A new Cockermouth community fund has made its first donation to a local group - the Food Bank.

The Metalcraft Cockermouth Community Fund was set up earlier this year to support not-for-profit organisations based in the town.

The company is a manufacturer of specialist intermediate level waste containers for Sellafield’s decommissioning process.

The first donation of £500 has been made to North Lakes Food Bank.

Stephen Buttriss, sales manager at Metalcraft, said: “Following our launch in February this year, we received some fantastic applications.

"However, in light of the current situation regarding the fight against Covid-19 and its impact on the wider community, we felt it was right to make sure the first donation from the fund would benefit the most vulnerable in society.

“With this in mind, we identified the local Food Bank as an organisation that could really benefit from our support and, following discussions with both the committee and all those who have put time into making applications this quarter, it was agreed that this was the best route forward.

“All applications received this quarter will now be rolled forward for consideration in quarter two, when we all hope we will be heading back towards more normal times.”

The original Metalcraft Community Fund was established in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire in 2017 and has supported over 30 local organisations, either financially or through practical support, since that time.

The Metalcraft Cockermouth Community Fund was launched at the Town Hall in February with a view to building on the original’s success. It offers £2,000 per year of support for organisations based in the town.

At the time of the launch, Mr Buttriss said: “As a supplier to the nuclear industry, we’ve had a long relationship with the county of Cumbria and wanted to give something back to this key community, which has supported our business for over 40 years.

“To date, the Metalcraft Community Fund has given nearly £8,000 to organisations in Cambridgeshire and, following discussions with the local town council, we agreed that a similar scheme could work well for Cockermouth.”

£500 per quarter is being made available to community groups and not-for-profit organisations based in Cockermouth to support specific projects, as opposed to day-to-day running costs.

Organisations are also able to apply for practical support from the company, delivered by apprentices on its award-winning scheme.

Anyone interested in applying for the second round of funding can fill in an application form at the company’s website (www.metalcraft.co.uk/communityfund).

The deadline for the second round of applications is June 30 with successful organisations being informed by the end of July.