Purton Parish Council help to protect and support residents with grants of over £4,000

The Purton Parish Council say they have supported the donation of over £4,000 to local groups, charities and initiatives to help the local community.

The parish council say the donations to all the local organisations aim to help in many different ways. 

This includes helping to protect young people online, support diagnostics in primary care, ensure swift first aid at events, and improve residents' quality of life. 

Decisions on the funding were made following the receipt of detailed grant applications received by Purton Parish Council Finance & General Purposes Committee.

To help safeguard local children online, the parish council said £500 was given to the Stay Safe Initiative a not-for-profit company (CIC) who educate young people and children in how to stay safe online.

Delivered through assemblies, presentations and workshops the initiative aims to offer children and young people, from primary to working age, the necessary tools and education to create a safe environment for themselves online.

Known as ‘The Digital Empowerment Programme’ the scheme addresses the ever-growing issues of online harm, abuse and impacts of social media.

With funding in place, the programme will soon be delivered to around 300 young people at local school, Bradon Forest.

Supporting diagnosis in primary care, a new FEDO Breathing Diagnosis Machine was given financial support via £2994 provided to the Purton Participation Group of the Purton Surgery.

This device will aid clinicians in detecting asthma, inflammation of the lungs and other key indicators in patients’ breath.

The parish council say the new machine will soon help with the welfare of those in need amongst the surgery’s c.10,000 patients.

To ensure the swiftest response in event emergencies, St John’s Wiltshire were given £500 towards the purchase of their new CSU vehicle.

This will be utilised by the teams of volunteers attending events, across communities, to deliver medical and first aid help, and the parish council say it could benefit more than 3,500 people.

A spokesperson from Purton Parish Council said: "What makes the new CSU special, is that it has been designed with and for the volunteer first aiders to have instant access to the tools and kit they need, and to speed their response and delivery of care to patients."

With aims of improving the quality of village life, £888 was provided to the Purton Stoke Residents Committee for the purchase of two new planters.

The wooden planters which have a plastic lining to ensure longevity, will be put in place by the group to benefit residents and visitors with a view to enhancing and maintaining, the character and ambience, of the area.

The parish council believe this will be of benefit to the 150 or so residents, as well as the far greater numbers of those who visit or pass by the planters on their journeys.

Purton's Parish Council's Parish Clerk Deborah Lawrence said: "We know that we are fortunate to have these organisations doing so much great work for our community to improve life, support us when in need and protect our children.

"It is our pleasure to be able to make these funds available and we’d like to thank all the great volunteers and staff who work so hard for all our residents.”

More information about the Purton Parish Council can be found on its website at https://www.purtonparishcouncil.gov.uk/ or via its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/purtonparishcouncil