We have some amazing news to share.

The Love Lowndes team has just found out that their application to the Veolia Environmental Trust has been successful!

Veolia is supporting the new playground project with a whopping £75,000 grant – the full amount applied for.

Love Lowndes is our voluntary community group dedicated to raising enough money to build a new playground in Lowndes Park. You can read more about them on our project page.

Claire Wyatt, Chair of Love Lowndes, says “We are absolutely over the moon! We are a very small team of volunteers who have worked tirelessly to raise the money needed for a new playground in Lowndes Park. This news takes us a step closer to building the inclusive, exciting and destination playground we dream of for the children of Chesham.”

Months of hard work went into the application process. Special mention must go to Isabelle Hatfield, who leads the grant funding application work for Love Lowndes, and Kathryn Graves (the Community, Economy & Environment Manager at Chesham Town Council)who has also worked incredibly hard on the application and committed many ‘out of work’ hours to making Love Lowndes the success it is.

There was also a special meeting of local environmental experts who helped with an important element of the application process. So, thanks must also be sent to Cllr. Justine Fulford, Trevor Brawn and Laura Silverstone for contributing their knowledge and time.

The Veolia Environmental Trust uses money to support community and environmental projects through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF). The LCF is a tax credit scheme designed to compensate for the negative impacts of landfill sites on surrounding communities and the environment. Under the Scheme, landfill operators like Veolia are required to allocate a portion of their Landfill Tax liability to not-for-profit organisations to support various initiatives such as environmental conservation, improvements to community infrastructure, and recreational projects, all aimed at improving the quality of life and environment in areas adjacent to landfill sites.

I think we can all agree that their contribution will make a massive difference to our project.

Love Lowndes is still actively fundraising.

Over the last 18 months, the Love Lowndes team has raised nearly £55,000 via events like the Pumpkin Parade, hosting comedy nights at the Elgiva Theatre and engaging the wider community through with various fundraising endeavours.

The Chesham community is at the heart of Love Lowndes’ success. A key part of the funding application to Veolia was proving that Love Lowndes is supported and endorsed by local people and businesses.

But their work isn’t done!

“Playgrounds are wildly expensive” continues Wyatt, “Building work is due to start in the early Spring but in order to deliver the best possible park for our children, we must keep going. We are actively seeking business sponsors to take up advertising opportunities in the park and we’ll also be doing a ‘buy a brick’ scheme for a path in the new playground just before Christmas – please help and watch this space!”

If you’re interested in becoming a Sponsor of Love Lowndes, please contact Claire on lovelowndes@gmail.com

To make a donation, please visit the Love Lowndes Crowdfunder page.