The buzz is electric thanks to Fairhive Homes and Bucks Council
The buzz is now electric for the Aylesbury Wombles, thanks to Fairhive Homes and Bucks Council!
MAY 9TH 2022. FOR IMMEDIATE ISSUE
The Aylesbury Wombles have been given an electric boost by Fairhive Homes and Buckinghamshire Council – after their trusty litter-collection vehicle gave up earlier this year.
The intrepid Aylesbury Wombles are a litter-picking community started by Abigail Walker three years ago when she was just 14 year’s old. She started the group after learning about the environment at school which gave her the litter-picking bug – just like the Wombles from the popular 1970s children’s TV programme.
Fast forward to 2022, the group now have a committed team of volunteers and are always welcoming new joiners. Head Womble Richard Walker said: “All you need is a good pair of shoes and a smile and we provide the rest!”
However the year started on a downer for this intrepid group, when their beloved ‘Womble Wagon’ had to be scrapped – which is where Fairhive Homes and Buckinghamshire Council came in!
The Wombles applied for a grant from Fairhive’s Thriving Communities Fund and Buckinghamshire Council’s Aylesbury Community Board. The applications were successful, and now the Aylesbury Wombles are back in action with a new environmentally-friendly electric van.
Fairhive’s Thriving Communities fund has £250,000 per year for Fairhive residents as well as voluntary and community organisations which operate within the areas where residents live. The fund supports a wide variety of cultural, sporting and social activities, as well as supporting and equipping services for those most in need.
Richard added personal thanks for bringing forward the application to get Aylesbury Wombles back on the road so quickly.
He said: “It’s great to have a new environmentally-friendly Womble Wagon! It will help our mission, to make Aylesbury a great place to be, much easier. Thanks to Fairhive and Bucks Council for all their help.”
To apply for a Thriving Communities grant visit www.fairhive.co.uk/thrive for more information or you can reach their Grants Officer at grants@fairhive.co.uk
ENDS
Note to editors:
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact pressoffice@fairhive.co.uk or call Rodney Kumar, External Partnerships Manager at Fairhive Homes Ltd on 07929 065296.
Fairhive Homes Limited (Fairhive) formally Aylesbury Vale Housing is a ‘not-for-profit’ Registered Provider of affordable housing for over 23,000 people living and working in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire. It owns and manages over 8,500 homes.
Fairhive make a significant social and economic contribution to the communities in which it operates and its Board intend to build over 1,000 new affordable homes over the next few years.
Registered Providers are assessed and rated by the Regulator of Social Housing to ensure that they effectively manage their affairs and have financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse financial scenarios. Fairhive has the top rated assessments from the Regulator of G1 for governance and V1 for financial viability.