[Gayle]

Whilst I like the idea of your system Tealeaf there still would be some sort of application system - how else would a Council or any other body know that a group required funding. They couldn't just hand out money to all community groups without some assessment of some sort. Therefore, whether you give the power to the bureaucrats in an office elsewhere or you give the power to someone who sits in Hyndburn they would still be working a similar system.

I have sat on judging panels for the CVS in Hyndburn. We had over £50k to dish out but applications that totalled £80k, some groups were unsuccessful in getting the money they wanted. The panels were made up of local people who were involved in community groups and so in a sense the idea was that applications were being judged by your peers. The problem was that everyone had their own agenda - some people didn't like groups in a certain town getting money, some people didn't want certain ethnic groups to get anything and some people would reject forms simply for them being written in red ink or the like. At least you could argue that someone who is outside of the area is judging all applications objectively.

As for the Pals project, I understand your ideas Willow to incorporate other war victims in the project, but every project can not be all things to all people all of the time. This project has come about for a few reasons

1. Heritage lottery has made money available for this type of project throughout the country.
2. It is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme and therefore pertinent to do a project in Hyndburn around them this year.
3. Hyndburn Women's Forum focuses it's projects on things that are relevant to women therefore, a look at the way life was lived at home and the way the women coped could be of interest to the people of the town.

I don't know what the answer is to the way funds are allocated, I don't like the endless bureaucrats and quangos particularly myself but, and this is the big BUT - this money is available for this sort of project and I believe that any investment of any sort should be brought into the town.

It just so happens that I am quite good at filling in these forms and have been quite successful in getting the funding for some local groups. I see a pot of money out there and think yes, there are groups in Hyndburn that should benefit from this so I try to find a way of it happening.

The money that these groups get from funding like this doesn't just go into their bank accounts and then left there - IT GETS SPENT! It gets spent on printing, hire of venues, freelance staff and the actual infrastructure of making these things happen, etc, etc. You can be sure that the majority if not all of the funding is SPENT in Hyndburn thus benefitting the entire economy of the town.