3 charities in Bedford get slice of £40k funding

Bedford Borough Council is the corporate trustee of a charitable trust called the House of Industry Estate.

The trust gets its income from land in the borough and the use of this income is governed by a Trustee Deed.

The income should be “used exclusively to assist residents of Bedford Borough who are in need, hardship or distress”.

At last night’s Trustees of the House of Industry Estate Management Committee (Tuesday, June 10) it was agreed that grants should be awarded to three organisations.

Beyond Detention, a Bedford-based charity supporting people held at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, asked for £10,000 to fund phone credit for detainees.

The group said in a report that detainees are issued only basic handsets with no credit, making it difficult to stay in touch with lawyers or family.

Lee Phanco, interim monitoring officer, said: “This averages out at around about £7.93 per person.

“So, it’s a relatively small amount for each individual that will be assisted.”

Mr Phanco was asked if Yarl’s Wood detainees could be classed as Bedford borough residents.

He replied that a former monitoring officer’s advice was that as the detainees didn’t have any other residence at the time they were detained, they are borough residents.

Councillor Sue Oliver (Labour, Kempston North) said: “If you can imagine how you feel when you can’t find your mobile phone.

“Now, just imagine you’re in a strange country, you don’t speak the language, you’ve just been put in a detention centre, you know nobody.

“I can’t think of anything more distressing and therefore I think this is very worthwhile [candidate] for a grant,” she said.

Bedford Blues Foundation requested £20,000 to expand its Tackle LIFE programme, which supports young people at risk of school exclusion.

The committee heard that if awarded the grant would enable the foundation to work with two additional schools and support around 60 young people over the academic year.

Committee chair, councillor Henry Vann (Lib Dems, De Parys) said: “The key aspect [of this] is that schools are involved in the referral to this programme.

“The children will be identified as genuinely needing support, and I think that’s a really, really, valuable element of this programme,” he said.

Link to Change, a local charity that supports children and young people at risk of sexual or criminal exploitation, applied for £10,000 to help cover staffing and project delivery costs.

The charity said its trauma-informed 1:1 and group work is “vital” for children experiencing multiple vulnerabilities, including abuse, poverty, and mental health issues.

Without the funding, the charity warned it may need to scale back support, leading to “longer waiting times and reduced capacity to respond to high-risk cases”.

The grants were awarded after detailed debate on each application.

Financial assistance from the House of Industry Estate is available throughout the year, subject to funds being available, and grants are normally only awarded to registered charities.

The House of Industry Estate guidelines on Bedford Borough Council’s website set out the criteria and eligibility for awards.