TRU Community Fund Success Stories

Take a look at some of the TRU Community Fund grants from previous years...

TRU Community Fund 2025

A total of £250,000 in grants was awarded across 35 local organisations along the Transpennine route as part of our 2025 funding round.

Take a look at the video below to hear from some of the organisations that we funded…

The successful organisations and their funded projects are listed below:

Manchester

  • Cede Foundation – conversion of a former church into welcoming community hubs.
  • Key Changes – improvements to a portable recording studio, supporting mental health patients at North Manchester General Hospital.
  • Family Unit Trust – refurbishment of an unused unit into a Family Support & Wellbeing Hub for families affected by cancer & illness.

    Family Unit Trust, Manchester

Trafford

  • Booth Centre – upgrades to decking, seating, roofing and accessibility at the Three Bees Community Café, supporting people experiencing homelessness and poverty.
  • St Hugh of Lincoln RC Primary School – a new outdoor hub and improved surrounding areas for a Forest School programme.

Stockport

  • Mode Rehabilitation – creation of an accessible outdoor space for veterans to support recovery and independence.

Oldham

  • Local Food First CIC – transformation of a disused building into a Community Food Hub with a teaching kitchen.
  • Bee Together Community Centre & Garden – expansion of a community food growing programme, including installation of new planting beds and pollinator flowers.
  • Dog Hill Scout & Community Campsite – a new outdoor cooking and learning space to encourage connection in nature.
  • Pennine Mencap – a community garden project teaching gardening and cooking skills to adults with disabilities and autism.

Tameside

  • Tameside Meals Seva Group – purchase of cooking equipment and materials for community cookery classes.
  • Friends of Waterloo Park – purchase of solar-powered facilities to power a steel office container and expand educational & cookery activities for the community.

Bury

  • Creative Living Centre – regeneration of an old allotment into a community allotment and kitchen garden.

High Peak

  • St Andrew’s Junior School PTA – improvement of outdoor playground facilities for pupils.

Bradford

  • Making Sedbergh Sustainable – an upgraded community space at Sedbergh Youth & Community Centre.
  • A Place to Connect, Share and Thrive – a fully equipped community kitchen serving people experiencing homelessness & hardship in West Bowling.
  • Northcliffe Environmental Enterprises Team – an accessible outdoor space for therapeutic gardening and wellbeing.

Calderdale

  • Overgate Hospice – creation of a sustainable garden and outdoor therapy space for patients, carers & families.
  • Everybody Arts – accessibility and sustainability improvements to a community arts building.

Kirklees

  • Globe Arts Education CIC – development of a sculpture trail guiding visitors to Globe Arts at Holme Mills.
  • Friends of Helme School – new outdoor play, sensory equipment and pond improvements to support children’s learning.
  • Friends of Ravenshall – establishment of a community petting farm and café supporting young people with additional needs.
  • Upper Batley High School – restoration of the sports hall and changing facilities for school and community use.
  • Rise in Unity CIC – creation of a dining and social area for the Huddersfield youth club.

Rise in Unity CIC, Huddersfield

Leeds

  • Junior Sports Hub – new toilets and an improved outdoor green space.
  • Friends of Farsley Rehoboth Burial Ground – accessibility, re-wilding and sustainability improvements.
  • United Hebrew Congregation – development of a sensory garden and raised growing bed.
  • Summerfield Primary School – creation of a historical ‘living timeline’ allotment in the school grounds.

North Yorkshire

  • Cawood Tennis Club – installation of energy-efficient LED floodlights.
  • The Barn – a new kitchen for the Tadcaster youth and community centre.
  • Monk Fryston School Cycle Shelter – covered cycle shelters to encourage active travel to the school.

York

  • Make Space York – multifunctional climbing and seating structures in Rowntree Park, as part of an initiative to make York’s parks more inclusive for teenage girls.
  • Haxby Ethel Ward Sports Courts – refurbishment of the playing fields into a multi-purpose community sports facility.
  • Huntington Library – development of an accessible, sensory community garden.
  • Lord Deramore’s School OPAL – new storage and themed play areas to support inclusive play for children.

    Lord Deramore’s School, York

 

TRU Community Fund 2024

The TRU Community Fund was established in 2024 to give back to local communities, and we were pleased to support a wide range of charities, schools, and organisations in its first year.

Take a look at the photos below to see examples of TRU’s Community Fund projects from 2024…

  • Before the refurbishment of a disused changing room into a cycle library, recycling space and Family Cycle Hub. In collaboration with Your Trust.
  • After the refurbishment of a disused changing room into a cycle library, recycling space and Family Cycle Hub. In collaboration with Your Trust.
  • Transformation of an overgrown plot into 14 community mini allotments to enable ‘Edible Gardening’ sessions, improving residents’ health and food-growing skills. In collaboration with Grow Wakefield.
  • Creation of a dedicated space for one-to-one educational mentoring and mental health support for local secondary school students. In collaboration with The Place (University of York).
  • Creation of a dedicated space for one-to-one educational mentoring and mental health support for local secondary school students. In collaboration with The Place (University of York).
  • In collaboration with Milnsbridge Village Hall. Access improvements to steeply sloped and overgrown areas within the village hall grounds.
  • In collaboration with Milnsbridge Village Hall. Access improvements to steeply sloped and overgrown areas within the village hall grounds.

TRU Sustainable Development Strategy

The TRU Community Fund aligns with key objectives of our TRU Sustainable Development Strategy, ‘Our Guiding Compass’.

Our Fund enables TRU to be a catalyst for regeneration, by enhancing and protecting community spaces and places along the Transpennine main line.