The Winsley Village Project
The Winsley Village Project
The Village Project has a unique place in Winsley life – combining informal social events open to all local people with a fundraising focus for the benefit of others in significant need. Founded in 1985, in the wake of the Ethiopian Famine, it has subsequently raised around £200,000 for charities supporting projects in developing nations and closer to home. It has also provided people from Winsley and nearby villages with opportunities to get together and maintain a greater sense of community.
Over the last 3 years, the Village Project has been able to donate about £10,000 to both Jamie’s Farm (Local) and Just a Drop (Global). Recently, the WVP committee has moved its fundraising focus to ‘The Willows Care Farm’ (Wiltshire Wildlife Trust) in Broughton Gifford alongside continuity with ‘Just a Drop’ in keeping with the Project’s original aims.
Just a Drop is a small charity with a head office in Motcombe near Shaftesbury that is committed to working with local communities and agencies in a limited range of developing countries on the provision and use of safe drinking water. It goes some way to securing investment from beneficiaries and encouraging ownership of the new facilities by negotiating the formation of a responsible committee and setting up of relevant training beforehand. Sustainability is also ensured through a course on the importance of clean water, the value of health education and the case for domestic sanitation. Recent projects have included borehole wells in Uganda and Zambia, a water-harvesting tank in Kenya, a new well in Nicaragua and bio-sand filters in Cambodia – all exclusively enabled through the generosity of WVP supporters.
The Willows Care Farm is a unique initiative from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust with the purpose of connecting people to nature. Children and young people are referred by schools for spending half or whole days for 1:1 therapeutic, outdoor experience with specialist staff. The farm can take up to 40 children over a week and is of real value to those who have a range of needs in learning, behaviour and mental health. The farm is hoping to expand its outdoor facilities so that greater benefit can be gained all year/all weathers. For example, a canopy roof for a mud kitchen and some type of a summerhouse in the woods are current priorities. Meanwhile, the waiting list of school referrals for this very local and cost-effective service sadly remains much longer than expected.
Winsley Village Project organises a series of social/fundraising events through the year and everyone is invited!
If you would like to get involved or if you would like to know more about the Village Project, then please contact James Colquhoun – Chair: tel 07753 255944 or email colquhounjames@hotmail.com. Better still, why not turn up at one of our events – you’ll be very welcome.