Angmering church group tots up useful grant windfall

Cherry Redding and Esther O’Toole, who run the Tots in Tow children’s club, were stunned after their group received a £500 support grant, from West Sussex County Council.

Cherry, 39, of Beech View, said that she wasn’t expecting the financial windfall as she had applied for the grant only on a whim.

The mother of four, said: “I tweet a lot for Tots in Tow and I saw the grant on one of the stories on the Littlehampton Gazette’s Twitter account. I never thought I would be successful. There must have been so many others who had applied. But I was over the moon when I was told. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Cherry and Esther, 37, were awarded the grant through the council’s Eastern Arun county local committee, which met last Tuesday.

The friends, who between them have seven children, run the group on behalf of the St Margaret’s Community Church, every Friday morning.

They will be buying new sensory toys for the children who attend the club, at St Margaret’s Church hall.

Cherry said: “Being part of the play group is quite exhausting, but this grant will really help us.

“We’re a great little community. All the parents and children who come to the club are like family.”

Tots in Tow was one of several groups in the area that received a portion of the £4,000 community initiative funding allocated by the committee.

Others included the East Preston Festival Committee, which was granted £250 towards the purchase and installation of a community noticeboard, and Girlguiding East Preston and Angmering District, which received £1,550 towards upgrading the facilities at the organisation’s headquarters, in Lashmar Road.

Chairman of the committee, county councillor Graham Tyler, said: “Over the past year we’ve allocated some £22,000 to deserving local causes and organisations.

“The new round of funding is available from April onwards, and I would encourage local organisations to apply if they have a worthwhile project coming up that they need support for.”

For more information on community initiative funding and how to apply for a grant, visit the county local committee pages at www.westsussex.gov.uk