Seven community organisations in Knottingley and Ferrybridge have shared a total of over £9,300 in the latest round of Healthy & Sustainable Communities Grants managed by Nova Wakefield District.

Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE)o rganisations working in Knottingley and Ferrybridge were invited to apply for funding to support small projects that could improve physical or mental health and create lasting, sustainable benefits for residents of all ages. The initiative aims to strengthen community connections and reduce health inequalities across the two areas.

The successful organisatins are:

Grow Wakefield

Grow Wakefield plans to introduce winter-specific indoorprojects that will prevent social isolation and keep participants connectedduring the colder months.

They will partner with Knottingley’s Community Shop, using their indoor space for 10 weekly, 3-hour sessions over winter. The events are designed for people already involved in their edible gardening club and community mini allotments, as well as regular Community Shop users.

The project will provide a warm space, reliable social contact, and a therapeutic creative outlet to help combat anxiety, depression, and the physical health risks associated with winter isolation. Participants will make different sustainable, nature-inspired items each week, such as Christmas wreaths, wooden ornaments, clay animals, and pebble painting. Ultimately, it bridges the gap into spring and encourages earlier re-engagement with community allotments when the weather improves.

Turning Minds Around

Turning Minds Around will offer counselling, wellbeing coaching, and addiction support in a trusted community setting, specifically targeted to adults experiencing poor mental health, emotional distress, addiction, or social isolation.

Qualified counsellors will deliver one-to-one, person-centred, and trauma-informed therapies (such as CBT, NLP, and Emotion-Focused Therapy) to help manage anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, and addiction. The project aims to reduce social isolation, strengthen local referral pathways, and equip participants with lasting coping strategies and confidence.

Home-Start Wakefield & District

This funding will help keep this vital community group's doors open for local families, securing venue costs and ensuring parents and their children can continue to benefit each quarter.

The sessions bring in helpful local visitors like Best Start Family Hubs, libraries, and uniform banks, based on what families ask for. For anyone feeling lonely, new to the area, or struggling with their mental health, the group is an absolute lifeline, with leaders always on hand to offer a listening ear, practical help, and direct links to specialist support when needed.

Ferrybridge Bowling Club

Club members range in age from 49 to 90, with most over 65.While they are actively working with partners like Age UK and Yorkshire Sport to run taster sessions, physical barriers like heavy bowls and the difficulty of bending down prevent some people from taking part.

This funding will allow them to buy lighter-weight bowls, bowls lifters (to pick up bowls without bending down), and mechanical bowling arms to help players deliver bowls with ease. They will also purchase a security locker to safely store the new equipment inside the clubhouse.

Enabling Youth and Motocross

This funding will allow Enabling Youth and Motocross to add a brand-new health and wellbeing element to their Ferrybridge open-access youth club and the Knottingley and Ferrybridge Detached Youth Work.

It will remove financial and social barriers to benefit over 50 individual young people, allowing them to provide healthy refreshments across 38 youth club sessions to help engage attendees, encourage regular attendance, and promote healthy nutrition and hydration. They will also purchase new badminton equipment, indoor footballs, skipping ropes, resistance exercise gear, and dumbbells.

Knottingley Canoe Club

The club’s purpose is to help people get onto the water, become more active and enjoy the natural environment. This offers health benefits including improving general fitness, strength, balance, coordination and mobility, and supports mental wellbeing through social interaction, learning new skills and spending time outdoors in blue and green spaces. Club sessions give people a reason to leave the house, meet others and enjoy nature as part of a supportive group.

This funding will enable the club to store their outdoor equipment locally and extend their regular activity into Knottingley. It will support them to increase the number and variety of sessions they can offer and make it easier for residents in Knottingley to access affordable outdoor physical activity.

Warwick Community Group

The group is introducing new craft activities including candle making, jewellery making, and wood crafts like wreath making to their regular schedule. Following the success of their chair exercises and craft classes, members have already noticed a positive difference in their wellbeing.

Because many members live alone, the sessions offer vital company and social connections. Crafting provides a relaxing outlet that aids concentration and dexterity, while an expanded range of activities helps stimulate interest, empower members, boost footfall, and support the group's ongoing fundraising efforts.

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Healthy & Sustainable Communities Grants are funded by Wakefield Council and managed by Nova Wakefield District using the Community Investment Gateway, a partnership approach developed locally to channel funding and other capacity building support to the VCSE sector.