Our June 2025 funding pitch for Wigan communities - event No.5

Our fifth event took place in June 2025 and we welcomed back folk from Wigan communities who received funding from our last session, before moving on to hearing new pitches.

Thanks to some investment we were able to offer small and large pots. Small pots up to £250 were invited for all ideas discussed with the GRoW team and in line with our aims. The larger pots were for GRoW members who had successfully pitched and fed back to GRoW members about their projects. We decided to keep the larger pots for what we believe are true grassroots organisations/projects and discussed the criteria — which can be found here — in a members’ meeting.

We heard this feedback from Wigan communities we had previously funded:

Wigan and Leigh Hospice - £245 - Bereavement books. Volunteer Gill said the bereavement books for children were bought and being used. They are helping families with young children after relatives have passed, who were in the hospice or receiving care from the hospice at home. This is a difficult time for families and the books were helping them to talk and work through their grief together.

ReMade Wigan CIC - £250 Van hire/storage. Alice said she had been able to move lots of the furniture which was taking up space in the workshop. This had created a more welcoming, de-clutterd environment for women to work in. Jay made the offer of a stall at Sunshine House to sell furniture and help raise more funds for Remade.

Mindful By Nature - £200 - Mindfulness in the woods sessions. Imelda was able to hold a series of well-being sessions outdoors, for people who had booked on either individually or who had been referred by professionals. We discussed the difficulty of connecting healthcare professionals with the local offer for social prescribing. Suggestions were made and Imelda has learned from the experience.

Brighter Better Orrell (BBO) - £250 - Litter picking equipment, badges and certificates. Kathryn reported that the project had been a success, lots of children were proud to be local litter pickers and had engaged well with the info session. BBO are returning to help the class deliver an assembly and reach more children. More schools would be contacted about the sessions. We discussed Elaine’s resource in terms of a digital presentation and she offered to share with local groups who might be able to deliver sessions in their local area.

Greenslate Allotments - £250 - Community fun day. A clean-up of communal pathways and overgrowth was completed.

The skip enabled the removal of a significant amount of green waste and debris. The event fostered a greater sense of community and pride in the site. Participants reported feeling more motivated to maintain and improve their own plots.

The event was well-received, and many participants expressed a desire to see similar activities organised regularly. BOAGA are now planning seasonal community days to keep momentum going and to encourage wider participation.

Friends of Greenslate Watermeadows (FROGS) - £200 - Replacement gate at bird feeding station. The gate was hand-made by a volunteer and the cost of the wood came in under the funding amount. Kate asked if the group could spend the remainder of the money on surrounding fencing. The group agreed.

As is custom at GRoW event, we then break for some yummy pie (this is Wigan!) made by one of our founder members, Clare. We use our lunchtime to chat with others – some members already know each other; some are meeting for the first time. Some members are not here to pitch or provide feedback -- they just want to see what GRoW is about and network with like-minded people.

After pie, we had small pitches (up to £250) from:

Community Corner Creative Writing Group - £250 - Dave presented his pitch, which would cover the cost of a professional writer for a workshop, plus photo film & developing, printing and sundries. The group was going from strength to strength and attracted different people from a variety of backgrounds. Dave recited his poem on Lidl – which the group loved and found very funny!

Maisie's Summer Gathering - £145 - A fun, free summer gathering for children and families in Ashfield Park. Maisie, aged 6, read out her pitch and explained her vision of her perfect fun day Standish, with crafting on offer as well as snacks, bubbles and play. She had thought of everything and her pitch was read beautifully. Lots of people offered extra help in the way of donations and additional offers like yoga.

Sunshine House - £250 - Sunshine Sheds painting of path. Jay said his last visit to GRoW kick-started the creation of a long pathway leading to the Sheds project at Sunshine House. He explained the process, which was not without its pitfalls, and the fact that a local building firm generously stepped in to lay the concrete. Now the users’ vision was to paint the path yellow, to lead to the green sheds — reflecting the Wizard of Oz and Emerald City.

Kickabout CIC - £250 - Dads' Snooker Socials. John and Chris said the lads and dad football sessions were growing in popularity and there were a few hundred now involved in sessions at different sites in the NW area. One thing dads were asking for was more time to socialise together. So Snooker Socials at the local club were pitched, where dads could spend some time chatting over the tables — which allowed them space and time to make friends. The impact on mental health of talking and a support network are well documented and we talked about the need for more events like this, organised by men for men.

We had large pitches (up to £1,500) from:

Forum of Aspull, Whelley and New Springs (FAWNS) - £500 - Composting toilet. Neil updated us on the progress of the Aspull allotments since his last visit and we were all impressed — in just one year the land has transformed from an overgrown unkempt mess to an asset to the community. One slight problem was a lack of toilet facilities — so Neil pitched for a composting loo which needed no plumbing and the waste would be used to make compost for use in the ground. Volunteers were willing to maintain it and sawdust was needed for the loo. Lots of discussion was had as many groups felt they could also use an outdoor loo! Neil had shopped around for a good price and said any remaining cash would be spent at the allotments to continue improvements.

Kintsugi Community Group - £960 - Staffing of girls' groups learning new skills, eg crafts, sanding, painting, photography. Janine explained how her groups were helping teenage girls to open up and discuss their lives and things that were impacting their mental health. Some had gone on to gain the confidence to start college, after time spending out of mainstream education. Numbers were growing through referrals and the funding would help to pay a fee for Janine –– previously the sessions were run by Janine on a voluntary basis.

How do we decide on who gets how much?

We asked questions of each pitcher to find out more about their ideas. We then voted on each pitch in line with our participatory budgeting model – giving more points to the ideas we most wanted to back.

During our deliberations, we vote in private first – then talk openly about our votes when it’s not clear-cut. Often during this process, people change their minds and positions –– and always our relationships and our understanding deepen.

We then split the pots between the pitches accordingly. At this event, GRoW was able to fully fund all the pitches from Wigan communities.

Thanks to all who attended our 5th event! Our next event is pencilled in for Saturday September 20th — please sign up as a member to receive email reminders and info on how to get involved...

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