A host of community projects in Wrose, Shipley, have been handed vital cash boosts through a £35,000 fund.
Wrose Community Association splashed the cash as part of the £100,000 fund which was left over from the sale of Wrose Community Centre several years ago.
The association pays the rent for the area’s community library, but still has plenty left over.
Bradford Council has granted planning permission for a shop and bookmakers to be built on the site of the former centre, in Wrose Road, which has stood empty since December 2007 as the organisers could not afford to run it.
A Wrose resident bought it for £180,000 and since then it has been sold again.
Now 13 Wrose groups have received cash from the first round of funding.
They were Bolton Villas Cricket Club, Wrose District Gardeners, BPA Juniors Football Club, Wrose After 50s for Leisure and Entertainment (Waffle), Bolton Woods Football Club, Roleystone Horse and Pony Sanctuary, Eccleshill United Sports and Social Club, Wrose Hill Chapel, St Cuthberts Church, Wrose Methodist Church, Salts Tennis Club, Wrose Buddies and Wrose Adventurers Association.
All of the projects applied for the donations, with a maximum of £5,000 each, and the winning schemes were agreed by the association’s trustees at their annual meeting. The next round of funding will be dished out in November.
Trustee Councillor Vanda Greenwood said: “It has taken us months, if not years, to get to this point.
“We want to be giving money to little groups who provide a really good service, not just large projects.”
One of the projects to benefit, to the tune of £1,380, is Wrose Buddies, a social group which supports carers or any resident feeling lonely or depressed. It meets at Wrose Methodist Church on the third Monday of every month and provides live entertainment.
Christine Patai, co-ordinator, said: “The money we have received will allow us to run for a year.
“Every little helps and we are always looking for other pockets of money to help us continue.”
Wrose Adventurers Association, which runs a youth club for young people age 11 to 25 with Asperger’s Syndrome or high-functioning autism, has been awarded £2,300 and will now be able to hold sessions every Wednesday, rather than fortnightly.
Roleystone Horse and Pony Sanctuary in Wrose will use its £5,000 grant on improving drainage, repairs to the stables and building a car park.
Joanne Metcalfe, chairman of the sanctuary, said: “It’s been fantastic to get the grant.
“It feels like we have won the lottery.”
It hopes to raise a further £1,290 for the project. To donate, call Miss Metcalfe on 07849 498966 or (01274) 631328.