Photo caption: We are Music’s Chris Scott with Galloper’s Sean Chenery on guitar, and young musicians (from left) Oscar Brown, Max Stapleton, George Bowles and Joshua Fay.

• The first grants from the Galloper Community Fund have been awarded to three Harwich community groups who will receive a total of £7,500 from the offshore wind farm.

Three Harwich community groups supporting low income families and local young people have been awarded a total of £7,500 from the first application round of the Galloper Community Fund.The three groups are:

• We are Music, which runs the rock school in Harwich and received funds to help them keep student fees down;
• CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse), which will use the funds to provide specialist one-to-one support for young people, and
• The Ark Family Resource Centre, using the grant towards projects to support families and children.

Chris Scott of We are Music said: “The fees we charge our young musicians do not cover our operating costs but it is not practical or desirable to put them up. It’s always difficult to gain money to support our ongoing project so the grant from the Galloper Fund is great news as it will meet the shortfall for four months”.

Helen Parr, Director of CARA said: “We are delighted to have received this funding, which will help provide specialist one-to-one support for young people who have been victims of sexual violence or child sexual abuse, enabling them to work through their trauma and move forward with their lives. Young people will no longer need to travel to Colchester or Clacton to access our services as thanks to this grant we can now provide support in Harwich”.

Band members Findlay Cox, Tom Marques and Findlay Graham with We are Music’s Chris Scott and Galloper’s Sean Chenery (second from right).

Sally Johns Green, Centre Manager, The Ark Centre said: “The grant will enable us to continue our family and children support projects, our counselling service and help children with additional needs in our pre-school nursery. We support over 100 vulnerable families and individuals each year and receive very little funding, so this grant is particularly welcome”.

Managed by Essex Community Foundation (ECF) on behalf of Galloper Offshore Wind Farm, the £50,000 fund was launched in March this year to support charitable, educational and environmental activities in and around Harwich.

ECF Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Taylor said: We are pleased to partner with Galloper for this fund and support the organisation in its ambition to contribute positively to the local community where it will have its long-term operations base.”

Since 1996 ECF has awarded more than £32 million in grants to help communities in Essex to take action and improve the lives of local people.

Galloper Operations & Maintenance Manager, Sean Chenery, said: “Our Operations & Maintenance facility will be run out of Harwich for the lifetime of the project and we aim to become a valued member of the neighbouring community. The fund is one way we can get involved, through the support of such worthwhile groups as those chosen for this first application round.”

Galloper Offshore Wind Farm is currently awaiting consent for the multi-million pound Operations & Maintenance base from Tendring District Council and the Marine Management Organisation. The Harwich base will be the hub for the wind farm’s operations and maintenance activity and will be home to a team of around 60 for the duration of the development’s expected 23-year operational lifetime.

Galloper is a 353MW offshore wind farm sited approximately 30km of the coast of Suffolk. Construction of the wind farm was completed earlier this year with all turbines generating by the end of March. The project is owned by innogy SE, Siemens Financial Services, Sumitomo Corporation and ESB and a consortium managed by Green Investment Group and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. innogy led the development and construction of Galloper Offshore Wind Farm and will operate the wind farm on behalf of the project partners.