The seventh Annual Ashton Community Bursary Awards took place on Thursday 24th of November 2016 at the McSweeney Centre in Henry Place. The Awards provide assistance to local volunteer based community projects that have extremely limited access to funding opportunities. During the past seven years Ashton Community Trust has granted over 90 Community Bursaries to a range of community groups from the Greater New Lodge. So far this has amounted to around £40,000. Representatives from 13 local groups attended the ceremony where they were presented with cheques. John Fleming is a Director on the Board of Ashton Community Trust, “Each year the Ashton Community Trust organises the Bursary Awards in order to salute the magnificent work of local volunteers who give up their time on behalf of the local community. Volunteers are the backbone of communities, they help boost community spirit, build capacity and bring out the best in people. The various community volunteers that work in the New Lodge contain people of different ages, different interests and with different life experiences. However they have one thing in common they are committed people that feel strongly about their community. As a way of acknowledging their tremendous efforts we in the Ashton Community Trust are delighted to be in a position to help these groups through providing them with some direct financial assistance”.
The 13 groups that received bursaries this year were;
• Belfast Kronk Boxing Club
• Dockers ABC
• Greater New Lodge Irish Historical Society
• Greater New Lodge Safer Streets Committee
• New Lodge Commemoration Committee.
• New Lodge Community Christmas Party Committee
• New Lodge Housing Forum
• O’Neill & Alsopp Memorial Flute Band
• Patsy Quinn ABC
• Saint Patrick’s FC
• Saint Patrick’s Young Men FC
• Star ABC
• TAHMI