Windfall Fund Success Stories

The Windfall Fund has now been up and running for 7 years! We have held 35 funding rounds and so far 193 projects in total have been funded to a value of over £780,000!!

We have funded:

77 Mini projects (£0 to £1,000)
46 Small projects (£1,000 to £2,000)
70 Large projects (over £2,000)

By theme the projects can be broken down as follows:

63 Biodiversity
13 Energy Saving
37 Environmental Awareness
60 Local Food
9 Sustainable Transport
11 Waste & Recycling

To see a list of all the projects we have funded just click on

Funded Projects

Here are some more detailed case studies of some of the fantastic projects we have funded:

BIODIVERSITY - Mount Carmel RC High School Parent Teacher & Friends Association secured a Windfall grant to develop a garden of reflection at one end of the school's playground. The project was inspired by a group of pupils whose friend had tragically died the previous year. The pupils wanted to create a garden area which would provide a place of serenity and natural beauty within their busy school environment. They used tiered planters filled with herbs and edible flowers to delineate the garden from the rest of the playground and then created a central canopied seating area, a willow arbour surrounded by native shrubs and perennials to attract wildlife and planted a fruity hedge to screen off the adjacent public footpath. The pupils raised an astonishing £8,500 towards the project and the Windfall Fund contributed £2,000.


LOCAL FOOD - The Stroke association runs a weekly allotment group on Meadoway allotments in Church, which was set up for stroke survivors to encourage organic food growing alongside social interaction and to encourage integration with the local community. Stroke survivors are often very sensitive to temperature changes and find it difficult to participate on the allotment during cold weather. Their Windfall grant of £2,000 was used to build a lean-to summer house to provide shelter and warmth in poor weather to enable more attendees to stay for longer and attend the sessions more frequently. It means that on cooler days people are able to work in the shelter on tasks such as seed sowing and the space also allows the group to grow plants that need warmer temperatures. Water butts were also attached to the shelter to collect rainwater for watering the allotment.


ENERGY SAVING - The PCC of St Bartholomew & St John in Great Harwood received £7,500 towards the costs of replacing the heating pipes and radiators inside the Church to reduce the amount of energy used in heating the building. previously the heat was dissipated throughout the Church via inefficient large diameter cast iron pipes and three large radiators. The system therefore contained a large volume of water to be heated by the gas boiler before any effects were felt in the Church. These old pipes and radiators have been replaced with new, smaller diameter finned heating pipes together with a number of strategically placed new slimmer radiators. It is estimated the energy consumption will be reduced by approx. 35%! Installing an upgraded system also means that a background temperature of 12 degrees C can be maintained when the building is not in use which is the optimum temperature for the conservation and maintenance of the mediaeval and other fabric of the Church. An additional benefit from removing the old cumbersome pipes is that it has increased the width of the aisles which has made the building more accessible for people with mobility issues.


WASTE AND RECYCLING - Burnley Road Bowling Club are now using rainwater to flush their toilets! The Club has a good track record and wanted to install new toilet facilities to reduce water usage. They already had a number of water butts around the premises which were mainly used to water their allotment area. It was decided, however, to use the water collected in the very large water butts next to the Clubhouse to flush the toilets. The new toilets also use less water per flush and restraining taps were fitted to the washbasins. New waterless urinals were also installed which use biodegradable plant based substances to reduce occur. It is estimated that in the UK 2 billion litres of fresh water are flushed away every day and so we were very happy to contribute £4,293 towards a project that helps to save this valuable resource.


ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS - One Planet (Accrington) Ltd have been successful in securing two Windfall grants totalling £11,923 to deliver environmental education sessions in schools across Hyndburn. By the end of the second year the aim is to have worked woth over 20 different schools. Sessions are being delivered on engaging and thought-provoking topics such as ethical fashion, renewable energy, water resources, plastics & microbeads and Fairtrade. The project is working closely with the Hyndburn Schools Eco-Cluster group to maximise on networking opportunities. Feedback has been very positive so far!!

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