Stour Valley Environment Fund
The Dedham Vale National Landscape and Stour Valley has established the Stour Valley Environment Fund (SVEF) to support charities and voluntary groups working to enhance the environment in the Stour Valley.
The Stour Valley Environment Fund was established as an endowed fund with Essex Community Foundation (reg. charity no. 1052061) in 2011 to support voluntary and community organisations working to enhance the environment and community in the Stour Valley area, in perpetuity.
The Fund is managed by Essex Community Foundation. The Stour Valley Environment Fund is both donation seeking and grant giving, and provides a channel through which individuals, families, companies or charitable trusts can support the Stour Valley landscape.
The Stour Valley Environment Fund is both donation seeking and grant giving, and provides a channel through which individuals, families, companies or charitable trusts can support the Stour Valley landscape.
By pooling donations into one charitable Fund we can have a much more powerful impact to support environmental activities in the Stour Valley. The fund is expected to grow over the years with donations, legacies and investment.
The Fund will consider grant applications of up to £2,500 from voluntary and community organisations working to enhance the environment and community life in the Stour Valley area, on both Essex and Suffolk sides of the river Stour.
Stour Valley Environment Fund gives preference to projects within the Project area as a whole and not necessarily to projects in the National Landscape itself.
There are a number of ways you can get involved with the Stour Valley Environment Fund:
- Make a donation to the Stour Valley Environment Fund
- Apply for an Stour Valley Environment Fund grant
- Become a Stour Valley Environment Champion
When is the grant application deadline for the SVEF?
- Enquiries can be made to Essex Community Foundation throughout the year.
To apply to the SVEF
Please visit Essex Community Foundation website for the general grant application form and guidelines.
For further information or to discuss a grant request, please call Essex Community Foundation’s grants team on 01245 356018 or you can email.
Stour Valley Environment Fund Case Studies
Daws Hall Trust
For the 2018-19 funding year, a contribution of £1,500 was made to a total grant of £3,000 to Daws Hall Trust who carried out works to improve access for those with restricted mobility at their educational nature reserve in the village of Lamarsh.
Daws Hall Trust manages the Centre for Environmental Education and Daws Hall Nature Reserve with their work primarily focusing on educating school children. The reserve is diverse in wildlife and a significant area for conservation in Stour Valley, and through seeing over 100,000 students visit since they began in 1985, Daws Hall Trust aims to promote this to inspire future stewardship.
Friends of East Town Park
In 2020, Friends of East Town Park received a grant of £1,500 from the SVEF to pay for materials to replace the only fully accessible viewing platform of Stour Brook in East Town Park, located in Haverhill.
Friends of East Town Park aims to enhance their local park for the benefit of the whole community by improving the recreational, environmental, and educational facilities there, whilst also striving to promote the diversity of its visitors.
A Rocha UK
One of the SVEF’s 2021 recipients was A Rocha UK who were awarded £1,250 for the purchase of equipment to help maintain the waterways and support community involvement and events at Foxearth Meadows Nature Reserve
near Sudbury.
A Rocha UK is a London based charity which carries out practical nature conservation and education with local communities to motivate others to care for the environment. They have many established working partnerships with local action groups across Essex and Suffolk, with the Dedham Vale and Stour Valley Project being one of them.
Witham Boys’ and Girls Brigade
For the 2018-19 funding year, a grant of £1,400 was awarded to Witham Boys’ and Girls’ to replace a rotten board walk in Peter’s Vale Twinstead.
This is a continuation of funding from an ongoing project which was first awarded a grant by the SVEF in the 2012/13 financial year when the group ran under the name 2nd Witham Boys Brigade.
Grants awarded by SVEF
- Sudbury Market Town Partnership received £500 towards the 'greeniversity' project, supporting Transition Sudbury to continue activity to raise profile.
- Dedham Vale AONB & Stour Valley Project received £1,218 towards extending the Scattered orchards project up the Stour Valley, in Essex and Suffolk
- Bures Common Land received £2,500 to help provide a post and rail fence around the village green in Bures.
- Wormingford Community Education Centre received £2,500 to help provide healthy living and outdoor activities for the rural community of Wormingford
- 1st Steeple Bumpstead Scout Group to receive £2,480 for equipment, training and professional tree services to enable the scout group to be involved in conservation work along the Bellropes.
To apply to the SVEF
Please visit Essex Community Foundation website for the general grant application form and guidelines.
For further information or to discuss a grant request, please call Essex Community Foundation’s grants team on 01245 356018 or you can email.