Success stories from our Grants Scheme

Our Grants Scheme is an opportunity for local groups, organisations and charities to apply for funding to support their activities. Applications can be submitted for either community or climate and ecological grants.

Please see below a selection of feedback from recent recipients, and details of the projects and activities that have been funded from their grants.

If you are interested in applying, please visit our Council Grants Scheme page for more information.

Art Bytes – £1,000 in February 2025

Art Bytes culminates every June with a celebration event at a high-profile cultural venue in each of the nine regions of England, which is also available to schools to stream in the classroom or assembly. National and Regional winners are announced, certificates and prizes are presented, and the virtual gallery goes live. The competition is open to all primary (year 5), secondary (year 9) and SEND & Alternative Provision schools across England.

This year they delivered a hugely successful celebration event with over 300 pupils in attendance in the Neeld. The winning artwork from each school, alongside all the SW artworks submitted for the Art Bytes competition, was framed and exhibited in the Yelde Hall from Thursday 12 June through Sunday 15 June.

The exhibition saw over 300 visitors over the three days, with volunteers from TAS Kington Langley and Chippenham Museum supervising.

Chippenham Film Club – £1,000 in June 2024

Chippenham Film Club applied for £1,000 to organise a seven-day film festival in Chippenham. Running from 11-17 November 2024, they ran a five-day festival showing a curated selection of films at the Reel Cinema.

The festival proved to be a resounding success, showcasing an eclectic mix of critically acclaimed classics and contemporary gems.

In the post-festival survey, 90% of respondents praised the variety of films, appreciating the mix of classics, contemporary hits, and foreign language gems.

85% of attendees rated the organisation highly, citing well-coordinated schedules, accommodating venues, and helpful volunteers.

Chippenham Rugby Football Club – £1,500 in February 2024

Chippenham RFC received funding towards setting up a new mixed ability rugby team, called Chippenham Cavaliers.

Funding was requested to establish the team, provide training, and purchase equipment for training and playing.

From January 2024, weekly training sessions have been delivered, which has resulted in 20-30 players training each week. The membership for this section is now 58 registered players, with over 120 individuals taking part in training sessions. They have worked with care homes, social care, GP’s and local authority partners to take referrals for prospective players.

The team have played competitive and friendly matches and tournaments across the southwest region with other mixed ability clubs and had 15 fixtures. They were also selected to play during half-time of a Bath Rugby match to showcase mixed ability rugby in front of 11,500 people! They were then selected to play during half-time of the Premiership Final 2024 at Twickenham, to a crowd of 82,000.

Read Easy North and West Wiltshire – £500 in October 2024

Read Easy provides a volunteer-led reading coaching programme for adults in Wiltshire. The grant supported the recruitment and training of reading coach volunteers, provided readers with starter kits and programme manuals, and increased Chippenham-based specialist resources, including a Chippenham focused volunteer coordinator that provided support to reading pairs.

Between October 2024 and August 2025, one Chippenham-based reader improved their reading by one level (of five), one Chippenham-based reader improved their reading by two levels and may be able to graduate within the next 12 – 15 months, and one Chippenham-based reader graduated from the scheme having completed all five levels.

All three Chippenham-based readers (and their coaches) in this period were given access to volunteer literacy specialist support, and a much wider range of tailored reading resources which enhanced their learning.

Readers have reported impacts beyond improvements in their literacy as a result of taking part in the programme including a greater sense of independence, increased self-confidence, ambition to achieve new things and improvements to their mental health and well-being.

Wilts & Berks Canal Trust – £500 in October 2024

The grant was used to buy and plant 600 plug plants for the trust’s ‘Bee Route’ Wildflower Project. This is several acres of former pasture, leased from Wiltshire Council, which is being developed into a wildflower rich environment.

The plants were planted in the meadows during the winter, and volunteers also grew several hundred additional wildflower plants which were added.

Wiltshire & Swindon Sport (WASP) – £2,008.07 in October 2024

WASP have developed the ‘She Can Be Active’ campaign which understands the barriers and solutions to women and girls being active on a local level. The purpose of the grant request was to expand their offer across Chippenham, making sport and activity sessions easily accessible to all women. The sessions were aimed at beginners and those who are inactive.

With the grant WASP were able to continue offering weekly recreational football sessions; weekly rounders sessions; weekly gym sessions and six weeks of paddleboarding. The sessions have been very well attended with maximum number at each activity most weeks.

Wiltshire Sight – £2,230 in February 2024

Funding was awarded to help run Wiltshire Sight’s monthly community sight loss hub and social group for blind and partially sighted people living in Chippenham, for a 12 month period.

Over the past 12 months Wiltshire Sight have offered support at 12 community sight loss hubs to over 100 blind and partially sighted people living in Chippenham. They have had 90 one-to-one interactions and have supported 42 individuals, and have registered 18 new clients over the past 12 months.

The community sight loss advisor for Chippenham has carried out 56 sight loss assessments. 92% of people feel better able to cope with daily life following our support. 90% feel less isolated and 88% have reported significant improvements in their overall well-being.

Youth Adventure Trust – £652 in June 2024

This grant funded 12 places for vulnerable young people at  the Youth Adventure Trust’s Forest Camp, part of the three year YAT Adventure Programme.

Youth Adventure Trust uses outdoor adventure to empower young people from Wiltshire and Swindon to fulfil their potential and lead positive lives in the future. They work with them to build resilience, develop confidence and learn skills that will last a lifetime, helping them to face the challenges in their lives.

Forest Camp sees the young people challenge and stretch themselves in a safe environment, where they take part in a thrilling variety of activities including: bushcraft skills, canoeing down the River Wye, abseiling in a cave, night hikes, rock climbing, caving, nature walks, archery and sleeping overnight in the woods under just a tarpaulin!