The Dragons met in their Den on September 10th and listened with interest to 12 presentations from voluntary and community groups from East Cambs.

The Dragons had an interesting mix of groups and funding requests to consider. After much debate - but we are pleased to say no slaying of Dragons - decisions were made and the following groups were awarded grants from the East Cambs Community Fund:

Cambridgeshire Search and Rescue (CamSAR) is the County’s voluntary Emergency Response Search & Rescue Team. They were awarded £500 to help purchase two collapsible kayaks for the teams Kayak Unit. These kayaks will be used in the search and extraction of missing persons in the waterways of Cambridgeshire. The Unit will also be on standby for flood evacuation throughout Cambridgeshire.

EARTH is a local chairty which provides or assist in the provision of facilities for recreation and leisure time occupation to adults who have learning difficulties, young offenders and those who are at risk of offending ("the beneficiaries") in particular by giving them opportunities to acquire horticultural skills through training and work experience. EARTH were awarded £500 to purchase materials, to extend their work to include making up and selling Hanging Baskets, for both Spring/Summer and Winter. The funding would allow EARTH to have sufficient baskets to sell and to put profits back into developing this project in the future, making it self sustaining, and thus improving their turnover.

STRADA provide support in Ely and surrounding area to those who have suffered from strokes, offering weekly recreational, educational and therapeutic day centre activities, to improve their quality of life beyond usual hospital care. They were awarded £500 to buy an exercise cycle to enable them to provide exercises for members which will increase their mobility and confidence.

Viva Arts and Community Group were awarded £250 to help fund a day of arts and performance activities aimed at 7-11 year olds from the migrant worker communities of East Cambs. The aim of the day (a Saturday in the autumn) is to help the children build their self-confidence and also help them develop ways, other than language, through which they can express themselves.

SPICE Guides (Cambs East Girl Guides) was set up this year by a group of guides to enable disabled girls to jon in with Girl Guiding. 2011 is the centenary of Guiding and nationally girls will be celebrating at 20.11pm on the 20/11, 2011. SPICE were awarded £500 to plan and hold their own special event for their disabled girls. SPICE will hire an accessible venue, have a firework display and a party for up to 30 disabled girls, Guiders and buddies and the girl’s carers.

Act 4 Kidz is a voluntary group that organises and runs out-of-term messy play sessions for children with special needs aged 3 to 19 years old, living in Cambridgeshire (held at The Paradise Sports Centre, Ely). They were awarded £500 to provide access to therapeutic, sensory equipment at our messy play sessions. Sensory areas use sound, light, vibration, visual effects, smells and tactile experiences to stimulate the body's sense. They are also an important learning tool for both children and adults with special needs.

Speaking Up exists to support young people and adults with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and mental health problems to gain the skills they need to live the life they want through a range of advocacy services and innovative self-advocacy projects. Speaking Up are involved with the Cambridgeshire Youth Parliament and were awarded £250 for a small project with their East Cambridgeshire Youth MPs to run a focus group with their peers (other young people with learning disabilities who live, study or work in East Cambridgeshire) to drill down into the issues affecting their lives, before holding a campaign event to let relevant professionals know what the issues are, and how changing them will have a positive effect on the young disabled people in the area. Speaking Up will take pledges from these professionals and to chase them up on their promises a month after the event!