Community Events and Activities Grant

Bulwell Forest Garden

Austin Street, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 9HE

Bulwell Forest Garden is a community green space, where people come together through growing, playing, socialising, learning, cooking and caring for the land.
The aims of the Garden are:

• to develop a community garden to include food growing, wildlife areas and community spaces, creating a stronger sense of community responsibility and ownership.
• to provide opportunities for local people and the wider community to come together, learn about, and be involved with, growing food and have access to affordable fruit and vegetables.
• to support healthy-living, environmental and food growing education, training and volunteering for all ages including community groups and schools.

The grant will be used to make improvements to the community garden which will improve safety and accessibility to their gardening sessions, lunch club, wellbeing workshops, green skills courses and family events.

Improvements will include:

• a new garden area with accessible growing spaces and seating
• a second composing toilet
• stainless steel units for our outdoor kitchen
• new seating for outdoor eating area

For more information about Bulwell Forest Garden and their planned activities visit their website Bulwell Forest Garden or email them at hello@bulwellforestgarden.co.uk  

Bulwell United Reformed Church

Broomhill Road, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 9GJ

Bulwell United Reformed Church is a welcoming community church offering worship, children’s and youth activities, family events, social groups, community coffee mornings and space for local people to meet. They aim to provide a safe, inclusive and affordable place where people of all ages and backgrounds can build friendships, access support and take part in positive community activities.

The grant will improve three community spaces at the Church

The outdoor space will be upgraded with outdoor play and games equipment, seating, shade, growing areas and safety improvements to support toddler groups, children’s and youth sessions, family holiday clubs, gardening, outdoor social events and community gatherings.

The small hall will be equipped with a speaker system, bean bags and flexible resources, making it more suitable for youth sessions, family activities, group work, relaxed social events and wider community use.

The meeting/breakout room will include a small TV to support community meetings, volunteer training, presentations, one-to-one conversations and quieter small-group activities. These improvements will make the venue more inclusive, flexible and welcoming for residents across Bulwell and Bulwell Forest.

For more information on the Church and their community activities visit their website Bulwell URC or email them at ask@bulwellurc.org.uk  

Cantrell Primary School

Cantrell Road, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 9HJ

Cantrell Primary School is a welcoming and inclusive primary school committed to providing outstanding opportunities for children, families and the wider community. They believe education extends beyond the classroom and work closely with local organisations to improve health, wellbeing, creativity and community engagement. Through sport, arts and community partnerships, they aim to create opportunities that inspire children and local residents to thrive together.

The grant will support the first phase of developing the Cantrell Creative Quarter, transforming an underused area between Cantrell Primary School and Bulwell Forest Garden into an exciting outdoor community space.

Funding will provide new sports surfacing, a performance stage, secure fencing, a new community gateway and improved landscaping, creating a safe and accessible environment for both creative and physical activities.

The space will host a wide range of activities including community festivals, family fun days, dance performances, outdoor fitness sessions, holiday activities, sports coaching, wellbeing programmes and creative workshops. It will also strengthen the partnership between Cantrell Primary School and Bulwell Forest Garden by creating direct access between the two sites for the first time.

The Creative Quarter has been designed to become a welcoming community hub that encourages people of all ages to be active, creative and connected while making better use of an area that has previously been inaccessible and underused.

For more information on the school and their community activities visit their website Cantrell Primary and Nursery School or email them at admin@cantrell.nottingham.sch.uk  

One Vision Partnership

One Vision Partnership (OVP) focuses on delivering ambitious local partnership projects in Bulwell and Bulwell Forest. Their annual flagship programmes are Bulwell Arts Festival and the Winter Festival, enabling hundreds of children and families to participate in creative opportunities that build confidence, skills and pride in their local area.

Bringing people together as an umbrella organisation, OVP took on the management of Bulwell Arts Festival in 2022 (it had been running since 2014) to ensure its future sustainability. 

They develop collaborative school projects to build confidence and creativity and increase community wellbeing through place-making and heritage projects.  

The grant will enable OVP to increase engagement for arts and community events in Bulwell and Bulwell Forest, with more opportunities for people to connect, learn and celebrate together.

By purchasing equipment for a shared resources bank for schools, small community organisations and volunteer led projects, such as portable power stations, gazebos and outdoor sound equipment, they will be able to safely run events in places that currently have no infrastructure, such as Bulwell Bogs, estates and green spaces. This will enable them to offer more activities to families with young children, older residents, and those experiencing isolation.

A sensory pod will help them create immersive, exciting experiences for children with additional needs and neurodiverse participants. This responds directly to community feedback where residents have asked for more visible, accessible, creative activities and inclusive spaces.

The recording kit will support a new Bulwell Community Podcast, giving residents a platform to share stories, memories, local history and creative work. This will particularly benefit young people, who will gain digital and creative skills, and older residents, whose memories can be captured. Heritage plaques and markers will create permanent points of interest around Bulwell.

These visible improvements will help build a stronger sense of identity and belonging

To find out more about One Vision Partnership and their activities visit their website One Vision Partnership or email them at admin@onevisionpartnership.com   

Rufford Primary and Nursery School

Hoewood Road, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 8LE

Rufford Primary and Nursery School has been at the heart of the Bulwell community for over 50 years. They work with hundreds of families every year, as well as finding ways to engage with the wider Bulwell community. They are passionate about their community and do lots of work with the community of families who attend the school, as well as putting lots of time into the children feeling proud to be from Bulwell.

The grant will be used to fund a project with their children, their families and the wider Bulwell community to celebrate Bulwell’s past, present and future and form deeper links with the wider community as well as continuing to deepen the children’s feeling of pride in their community.

The school will work with their families, children and volunteers from the community to interview people of all ages from Bulwell and create professionally made display boards which will attached to the outside of the school fence for everyone to see. They will include things to celebrate from the past, people and things to celebrate about now and people’s hopes and dreams for the future. With the school’s children taking the lead on the project, the boards will be a visible reminder of their link to the community for many years to come, as well as a way to make anyone passing the school feel proud of being in Bulwell.

The boards will be graffiti resistant and contain words, drawings and photos from the community, as well as the history of Bulwell.

To find out more about the school and the project visit their website Rufford Primary & Nursery School - Home or email them at admin@rufford.nottingham.sch.uk  

The Toy Library

Squires Avenue, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 8GG

The Toy Library delivers all year round, supportive activities for local children and their families.  Part of their offer is the Family Mentor Service – working with 0–5-year-olds and their parents/carers, delivering a home visiting service and sessions at their Room to Play venue in Bulwell.  

There Play Team works with 5–13-year-olds in community spaces and venues. Their inclusive and accessible approach offers weekly universal and targeted sessions, and they also organise a number of free, fun community events throughout the year.

The grant will allow The Toy Library to replace old and worn equipment used at their community events and enable improvements to a currently un-used community space that they want to deliver activities from. Specifically, the grant will be used to buy:

• Gazebos: they provide activities at their events and also invite partners to showcase the support they offer to families.  Partners often cannot bring their own gazebos.
• Branded flags, banners, tablecloths, fans – for their events and weekly sessions.  Children and families look for their flags and banners to easily spot where their Playworkers are.  

This funding will also enable The Toy Library to re-open a community garden that is now overgrown and inaccessible and deliver activities for the whole community.  They will:

• Improve access by clearing the site and making the paths accessible
• Repair existing structures to ensure health and safety compliance.

Once work is completed at Grindon Gardens, they will deliver a wide range of free community activities and sessions for children from the site.

To find out more about The Toy Library and their activities visit their website The Toy Library or email them at admin@toy-library.co.uk

Top Valley Community Association

Top Valley Community Centre, Unit 6, Top Valley Way, Top Valley, Nottingham NG5 9DD

Top Valley Community Centre provides a welcoming, affordable and accessible community hub for people in Top Valley and the surrounding areas. They host local groups, activities, classes and support services that help reduce social isolation, improve health and wellbeing, build confidence and bring people together. The centre provides safe, flexible spaces for residents of all ages, community organisations and voluntary groups. They work closely with local people to respond to community needs and ensure that everyone has opportunities to participate, connect with others and access support.

The grant will be used to improve Top Valley Community Centre’s facilities and increase the range and quality of community events and activities they can provide. They will purchase  durable tables and comfortable chairs, allowing them to safely accommodate more people at social groups, community meals, wellbeing sessions, classes, meetings and family events.

A new projector and presentation system will support training, educational workshops, community presentations, film activities and information sessions. A portable sound and PA system will improve larger events, performances, celebrations, exercise activities and public meetings.

They will also improve the reception and social area with comfortable armchair-style seating, creating a more welcoming space where visitors, including older and socially isolated residents, can sit, meet others and feel part of the community.

Youth and family activity equipment, including a games console, will support supervised gaming sessions, youth clubs, family activities and social events. Together, these improvements will make the centre more welcoming, flexible and better equipped to deliver accessible activities for residents of all ages.

To find out more about the Centre and their activities visit their website Top Valley Community Centre or email them at info@topvalleycommunitycentre.co.uk