Eight charities and community groups from across the local area are sharing £6,500 from Bath Building Society’s Annual Charity Awards scheme.
A further three organisations have received a pair of Bath Building Society hot air balloon tickets which can be used to raise funds.
The Awards; now in their 11th year, were established to support as many local initiatives as possible from the growing number of requests that the Society receives each week asking for support.
Dick Jenkins, Chief Executive of the Society said: “The Awards are very important to us and are a way for the Society to “give something back” to the local community.
“It is amazing the work some of these organisations do and the local people that they help and on such little funding, I’m just glad we can help!
“I am really pleased how the number of applications continues to increase year on year and this year is no different! I’d like to thank the Judges for spending their time to help judge the Awards; they were the Mayor of Bath (Councillor Ian Gilchrist), Alan Keeling from The Rotary Club Bath, Claire Wynne-Hughes from The Quartet Community Foundation and my colleagues Kevin Gray and Tiffany Hardie-Albutt.
“It was a tough competition but we found our winners in the end!”
The overall category is for the Charity of the Year, and this year the judging panel chose Focus Counselling in Bath. The Society will work with Focus Counselling from 1st July until the end of June 2018.
Jan Robertson, Chief Executive of Focus Counselling said: “Focus Counselling are delighted to be chosen as Bath Building Society’s Charity of the Year. Without support such as this we could not reach members of our community who are struggling with mental health concerns.
We have been a counselling presence in Bath since 1999 expanding to more than 15 counsellors seeing over 100 clients per week.
“More specifically Focus aims to be an accessible place to seek counselling support regardless of our client’s financial position. This year we will be raising awareness about mental health in the community and the damaging stigma attached to it.
“There has been a huge increase in referrals from schools, parents and young people themselves shedding light on the severity of anxiety in teens, as a result of this we have started a fortnightly anxiety group for teenagers. We are constantly evolving and changing to meet the needs of our community”.
Other winners included:
- The Discovery Project, Bristol – £1,500
- Threeways School, Bath – £1,000
- Friends of Margaret Coates, Bath – £1,000
- Bath Gateway Out & About – £1,000
- The Keep in Touch Club, Paulton – £500
- Friends of Hannah Moore, Bristol – £500
- Make a Move, Keynsham – £500
- The Woodworks Project, Bath – £500
- The Wessex MS Therapy centre, Warminster – a pair of Balloon Tickets
- Bath Child Contact Centre – a pair of Balloon Tickets
- Headway Salisbury & South Wiltshire – a pair of Balloon Tickets
