LOCAL community projects across West Oxfordshire have received substantial cash boosts from the region's council.

Almost £4,000 has been awarded by West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC).

The money is for organisations in the region to help develop arts, heritage or community-based projects, which the council say contribute to the health and wellbeing of residents and quality of community life.

Projects from across the district, including a Christmas winter wonderland and a youth production of musical 42nd Street, have benefited from the grants from WODC.

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Bladon Junior Church, a group for children and young people from Bladon and the surrounding areas, and the largest junior church in the country, was awarded a grant of £500.

Their treasurer, Philip Rumsby, said the funding was key to being able to put on a stage production of 42nd Street.

“A large part of our work is in the field of the performing arts and we regularly stage concerts and musicals.

“As we don’t charge members to audition, the productions are purely funded through tickets sales and now this generous grant from WODC,” he explained.

“The children, teenagers and young adults find taking part in our productions very rewarding.

“From the discipline of attending rehearsals and learning lines, to the confidence gained by performing in front of an audience, the experience is invaluable.”

For the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, a grant of £500 helped to set up a reminiscence program within the museum.

The program tells the stories of local soldiers, their families and the consequences of conflict on them and the country.

Deputy museum director, Peggy Ainsworth, said: “The grant was used at the museum to help create our reminiscence display which will change theme every few months.

“The first theme is 'R&R'.

“The display is designed to be multi-sensory.

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“We have audio from a documentary on holidays in the 1950's, feely objects and dressing up, as well as visually appealing objects and smells.

“This means that a much wider audience can engage with our collections and it has inspired many visitors to share their own memories with friends and family.”

These objects will eventually be repurposed as a themed resource box and the museum will be launching an outreach programme of reminiscence sessions in 2020.

WODC’s shared health communities manager, Heather McCulloch, said: “We are pleased to provide this support to these projects and in doing so want to acknowledge the huge contribution made by so many groups, large and small, to communities across our district”.

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Other projects which received financial backing included Witney Town Band who were donated £375 towards their 2019 Christmas concert, whilst the Lower Windrush Choral Society were given £375 towards their choral concert on May 30, 2020.

The Tackley Active Group (TAG) and Bampton Community Archive (BCA) were given £500 each.

TAG's money will help supply portable nets and rackets, whilst the funding to BCA will go towards the printing of catalogues, posters and photos for exhibitions respectively.

There were also grants for Witney Music Society (£100), Carterton Community Centre (£496.76) and Leafield Parish Council (£375), among a total of ten local causes.