Eastlight injects £60,000 to fund community projects

Community projects worth £60,000 have been funded by Eastlight Community Homes to enhance the lives of residents and communities.

The projects include new benches, colourful murals and a national youth Rugby tour for youngsters.

Eastlight has three resident groups (ERGs) who are each given annual budgets to spend on small changes that make a big difference to their local communities.

And last year’s budgets, totalling £60,000, went on an array of initiatives and community improvements.

Eastlight’s ERG (North) provided funding for students from Earls Colne Primary School and Ramsey Academy in Halstead to transform a mural on a garage site in Earls Colne, using paints and a “nature” theme.

Jenny Gerrard, Technology Curriculum Leader at The Ramsey Academy, said: “Our Year 9 students thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the mural project. It was wonderful for the students, parents and school to see how their early ideas developed and were brought to life in such a special way.”

Young rugby players from Braintree had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see up and coming superstar, Louis Rees-Zammitt play in Wales thanks to our Eastlight Resident Group (Mid)! £4,500 paid for a national youth rugby tour to Cardiff in April.

Daniel Cole, a Head Coach for the under 14’s team at Braintree Rugby Club, said:

“A huge thank you to Eastlight! The money went towards a personal shirt for each player and a coach for the tour, and also a ticket each to watch Newport Dragons vs Gloucester. For a large number of the young players, it was their first-time experiencing being on a rugby tour and will be a special memory for a long time.”

Teachers and students at John Ray Infants school in Braintree were very pleased to receive funding for the second year running from ERG (Mid) to further improve their outside learning environment.

Among the new additions, the school now has a water wall within their water area, an area for the use of scooters, bikes and small games, a sand area and a mud kitchen. Additional funding will go towards toys, bikes and helmets and more.

A representative from the school said: “Please accept the sincere thanks from all of the children and staff for your generous donation. We have been encouraging the children to use their motor skills by digging in both the sand area and the mud kitchen, as it has been noticeable how many have underdeveloped strength due to the time missed outside and at school during the lockdowns.”

Last year, seven spring cleans were carried out on five estates across Essex, all funded by our resident groups.  The events focussed on litter picking and were held in Halstead, Witham and Braintree. More than 100 bags of rubbish were collected in total, as well as a skip-full of waste at each event.

If you need funding for your community project, you can contact Eastlight by visiting www.eastlighthomes.co.uk or calling 0330 128 0330 (local rate) to see if we’re able to support.