Gerald hosts successful annual Funding Fair with Dawn Bowden AM as over 50 attend

Gerald Jones MP and Dawn Bowden AM host successful fourth annual Funding Fair at Merthyr Town Football Club
Over 10 funding organisations including National Lottery and Coalfields Regeneration Trust attend
Venue full as over 50 people from Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney attend
Organisations offer funding support to wide variety of different charities and groups for community projects and initiatives

On 12 July 2019, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney’s MP and AM hosted their annual Funding Fair at Merthyr Town FC, which was a great success with the venue full and over 50 people attending.

A wide variety of charities and community groups focusing on areas such as housing, the environment and more were able to apply for funding for their community groups from over 10 different funding organisations.

The event, organised by Gerald Jones MP and Dawn Bowden AM, was attended by over 10 key community organisations, including the National Lottery Community Fund, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, the Arts Council of Wales, Sport Wales and more.

Charities and groups from Merthyr Tydfil and the Upper Rhymney Valley, across a range of sectors and work areas, such as sport, the arts, health, environment and more were able to apply for funding for projects or initiatives, and get advice from industry experts on how to fund and drive forward a project.

Gerald Jones MP, who has co-hosted and organised the event for four years running, said after the event: “This is the fourth year that we’ve organised this event, and there was a real buzz around the hall this morning, with a great range of opportunities for funding available to charities and groups from across our constituency.

“I’m really pleased with the level of interest we’ve had from both funders and groups, and I’m looking forward to seeing the progress these groups make with their applications for funding today.”

Dawn Bowden AM, hosting and organising the event along with Gerald, added: “Gerald and I have so many enquiries from constituents about where they can access funding for their projects, so I’m pleased that we’ve been able to hold this event for four years running now, to bring funders and groups together and help them to move on with their projects.”

Nadia Bogdan, Funding Officer with the National Lottery Community Fund, said: “The event today was a great opportunity for us to meet community groups and organisations, and we discussed lots of interesting project ideas that could benefit from monies generated by players of the National Lottery.

“We’re looking forward to seeing these funding applications in due course.”

Natalie Sargent, Development Officer at the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, added: “This is the third year that we’ve attended the Funding Fair; it’s always very busy, and this year we’ve had queues at our stand with people wanting to find out more about how we can help with their projects.

“We’ve met with over 10 organisations today from Merthyr Tydfil and the Caerphilly area about potential funding – it’s been a good mix of organisations, and all of them are eligible for support in some way, whether it’s funding, development or advice they are looking for.”