Lands Village Hall Association receives £17,055.08 to upgrade its facilities to support the residents of Lands, Durham, in times of need.
Lands Village Hall serves three villages located in a rural area with very few facilities. Following the winter storms of 2021-22 Lands Village decided to develop its own emergency plan working with Durham County Council's Civil Contingency Unit and the emergency services to protect residents located within a small rural village.
Lands Village funded by a grant from the Northern Powergrid Foundation has performed big steps in being locally resilient with the purchase and installation of an 11KVA generator, generator storage, a manual changeover switch and installed new heating system throughout the building. The generator provides power to the hall for lighting, heating, and refreshments. It offers enough power to support the community, provide an emergency hub, and coordinate our response until assistance is available. This means the residents have a place to go for hot refreshments and a warm place during a power cut.
The project provides a safe, warm and secure place for residents impacted by an emergency. The predominately elderly community has the reassurance provided by a coordinated community response for a power outage together with the facilities provided by this project.
Glenn Reffin, Chairman of Lands Village Hall said "In our rural location we are prone to power cuts of varying durations and our community has no other local facilities to rely on. So, it was essential for the village hall to develop a resilience plan to help us create a warm, safe space where the community, young and old, can gather.
“Thanks to the grant funding from Northern Powergrid Foundation, we can now provide our community with the reassurance that there is a warm space for them to congregate and where we can support them during prolonged power disruptions. It is great that Northern Powergrid Foundation can support local communities like ours.”
The challenges for Lands Village, Durham, residents
Due to the rural location and the vulnerable community of Lands Village being impacted by power interruptions can have a detrimental impact.
The solution for Lands Village, Durham, residents
The trustees of Lands Village identified a need to support their local community with a generator so that residents have a warm and safe place to reside during an emergency.
Support from the Northern Powergrid Foundation
The Northern Powergrid Foundation supported the community project with a £17,055.08 donation to go towards a generator.
Media interest: The Northern Echo
More about the Northern Powergrid Foundation
The Northern Powergrid Foundation’s mission, complementing Northern Powergrid’s ambition to be a force for good in the communities it serves, is to support communities most affected by changes in the economy, environment, and society because of the shifting energy landscape. This will be achieved by supporting projects focused on helping to tackle energy resilience during emergency events, vulnerability, fuel poverty, levelling the rural divide, innovation, social support, and community collaboration. Funds are available to support the communities across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire served by Northern Powergrid.
Interested parties should visit our 'who and what we fund' page to understand what support may be given to other community projects.