Victorious Stars Morris Dancing, a community based Morris dancing group in Stockport has won £1,000 following their Aviva Community Fund entry bid.
They are one of the 450 plus organisations and charities that have won funding to support their inspiring work.
The Dancers trains children from 3 years old through to adults over 40 years old. Based in Offerton, the group offers people from all backgrounds and abilities to take part in the sport, helping to build confidence, positive attitudes, fitness and community pride.
The award from the Aviva Community Fund will go towards new uniforms for their dancers so that they can take part without any expense. This will encourage more people to take part and allow existing members to continue with the group through from their teens to adulthood.
Victorious Stars Morris Dancers received an overwhelming amount of support from the local community when drumming up votes for their Aviva Community Fund entry. The project used Facebook and Twitter to encourage support.
Victorious Stars Morris Dancers are just one of over 450 projects and charities that secured funding from the Aviva Community Fund. The nationwide initiative, now in its second year, launched in September 2016, called upon passionate residents to submit a project close to their heart to be in with a chance of securing funding ranging from £1,000 up to £25,000.
Nearly 4,000 groups entered the funding initiative, each galvanising the support of their local community to vote for their entry in six categories: health, disability and well-being, supporting the younger generation, supporting the older generation, sport in the community, environment (in association with Trinity Mirror), and community support.
Over 5 million votes were placed and the 689 groups with the highest votes were shortlisted as finalists. Awards in the £1k category were decided on by public votes, with winners in the £5k, £10k and £25k categories selected from the finalists by a judging panel.
Projects bidding for £25k and £5k generated the highest number of entries and Supporting the Younger Generation, which received the highest number of entries (27%), was the most popular entry category.
Co-principal of Victorious Stars Morris Dancers, Victoria Wacker, said:
“We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported us and to the Aviva Community Fund. It means a lot that the judges thought we deserved the funding despite the strength of the competition.
“Morris dancing is such a great way to help build confidence and bring the community together. We’re delighted that we can provide even more resources for existing and potential new members, helping to keep participation costs down and allowing us to grow further.”
