News

On Thursday 11 June, our Grants and Projects Officer Elise travelled to Northern Ireland to visit two inspiring charities who are tackling disadvantage. Here's her write-up:

Two of the grants that LandAid had made were to charities that wanted to provide new kitchens for their projects. Graham Mynott from Keyhouse in Bradford showed us round the large kitchen that we'd funded and described how it had helped them support young people who had been homeless to learn basic cooking skills.

My first charity visit as a LandAid Ambassador was to a project in Leeds called Renew.

Over the past financial year, LandAid has awarded a tremendous £1,260,924 in grants to 22 charity projects, making 2014/15 our best-ever year of grant giving. This is a wonderful testimony to the fundraising efforts and enthusiasm of the property industry.

Yesterday LandAid delivered the exciting news that £450,000 of funding had been awarded to the first four successful charities from our autumn grants round.

The Sussex Community Development Association (SCDA) are based in Newhaven, a manufacturing port town which has worsening deprivation in a district of relative affluence. The charity provides information, advice, guidance and activities to five hundred young people in the area through youth clubs and drop in services.

Last week we joined outgoing chair Robin Broadhurst on a visit to the new, LandAid-funded Building Lives training centre in Southwark.

Work was well underway at the part-LandAid-funded Pears Pavilion at Coram HQ when we visited yesterday. We were joined by outgoing Chairman Robin Broadhurst and colleagues from LandAid Foundation Partners Royal Bank of Scotland and Skanska.

On Friday I attended the grand opening of Eikon's beautiful new offices at Fulbrook School in Surrey. After several years of planning and six months of construction, supported by a £20,000 refurbishment grant from LandAid, the new centre will enable Eikon to double their services and reach out to more young people across the county.