCFwants to help projects which will make a real difference to rural communities, addressing issues which local people have identified and funding community-led solutions.  We know from our experience that the rural projects we support build cohesion, neighbourliness and a sense of belonging, which are vital ingredients in ensuring sustainable and resilient communities. We could not achieve all that we do without the support we receive from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust. My thanks to both organisations for their continued assistance in creating a real future for rural Britain.” 

North Petherwin Mini Badgers in Cornwall was granted £10,000. The funding will go towards a club house that will also serve as a community building for the village. There are currently no pub/shop or hub other than the village hall for residents to meet and socialise.

A representative for North Petherwin Mini Badgers UK said: “Without this funding we would not be able to progress our plans to provide a warm, safe space for parents of our youth teams or supporters of all teams. Due to other funding requiring funds to be drawn down on presentation of invoices, we can now use these funds to cover these costs until they are recovered. We can then use the full amount to bring the project to a point where the club house is in use whilst we fundraise to complete the buildings internal fittings etc. A dream will become reality!”

The PCF invites applications to its 2022 grants programme from Thursday 3rd March 2022. For more information including eligibility and how to apply, visit www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/grants