£25k for 25 years: Bridgnorth Aluminium hands out thousands to charities through new community fund

Bridgnorth Aluminium’s Community Fund has handed out £15,000 to six causes tackling rural isolation, with more than 2,000 people set to benefit. Charities ranging from a befriending service to a community hub repairing hearing aids have been chosen as recipients of the firm’s first fund launched in partnership with Shropshire Community Foundation.

The £15,000 is part of a wider £25,000 donation for charitable causes in what is a landmark year for the UK’s last-surviving aluminium coil rolling mill: the company is celebrating 25 years of being part of the Greece-based Viohalco Group.

Adam Thorpe, Learning & Development Supervisor at Bridgnorth Aluminium, reveals employees at the company were involved in choosing the where the funding was directed: “Around 10,000 people in Shropshire are living with chronic loneliness and many rural communities face additional barriers such as poor transport links and reduced access to services. We wanted to help address those challenges, while also supporting programmes delivering real impact in communities.”

He continues: “One of the projects will see young people with special needs supporting older members of their community in their gardens, and another will provide funding directly towards funding transport for mental health outreach. We’re a company with a long history of supporting our community here in Bridgnorth and this new Bridgnorth Aluminium Community Fund marking our 25th year as part of Viohalco is a great way to celebrate a milestone and give back.”

A full list of the recipients includes:

BizEd Projects CIC – The Whitchurch-based charity will deliver a project recruiting young people with special education needs (SEN), aged 16-25, into a team delivering garden maintenance and other tasks for older, vulnerable and isolated members of the community.

Chetton & District Parish Hall – The Chetton Active Friends project has been running for eight years and provides supervised seated exercise, with those living in rural isolation benefitting from physical and mental well-being.

Feed the Birds – The organisation offers a unique, nature focussed befriending service in Shropshire, to help those living in rural isolation. The grant will go towards new stocks of feeders and food for clients.

Omega (Ending isolation, Ending Loneliness) – Through its telephone and pen pal befriending service, the organisation will use grant money to provide one on one support for an additional 35 people socially isolated in Shropshire.

Shropshire Mental Health Support – Funding will go to providing a vehicle with two mental health support workers, who will travel to communities offering direct support, guidance, information and emotional support to those who need it.

Community Resource – A grant will go to providing two Bridgnorth Hearing Loss Hubs across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, offering practical help, social interaction and hearing aid maintenance.

“The Bridgnorth Aluminium Fund will go a real way to helping tackle loneliness and isolation in communities across Shropshire,” reports Shropshire Community Foundation trustee Roger Pemberton. “A lot of people will benefit from this vital funding, and full credit to the company for prioritising this cause and stepping up to address something that’s a real issue in the county.”