The MVCF provides grants to not-for-profit organisations, including charities, social enterprises, community groups and voluntary organisations in Mole Valley, to fund local projects which tackle need and disadvantage across the district.
The Patchworking Garden aims to provide a safe friendly and non-judgemental space for adults in the community (over 18 years old) who for various reasons feel excluded.
We are a social horticultural project established in 2014 in a walled garden on the outskirts of Dorking and in the lee of Box Hill. Run entirely by volunteers we offer gardening, crafting and the opportunity to learn new skills in a safe and friendly space for those living with a physical or mental health condition, learning disability or a challenging life situation. Those who would benefit from time away from their caring duties are also welcome.
We currently support some 90 individuals with a further 50 people (volunteers) working alongside our supported volunteers.
‘We were delighted to receive the funds from MVCF – the money has been put to good use and has helped us to install a new secure storage shed, further protecting our lovely garden project from burglary. We are all extremely grateful for your help, thankyou!’
Rebecca Ward
The Patchworking Garden Project
Visit The Patchworking Garden Project Website …
The chrome books we have purchased, courtesy of the MVCF £1000 donation, are helping the pupils at Leatherhead Trinity School and Nursery access the computing curriculum using the very latest technology. But that’s not all, we use the Chrome Books to help children in English lessons write stories and articles.
We run many different maths games on these devices including the ever popular Times Tables Rockstars. We use the Chrome Books to create art work and we use them in DT to help us understand how things are made and to help us design own our models, structures and vehicles. They are even used in music lessons to help us compose and listen to our own songs. In short, they enhance and support our whole primary curriculum bringing it to life in ways we can only achieve now we have a full set of devices for every class.
And perhaps best of all, they are helping children with Special Educational Needs And Disabilities access work in a more visual, understandable and engaging way so a huge thank you to Mole Valley Community Fund.
Hannah Gray
Deputy Headteacher
Leatherhead Trinity School
‘Horsley, Bookham and Leatherhead Riding for the Disabled Association are delighted to have been selected by Mole Valley Community Fund to receive a grant of £2.5k towards our running cost of over £100k a year. It is only with the vital support of organisations like Mole Valley Community Fund that we can achieve our necessary fundraising targets each year.
Since building our new home in 2021, having lost our previous facilities during the Covid pandemic, we have vastly expanded our delivery – we now provide therapeutic rides for over 110 children and young people across 23 riding sessions every week. We have grown to be one of the largest, and most successful RDAs in the South-East of England, with our coaches and trustees having been awarded recognition from RDA National for our endeavours.
The work we do is critical in giving our riders increased strength, mobility and confidence – it is joyful to see how they respond, engage and have fun during their sessions.
‘We are so grateful to everyone at MVCF who helped award this grant which ensures we can keep doing a great job to support our riders, volunteers and give back to the local community’.
Joanna Marsh, Trustee
Horsley, Bookham and Leatherhead Riding for the Disabled Association
“The young people have been enjoying the new furniture, especially the sofa! It has breathed new life into our youth café drop-in and has made the space feel warm and welcoming. It’s really important that the young people have a space they feel comfortable in. We are grateful to the MVCF for making this possible!”
Mikey Dicken
Senior Youth Worker-Leatherhead Lead
“The outings enabled me to interact with people and my children had opportunity for fun play time.”
“While isolating myself I was unaware of how much I was truly isolating my children as well and with the help of Home-Start they can have proper experiences that other children have and live in a happy family household!”
“We are so grateful and excited for the contribution from Mole Valley Community Fund which will enable us to support families in the north of Mole Valley with stimulating experiences for their children and to provide parenting support – both practical and emotional – when local families need it most.”
Michelle Jones, Manager, Home-Start Epsom, Ewell and Banstead
“Huge thanks to the Mole Valley Community Fund’s generous support for funding Farm Place’s new fast EV charging point. Previously we never got up to a full charge on the minivan, it made every trip out for the young people a nervous occasion. Now the minivan is fully charged, and in a quick timeframe, we can go out with the young people to broaden their horizons and take them to job interviews for example without any fear of the minivan not working. Plus we also have the EV charging point available to guests and visitors to Farm Place who may have driven a long way to visit us.Thank you Mole Valley Community Fund for this transformational funding.”
Louise Cheung, Senior Fundraising Manager
“The grant from MVCF has enabled us as a church to set up and run services to support young Mums in the area we work in. We have used funds to improve resources and make the room at the Social Club that we use, a more welcoming space. 6 babies attended our first Baby Massage course with their Mums and the feedback from the families was very positive and some of that group have continued to meet in our groups that follow on from the Baby Massage classes. Friendships were built up, advice and support has been offered and we have been able to signpost families to other charities and services in the area.
We use some of the funds to pay for qualified staff to be able to run the classes and this means that we know we offer a high quality service and all advice will be in line with current research. Places are subsidised so that no one is prevented from attending due to financial need. We are now offering a parenting course for those with under 5’s and a first aid session. All of these are supported by the money we received from the Community grant.”
Helen Sutherland, New Life Church, Dorking
https://www.newlifedorking.co.uk/
The Pupil Parliament met and asked for an outdoor reading area where they could meet and read. They equally asked for an outdoor reading shed for Key Stage 2 that they could choose books from. An outdoor covered reading area on our field would provide an opportunity for reading clubs, reading for pleasure and children to have a calm space outside.
“The Reading Zone will be an inclusive covered space where children can enjoy immersing in a book over lunch time surrounded by nature. They will be able to foster a love of reading for pleasure protected from the elements, improving their wellbeing and simply enjoy reading for pleasure. It is a fact that children who read achieve higher results academically and benefit from improved mental health.”
Jacky Fyson Head Teacher St John’s Church of England Primary & Nursery School, Dorking
Sight for Surrey is dedicated to empowering and enabling individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, partially sighted, or deafblind. Their vital work promotes greater accessibility, independence, and inclusion across Surrey. Through a range of services, including rehabilitation, mobility training, digital access, and social connection initiatives, they are actively breaking down barriers and fostering a more inclusive society.
The funding provided by the Mole Valley Community Fund will support the creation of inclusive spaces where individuals with sensory impairments can connect, access essential support, and celebrate inclusion during #DisabledAccessDay. This collaboration underscores our shared commitment to building a more accessible, equitable, and welcoming community for all.
We were delighted to assist the 18th Dorking (North Holmwood) Scout Group with a £1,500 contribution from the Mole Valley Community Fund!
This funding is already creating a meaningful difference for the young participants and their families. It empowers the Scout Group to:
These experiences instil crucial skills and cultivate lifelong positive habits for the Scouts and their families. We are immensely proud to support the flourishing of young people in Mole Valley!
Based in Dorking, the Brigitte Trust was established in 1984, to provide free emotional support and practical help at home to people in Surrey facing a life-threatening illness.
We wish to use the MVCF grant to fully train Mole Valley residents, who will each go on to provide exceptional at-home emotional support and practical help to at least one Mole Valley resident per year. Due to the sad nature of our work, our volunteers often support many more than one client per year.
“A very comprehensive training, well done”
“The trainer was great. Very good and clear explanation and communication”
“Real life experiences (from existing volunteers) were invaluable in bringing the role to life and a very real reality check”
“The training is so thorough and has been well thought through”
Supporting People with Early-Stage Dementia, Their Carers and Families.
Tapestry Day Club is a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of people with early-stage dementia or memory difficulties across Surrey. Their mission is to reduce isolation, rebuild confidence, and provide vital respite for carers and family members.
Offering small, home-based “club days” in the welcoming homes of our trained Hosts these sessions create a familiar and supportive environment, helping guests stay socially active, engaged, and independent for longer.
“With funding from Mole Valley Community Fund, we can continue to provide personalised pre-assessment support and family support. Our pre-assessment process ensures that every guest’s individual needs, preferences, and wellbeing are fully considered before joining a club.”
This grant will directly support our running costs across 10 guests, their carers and families within Mole Valley, ensuring they receive personalised support, meaningful social connections, and much-needed respite. TDC Hosts supporting 10 guests would deliver over 400 club days and 2,500 hours of respite annually-highlighting the profound impact of this work.
“Thanks to the MVCF’s generous support, we can continue expanding our reach, helping more families find comfort, connection, and high-quality dementia support in their local community.”
We are planning to enhance and broaden our children’s access to high quality musical instruments. We teach music to all years groups but we want to go beyond this provision and allow children to experiment with percussive and tuned instruments outside of the national curriculum requirements.
The musical equipment funded by the Mole Valley Community Fund adds a whole new dimension to the children’s play. For the first time, children from Reception to Year 6 can access high quality tuned and percussion instruments on their own terms and experiment with sounds, compose and work together to make music.
In addition, our music curriculum will be enriched by having access to these instruments. Teaching pitch, tone and timbre to the children will be made much easier and far more engaging by allowing them to experiment and explore sound with these fabulous instruments.
Last but not least, our whole school focus on well-being includes offering children the chance to enjoy music, work together collaboratively and be creative. Our new instruments deliver the opportunity to do just that.
The Hive is a creative textiles and art space open to over 16’s in the local community to enhance and learn new skills and connect with people in the local community. The MVCF grant is to change a cluttered and disorganised space into a welcoming, inspiring and organised space.
“I am utterly delighted with the new cupboards which have made a big difference to our team, hive users and those renting the space. Now everything has its own space, is ordered and we’re no longer dealing with broken doors or having to maneuver boxes to get to what we need. It is a more welcoming and inclusive space” Marion, Manager, The HIve
One of the users said “I am partially sighted and the cupboards have made life so much easier for me. Everything is now clearly labelled and easy to find. The room is brighter and clearer, without the clutter everywhere!” Silvana
The Harvest Community Church is situated in the midst of a large estate comprising primarily of social housing and provides a host of secular and pastoral activities and events which otherwise would not exist. Attendance at events ranges in number but can be up to 100 for particular activities which include a community Café, Job club, Addiction recovery group, musical events and A Community Fridge.
The Reverend Nelson Porter writes: “We like to make our church hall and facilities available as much as possible for all sorts of local community use on the Goodwyns Estate in Dorking. Part of this includes provision of a laptop and projection system in our main hall which was much appreciated to begin with, but in recent years has started to increasingly malfunction and become unreliable, making it difficult for users to rely on it.
This grant from Mole Valley Community Fund has wonderfully enabled us to bring everything up to date and remove all such problems. We rely on the giving of our congregation to cover all our running costs and maintaining our facilities and as a relatively small community church we are extremely grateful for this funding support. A very big thank you from us all!”
The Community Foundation for Surrey provide support and governance of the grant applications for funding of local projects in Mole Valley. Learn More on the application process at below link.
MOLE VALLEY COMMUNITY FUND exists to help those in most need in Mole Valley, by securing financial donations and distributing grants to local communities, groups, and organisations.
