Our History.
The Wargrave Big Local Partnership began its work in February 2015 – before this, a steering group of local residents worked together for more than 18 months talking to local people and organisations. They brought together evidence, views and opinion on what Wargrave needed to become an even better place to live.
The Big Local project ran from 2015-2025 leaving behind a better Wargrave and a legacy of community action.
About Wargrave Big Local.
Wargrave Big Local is a Partnership of local volunteers that were charged with spending £1m of funding from the National Lottery to make Wargrave a better place to live and work. It is a ten-year project that started in 2015 and ended in 2025.
The Partnership has a Chair, Louise Forshaw, and a Vice-Chair, Jeanne Dentith. The Partnership wrote delivery plans that were approved by our funder, Local Trust. We were supported in our work by Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside (who acted as our ‘Local Trusted Organisation’). We operated from Newton Community Centre for the final year of the project.
To help us meet our objectives we developed three Theme Groups. These were Stronger Wargrave, Healthier Wargrave and Greener Wargrave. These groups met bi-monthly and were made up of Partnership members and professionals from organisations such as St Helens Council, the Department for Work and Pensions and the NHS. Each theme group had a set budget to spend on projects that will benefit Wargrave and its residents.
Our LTO (Local Trusted Organisation).
Our LTO (Local Trusted Organisation).
When we were considering ideas for projects, we made the final decisions, but were mindful of Big Local guidance. Our Local Trusted Organisation, Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside, was there to help us with this and other matters.
Groundwork CLM was an excellent match for us in Wargrave, with their experience in Big Local projects and their ethos reflecting our own aims and objectives.
Big Local – Ethos and values.
In terms of scale, time horizon and ethos, nothing like Big Local has ever existed. Designed from the outset to be radically different from other funding programmes, at the heart of Big Local is a vision of empowered, resilient, dynamic, asset-rich communities making their own decisions on what is best for their area. localtrust.org.uk
Residents on the Partnership made decisions based on our own experience and the needs we had identified in Wargrave. We have worked with many of our residents through the organisations we support.