Applications for Awards Invited
The Pilton Green Man CIO was set up in December 2016 to promote good citizenship in the community. This is principally, but not exclusively, for the benefit of the people of Pilton and is achieved through the making of grants or providing other support.
Left is our fifth newsletter and, if you click on it, you can read it and the earlier ones from 2019, 2020 and 2021. Please contact a trustee to discuss your ideas for an award which meets the conditions set out in our award application (click here to go straight to it). We look forward to hearing from you.
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Meeting of the Trustees
The last meeting of the Trustees of the Pilton Green Man CIO was held on 11th March 2024. The next meeting will be on June 10th 2024 in the Reform Inn. Watch these pages for the date or contact a trustee.
If you would like to submit an application for an award or to ask any questions, please contact us through the Pilton Green Man CIO Facebook page or by email through our Contacts page.
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Green Man Grants in 2023
Grants totalling £1,939 have been awarded by the CIO to three new projects involving the Pilton Community in 2023.
Barny Hogs – Provision of Hedgehog Shed
An award of £1,000 was made in July 2023 to Liz Smith of Barny Hogs, a newly-formed hedgehog rescue and protection group in Pilton in Barnstaple. The money went towards the purchase of a new shed for housing injured and orphaned hedgehogs before they are released back into the wild following recovery.
The group has need of cages, newspapers, old towels, cat food and biscuits, and, of course, hedgehog food, at 12 Banfield Road, Pilton. Volunteers would also be very welcome.
Replacement Shelters for 12th ND (Pilton) Scouts
An award of £689.64 was made to the 12th North Devon (Pilton) Scouts as a contribution towards the purchase of three new shelter tents to replace time-expired shelters from the 1980s and 1990s. The shelters provide them with protection from the elements and enables scouting activities to be offered to young people even when the weather is challenging.
Award for School Trip to Amigos Farm in Uganda which next takes place in October 2024
An award of £250 was made in September 2023 to Charlotte Jones towards her visit to the Amigos-supported Kira Farm in Uganda in October 2024 for which she has to raise £3,000. While visiting, Charlotte will learn about the work on the farm, helping out with it and learning about the impact that it has on the many vulnerable lives.
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Green Man Grants in 2022
Grants totalling £1,848 have been awarded by the CIO to three different projects involving the Pilton Community in 2022.
Voice in a Million Concert at Wembley Arena £500
Assistance was provided to a choir of forty children and their families from Pilton Bluecoat Academy attending the Voice in a Million (VIAM) Concert in Wembley Arena in March 2023 along with 6000 other school children. The aim of VIAM is to promote school singing events and raise awareness of the plight of children in care and the importance of adoption and fostering.
For most of the Bluecoat pupils, it was the first time they had been to a large scale music concert. The children were in awe of the 'stage choir' consisting of teenagers singing harmonies and dancing. It was particularly wonderful to see so many boys performing and to such a high professional standard. The Bluecoat children have been inspired to continue singing and performing.
Community Environmental Educational Therapy CIC £1,000
CEET CIC provides opportunities for young people and adults to take part in activities which support the environment, the community and their mental health, mostly through volunteering to help others and places. They litter pick, beach clean, learn how to grow vegetables in the allotment and give them to elderly members in the community, help with footpath restoration, help with local animal and wildlife surveys and many more.
The picture shows a family event at Stocklands Lake in September 2022. As of November 2022, over 100 young people from Pilton schools and Pilton had been to regular CEET sessions. CEET is keen to have more help with funding of these activities.
Bluecoat Academy Raised Bed Restoration £348
This project involves restoration of an area of neglected raised beds and an apple and pear tree in a secure courtyard in the centre of the Pilton Bluecoat Academy. It is a starter project to grow food for the school and then move on to restore a forest school area adjacent to the school playing field.
These pupils are inspecting the seedlings in the greenhouse in March 2023. There are Onions, Cauliflower and Tomatoes in the seed trays. The restored raised beds contain Broad Beans and Strawberries.
We will publish more about the projects as they happen and in the regular Newsletter.
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Pilton Green Man CIO helps the Friends buy Manning’s Pit
The Pilton Green Man CIO has helped the Friends of Manning's Pit to buy Manning's Pit for the community. On 18th June 2021, Manning's Pit was secured for community and protected for ever from development.
Congratulations to the Friends of Manning's Pit team for their hard work over five years.
Click on the Manning's Pit button on the sidebar to go the Friends of Manning's Pit website to learn more.
And enormous thanks go to Tozers Solicitors for the provision of free legal advice during the extended negotiations.
For details of the CIO's Health & Safety Policy and related documents covering the use of Manning's Pit by the community and work there by volunteers, click on Manning's Pit H&S on the sidebar.
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Green Man Grant in 2021
Bradiford Pocket Garden
In the summer of 2021, a new project was created to bring Pilton and Bradiford into the Barnstaple in Bloom team and improve some of our local areas of grass and unloved land. Work has started with the so-called Bradiford Pocket Garden (panoramic view above) which was awarded a grant of £400 in October 2021. Together with local donations, this will provide a second bench, planters and renewed ground cover. This revitalised community garden is next to Bradiford Water.
Work on Pilton and Bradiford in Bloom will hopefully continue shortly with trees and wild flowers on the western verge of the A39 North Road, just above the new roundabout at the North Devon Hospital, and on a triangle of rather boring grass in central Pilton to be called the Priory Pocket Triangle.
These and more Pilton and Bradiford projects hope to be part of the Barnstaple in Bloom 2022 entry in Britain in Bloom organised by the Royal Horticultual Society.
Pilton Infants School Stage
In November 2021, the Pilton Infants School Parent, Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA) was awarded a grant of £1,000 towards the acquisition of new staging to be used for school events. The new staging was desperately needed to replace the old staging that was no longer suitable for use.
It was very important that the staging was replaced quickly as it was needed for the Christmas productions. It arrived just in time for the children to have rehearsal time before their final performance. It successfully met the school's needs and the children enjoyed practising on the stage in preparation for their brilliant performances in December.
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Green Man Grants in 2019
Revamp of Disused Courtyard at Pilton Community College
An award of £1000 was made to the Pilton Community College Parent Teachers Association towards the cost of revamping a disused large courtyard space at the College, specifically towards the provision of two large picnic benches (left). The revamp has transformed a grey concrete area into a pleasant seating area. The courtyard benefits students during break and lunch times and gives them an area to sit outdoors, encouraging social interaction and boosting well-being by providing a safe, sheltered space. It can also be used by teaching staff and pastoral workers for small group intervention work and for outdoor lessons and clubs.
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Remedial Work on the Bells of St Mary’s Church
An award of £500 was made to the Bellringers of St Mary’s Church, Pilton, towards essential repairs to the bell frame which is in need of cleaning and corrosion protection. This cost a total of £18,000 which was being raised by the bellringers who also provided labour to reduce the cost from £30,000. The work has put the bells into first class condition so that, with normal ongoing maintenance, they should serve Pilton Parish well for many years to come before major work is again required. The last time work was done on the bells was in 1969-70 (left) when one was removed for restoration although no bells will be removed this time. The work on the bell frame was successfully carried out and completed by the summer of 2021 and the bells can now be heard again. If the work had not been carried out, the bells would eventually have to stop being rung for safety reasons and would rapidly have become part of Pilton history.
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Green Man Grants in 2018
The Trustees of the Pilton Green Man CIO announced the award of more grants in 2018.
Trip to Kira Farm in Uganda
Awards of £200 each were made to two students from Pilton Community College, Lucy Lake and Matt Steele, to help with funding of their trip to Amigos' Kira Farm Development Centre near Kampala, Uganda. There they learned new skills and worked in the community. The trip was in October 2018 and they told us all about it on their return. Click on the logo to learn more about the work of Amigos.
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Pilton Bluecoat Choir at 'Voice in a Million' Concert
A third grant award of £350 was made to the Pilton Bluecoat Academy Choir for a trip for 35 pupils to sing at the ‘Voice in a Million’ concert at Wembley Arena in March 2019. This annual concert promotes school singing and raises awareness of the plight of children in care and the importance of adoption and fostering both in the UK and worldwide. It gives the children an opportunity to sing in an iconic arena and helps foster a love of singing and raise the profile of music and arts. At the same time it makes a difference to less fortunate children than them and encourages the sense of citizenship and community.
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Green Man Grants in 2017
The Trustees of the Pilton Green Man CIO announced the award of three grants in 2017 of which two proceeded as planned.
North Devon Sinfonia at Festival in South Korea
Two Pilton members of the North Devon Sinfonia, winners of BBC2's Great Orchestra Challenge in 2015 and the amateur orchestra which represented the UK at the Seoul International Community Festival in September 2017 in South Korea, were awarded £244 towards the trip. The orchestra needed to raise £38,000 and was £6,000 short. As well as their own fund-raising, financial support came from Devonshire Living, TDK Lambda, West End Precision, Bray Leino, Philip J. Milton and there were grants by Rotary Clubs, the Bideford Bridge Trust and Fullabrook and private donations. The award was to cover the need for each orchestra member to raise an additional £122 to close the funding gap.
On the Current Projects page you can read more about the visit to South Korea and its outcomes for North Devon.
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Pilton Church Hall to get Permanent Bar
Pilton Church Hall, one of only two community venues in Pilton,was originally awarded £2,200 towards the Development of a Permanent Bar for soft and alcoholic drinks, coffees, teas, etc. to encourage, and improve the experience of, the community using the Hall for events like quizzes, pantomimes, exhibitions, Pilton Cinema, plays, etc. and for heritage and volunteer activities. The Hall Committee identified the need to raise £6,000 to develop the bar and had been raising money towards it for some years.
Pilton Theatre Productions, which took over putting on the Pilton Panto in 2016 and is part of the Pilton Green Man CIO, has helped raise money by producing 'Aladdin', 'Dick Whittington', 'Robin Hood & the Babes in the Wood' and 'Treasure Island' in the four years to 2020.
A £700 initial grant covering design and planning was made in 2017, but because of falling use of the Hall, leading to lower income, and then the problems of the pandemic, the work on the bar was put on hold. However, it recently started again and it is hoped will be completed before the end of 2021.
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Award Application for Library Withdrawn
A third grant was made to the Friends of Barnstaple Library Book Fair who planned to organise a Devon Authors' Book Fair in Barnstaple Library and had been awarded £300 towards printing and refreshment costs. The Fair was originally scheduled for October 2017 but, unfortunately, had to be postponed because of the installation of a FabLab and because the library is to become a BIPC - a Business and Intellectual Property Centre requiring a complete change to the first floor layout, with the work being started in early October. However, the Fair has been further delayed into 2019 so the award application has, for the moment, been withdrawn.
The proposal is still that the Fair will be a free event open to all members of the public with 25 children’s and adult authors meeting, chatting, signing books and giving advice from 10am until 3pm. It will be publicised in schools, particularly in Pilton, in the local media (press, radio, etc.), on social media, in doctors’ surgeries, etc.
We await news of the re-scheduling and will be pleased to consider a re-application for a grant.
Successful Registration with Charity Commission
The Pilton Green Man CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation or, rather more simply, Trust) was successfully registered with the Charity Commission in 2016. Creation of the Trust limits the liability of the organising Committee whilst at the same time providing the opportunity to redistribute any profits from Green Man Day for charitable causes which will benefit the people of Pilton.
Registration came at the end of a year long process in which the Trust's objectives were gradually refined. These can be seen by going to the Objectives page of this website where you can also find the Constitution of the CIO. The Pilton Green Man Committee, which organises and runs the popular day in July, continues to operate exactly as it did before. It is now a sub-committee of the trust. Pilton Theatre Productions, which currently runs the Pilton Panto in February each year, is also a sub-committee of the Trust. In 2021 the trust helped the Friends of Manning's Pit with their battle to save Manning's Pit from development and they are now also a sub-committee of the Pilton Green Man CIO.
The trust's organisation can be seen on the Organisation page of this website.
If you think you have a charitable idea which might qualify for an award from the Trust, please go to the How to get an Award page of this website. This sets out what could qualify and how to apply for an award. The first awards have been made and details are to be found on the Current Projects page of the website.
Annual reports for the Charity Commission are produced every January, the first being made for 2017, the latest currently being prepared for 2023. Previous reports are available on the Charity Commission website.
There are currently eight Trustees of the Pilton Green Man CIO and details are given on the Trustees page. If you would like to discuss ideas for charitable activities within Pilton, please contact a Trustee or email the Trust through the CIO Contact Us page.