Chichester good causes win a share of brewer's £50,000 cash giveaway - these are the local groups to receive help and what they do

There are few pubs more scenically located than the Black Rabbit at Arundel in West Sussex and it proved the perfect location for many good causes to receive a share of the annual community chest fund.

The family-owned brewer launched the initiative in 2002 and again pledged a total of £50,000 to worthy causes located across the South. Hall and Woodhouse’s grant application process allows voluntary and charity groups to apply for up to £3,000 each to support their needs.

Sussex World and its newspapers – which include the Chichester Observer, Worthing Herald, Hastings Observer, Eastbourne Herald, Crawley Observer, West Sussex County Times, Mid Sussex Times, Sussex Express, and the West Sussex Gazette – have been the official media partner for the eastern area awards ever since they were established.

Every year, hundreds of applications are received for a share of the money and a judging panel led by Family Director Mark Woodhouse carefully consider them all – including visiting many of the shortlisted charities.

Mr Woodhouse explained: “The Community Chest was founded over 20 years ago to support and strengthen the local communities of which our pubs are an integral part of. It is simply the right thing to do to maintain our offer of financial support for these local organisations that play such vital roles in our communities.”

This year’s Chichester recipients included:

Bell Tower Drop-in - £1500: The Bell Tower Drop-In runs targeted relational support groups called ‘BT Life’ for local young people whose home-lives are socially and economically deprived. BT Life groups provide a ‘family dinner setting’ for young people who do not experience this at home. There are 60 young people in BT Life groups, meeting once a week every week during school term-times and the grant will be used to help cover the costs of these meetings in 2023.

Chichester Area Mental Health Support Foundation - £600: It provides care and support to older people living with mental health problems and dementia. They organise a twice weekly social afternoons with numerous activities. Funding was requested to run a twice monthly Art Project. Although there is no cure for dementia, art can stir dormant memories and sometimes encourage speech and expression and it can boost cognitive function and social interaction with other people.

Chichester Information Shop for Young People - £1250: The charity provides information, advice, support, and counselling for young people aged 11-25 in Chichester District and surrounding areas and they are open 5 days a week. In 2021 they moved into a new larger city centre location in Chichester. This combined with the effects of the pandemic on young people’s mental health, has created a rise in numbers they are supporting and they expected to reach over 2000 plus young people in 2022. Funding will be used to support a volunteer team of counsellors, which they are growing to meet demand.

Terry’s Place - £2682: Terry’s Place is a unique day care charity, which supports older people and their families to access respite day care services and aims to create a ‘Social Care Hub’ for older people – a warm and friendly environment, operating from the ground floor of Home Care House in Chichester. They have requested a grant to help fund a sensory and wellbeing activities programme. The programme will include musician visits, mini concerts, craft sessions, library of games and books, external visits such as artists, meditation, sporting activities, gardening tools, planting, outdoor benches, flowers and sensory areas and will bring stimulation and happiness to the people who come to Terry’s Place.

Other recipients included: Care for the Carers; CYCALL; Disabled Sailors Association; Fabrica; Hub4Stuff; The Juno Project; Kangaroos Mid Sussex; Mary How Trust for Cancer Prevention; Pelican Parcels; Pippa’s Group; Springboard; Sussex Wheelchair Basketball; Waypoint Hub.

Since 2002, the community chest has donated some three quarters of a million pounds to 900 causes across the south of England and works in partnership with both the Dorset and Sussex Community Foundations.

Hall and Woodhouse is an independent Dorset family company that brews award winning Badger Ales and runs an estate of high-quality pubs in the south of England. The company was founded in 1777 by Charles Hall, a Dorset farmer, who opened a Brewery in the village of Ansty. More than 60 years on, his son Robert (who inherited the brewery) brought Edward Woodhouse into the business as his commercial partner. Edward fell in love with, and married, Charles Hall’s grand-daughter - Hannah Dodge. Hall & Woodhouse was born. After more than 240 years, the company remains family owned, with Anthony Woodhouse and Mark Woodhouse both in the business as the current seventh generation stewards.

The company has a collection of 170 beautiful pubs that make up its managed house and Business Partner estate, stretching from Bristol to Exeter, London to Brighton.

Sussex World congratulated Hall and Woodhouse for its consistency in providing cash support to those groups that most needed it and could show the efforts they were making to help themselves.

Applications will soon be invited for the 2023 cash allocation and will be widely publicised on Sussex World and in its weekly newspapers.