Donington projects benefit from Triton Knoll Community Fund

Two community projects in Donington are to get more than £56,000 generated by an offshore wind farm and its substation in a nearby village.

Trustees for the Ruby Hunt Centre have received £30,000 from the Triton Knoll Community Fund towards buying the building, in Church Street, from its current owners, the Lincolnshire Community Foundation (LCF).

Another £26,160 is for Donington Parish Council to install five new items of play equipment, including swings, monkey bars and a roundabout, for older children using Flinders Park.

The two projects were among 18 successful bids for nearly £164,000 of cash from the fund, set up by Triton Knoll as part of an 860MW (megawatt) energy source, which has an onshore substation in Bicker Fen.

Alan Inns, chairman of The Ruby Hunt Trust that manages the centre, said: "The trust was set up in 2006 as a result of moving from what was a pop-in centre.

"LCF bought the premises in 2004 and the trust pays a peppercorn rent to lease it for the community to use, including a children's dance group, a chiropody clinic and a mobile bank.

"In the past we held bingo nights, an embroidery group, knit and natter, a coffee pop-in and a luncheon club on Wednesdays.

"This fantastic grant from Triton Knoll shows the faith it has in what we're trying to do for the centre, which is to make it a community building and asset for the lifetime of the people who want to use it."

Mr Inns revealed plans for the centre to host a double ruby anniversary celebration in 2022, marking 40 years since the pop-in started in Donington and the launch of the village's voluntary car service.

"The grant will go towards the purchase of the building from our landlords, LCF, although we're still £40,000 short of what we need for the whole process of buying it.

"We do have until July 2021 to conclude the purchase and once we have the building, we can make sure that whatever we do is for the benefit of the community."

Margaret Kenworthy, whose management of the Ruby Hunt Centre since 1994 saw her receive a British Empire Medal in 2013, said: "The grant will be extremely helpful, particularly the way things have been in the last 12 months.

"The centre is completely self-funded and we rely on the income that we get from letting the centre to keep it going.

"So the grant will come in extremely helpful to keep the centre going because it's a well-used centre."

Details of Donington Parish Council's plans to install new play equipment at Flinders Park was first reported by our sister newspaper, the Spalding Guardian, in March this year.

Donington's Flinders Park to get thousands of pounds worth of new play equipment?

At the time, Coun Nicola Burdall said: "We're trying to aim for the eight-15 age group to give them something to do.”

Parish and district councillor Jane King said: "It's brilliant news that we've got this funding and I'm sure we've got a use for it."

Other groups receiving grants from the fourth and final round of Triton Knoll funding include St Swithun's Church, Bicker, (£10,000), the village bowls club (£5,100) and Bicker Parish Council (nearly £24,000).

Parish clerk Diane Fairweather said: "We put in a grant application to improve the children's play area in the park."