BUDE Sea Pool is celebrating after being awarded a grant of £5,000 by energy provider Calor, to purchase community pool play equipment, as part of the company’s Rural Community Fund.

Calor’s Rural Community Fund asked local organisations to apply for funding for rural community projects, with winners eligible to receive a grant of up to £5,000.

The aim of the fund was to give off-grid communities the chance to gain grants for projects that will improve local life. There were three levels of funding available, with two grants of £5,000, two of £2,500 and a further five £1,000 grants up for grabs.

Bude Sea Pool, located under the cliffs at Summerleaze beach, is run by the registered charity, Friends of Bude Sea Pool, on an entirely voluntary basis. The pool’s army of volunteers work tirelessly year-round to maintain and staff the pool, to keep it safe for community and visitor use, as well as working alongside the RNLI to provide swim-safe lessons for local children.

The grant will allow for the purchase of pool equipment, including floating play mats, kayaks and floating zorb balls, as well as wet suits for families to hire. It is hoped that the new play equipment will encourage more children and families from the surrounding areas to use the pool, while emphasising the importance of being safe and comfortable in the sea environment.

Paul Tilzey, chair of Bude Sea Pool, said: “The Friends of Bude Sea Pool charity is delighted to be awarded £5,000 from the Calor Gas community fund. We are very grateful to all our friends, visitors, followers and pool users who voted for us.

“There were some very worthy projects and strong competition. This funding will enable us to purchase water play equipment for use by the whole community and hopefully encourage more families and children to experience sea water play and activities in a safe, sheltered beach-side environment.”

Paul Blacklock, Calor’s corporate affairs manager, added: “We provide rural energy to homes and businesses in the region and understand the challenges that country living can pose, especially when it comes to accessing community facilities.

“That’s why we decided we’d like to give something back, by offering rural off-grid communities the chance to source some much-needed funds for a project that will make a real difference in their area.

“We’re delighted to award Bude Sea Pool with £5,000 to help their community project, and look forward to catching up with them at a later stage. As we were inundated with so many worthy projects, we’ll be relaunching our rural community fund next year and making more grants available. So stay tuned to our website and social media channels for more information, and we could be helping to fund another project near you.”

For further information, visit www.calor.co.uk/communityfund