The Maldon Festival runs for a fortnight in mid-summer, playing to audiences drawn from the town and surrounding region. The Festival aims to involve the local community in staging, performing and attending musical performances and art exhibitions. It also intends to attract new visitors to Maldon and to showcase the town as a growing creative hub. As a community event, the Maldon Festival was a pilot project for a new community fund scheme from Burg-Wachter. It attracted £500 in seed funds to support the publicity and staging of the event plus a Festival security kit of products that enabled it to secure venues and manage cash throughout the event.
The Secure Communities Scheme will be launched across East Anglia from September and is seeking new projects to support. The criteria are simple: that the project is organised by and benefits the local community. A fund of £1000 a month is available and awards will be made based on the potential for positive local impact. Priority will be given to applications of £500. In addition, successful applicants also benefit from security advice in relation to their project or activity including up to £150 worth of free product.
Besides festivals, fetes and summer shows, the Secure Communities Scheme is open to communities undertaking maintenance or refurbishment projects relating to property or open spaces. This could involve allotments, common areas, village halls, sports fields or activity centres. Community events and activities are also eligible such as school breakfast clubs, food banks or firework displays and fun runs.
Mark Pearson from Burg-Wachter commented: “We are known for our safes and post-boxes alongside our extensive range of locking products. We regularly receive requests for products to support charitable and community causes, anything from digital door locks or combination padlocks to wifi-cameras and alarms. The Secure Communities Scheme enables us to formalise and scale up our charitable and community support, so that it reaches a wider audience. The Maldon Festival provided the perfect pilot scheme, proving that the idea worked and the award can make a significant different to the cause being supported. We hope that this will be the spring-board for more applications from across East Anglia”.
More information on the awards can be found at www.burg.biz/uk The Maldon Festival also found further funding information and guidance from: www.essexcommunityfoundation.org.uk