Community workshop carving out brighter futures with grant funding
A community workshop in Barnsley is helping people who are navigating life-changing experiences to learn new woodwork skills, supported by grant funding from South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation (SYCF).
The Community Workshop, based at the Enterprise Centre on George Street, in Cudworth, has been welcoming local residents since 2002 – offering people the chance to get creative with wood and find a renewed sense of purpose.
The workshop recently received £2,800 through the Park Spring Wind Fund Community Benefits Fund, administered by SYCF, to support its work with people in Cudworth and the surrounding areas.
Open to all abilities and backgrounds, the community enterprise supports people who have been through redundancy, retirement, bereavement or mental and physical health problems.
Led by retired coal miner John Niland, who specialises in carpentry and French polishing, sessions provide access to tools, materials and workshop facilities.
Past projects created by participants include hedgehog and bat boxes, bird houses, garden planters, fences, noticeboards and signs, alongside more unusual commissions such as a stand for a parrot in a pram.
The workshop also welcomes younger people. One teenage participant is currently making a wooden Manchester United club badge.
Brian Haigh, a key figure at the workshop, said:
We’ve been going for almost 25 years now and we really have become a part of the furniture in Cudworth.
Over this time, we’ve been fortunate to be awarded a number of grants from South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation and we’re so grateful to them for helping us to grow.
“We’ve used the funding to invest in tools, workshop space and storage and advertise our sessions. People make all sorts – the most unusual creation was definitely the wooden stand for a parrot in a pram!
“It’s such a friendly place which brings together people with different interests, experiences and levels of woodworking ability. For lots of those who attend, simply having somewhere to go, a focus to work towards and people to talk to can make a real difference.”
The group welcomes up to eight people at a time, with sessions running on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am to midday during term time. It also runs a woodcarving session at Queen Elizabeth School in Wakefield on Tuesdays from 6pm to 9pm.
Items made at the workshop are sold, with proceeds reinvested into the community enterprise.
Jess O’Neill, grants and partnerships manager at South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation, visited the group to learn more about its impact.
She said: “We’re so proud to have supported The Community Workshop for many years now through our Park Spring Wind Fund Community Benefits Fund.
It’s wonderful to see first-hand the impact of our funding. Community spaces like this can make a real difference to people’s lives. The craftsmanship on show was incredible, with John and the team not only helping people to build confidence and form new friendships, but develop new woodwork skills too.
Park Spring Wind Fund Community Benefits Fund, operated by EDF Energy Renewables, awards grants of between £500 and £10,000 for projects benefiting the residents living within 3km of the windfarm.
Meet Jess
Jess works Mondays - Thursdays every week and oversees all of the grant programmes here at SYCF, so is able to help with any queries you might have about what we fund.
She also oversees our panels and our many volunteers that lead on our decision making for many of our funds.
Jess holds a weekly Teams drop-in sessions to support with anything applicants might need. These are held most Wednesdays 4pm - 5pm. The link to this can be found on our Apply here, or Search our Grants page.
Jess O'Neill
Grants and Partnerships Manager
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