MORE than £12,000 of grant funding has been awarded to community groups in Sedgemoor.

Sedgemoor District Council’s Grants Award Sub-Committee awarded 11 grants, totalling £12,760, after receiving 21 applications, with many groups around Bridgwater benefitting.

Westfield United Reformed Church, which has been supporting flood victims as a rest centre, was granted £2,500 towards a disabled platform to assist wheelchair users to access all areas of the church without going outside the building. Nine wheelchairs users regularly use the church with higher numbers of occasional visitors.

St Georges Newtown Hall Trust, based in Kendale Road, Bridgwater, was awarded £500 towards a new gas boiler. The hall is used by 300 people per week.

One person was awarded £246 towards the printing costs of a leaflet for Cannington residents on the 100th anniversary of WW1. They have researched and produced a booklet with information on all of the people named on the Cannington War memorials and also some buried in the village, but not on the memorial.

Parents Voice (Sedgemoor 2 Cluster) was awarded £300 to employ a travelling theatre company to perform for the 0-4 year olds and parents. Working with Inspired at Take Art, they would receive three performances from a company called Birds Nest. This would help children with communication and confidence.

Musicians South West was given £2,350 towards a performance entitled Women of World War One - a Tribute in words, music and images for which they have secured bookings at a number of venues including Bridgwater Arts Centre.

The show consists of readings from poems, diaries and letters of women who lived through the war, interspersed with live music for piano and strings written by female composers of the era, accompanied by a slide show of text, period photos, painting and abstract images.

An exhibition of photos, artworks and text will be on display. The grant will allow ticket fees to be kept as low as possible and reach a much-wider audience.

One person was awarded £500 to run four community writing workshops targeting young people, families and one people in residential care.

Another was given £500 towards £9,000 tuition fees on a one year foundation course at Arts Educational Schools in London.

The committee, chaired by Cllr Nobby Turner, awarded the cash from the council’s RLT3 funds. The total grants budget for 2013/14 was £85,950.

For more information on Sedgemoor’s Grants scheme visit www.sedgemoor.gov.uk/grants