Community centres call for support to go solar

Sohail Ahmed, Deeplish Community Centre

Two Rochdale community centres are going solar and are calling for the help of local people and businesses.

Members of Sparth and Deeplish Community centres are taking part in a region-wide project along with Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisations to raise funds for solar panels on their buildings.

The centres already have a combined amount of £280, which will be topped up by support from carbon cutting charity 10:10 after they received funding from the Tudor Trust.

The two Rochdale centres are part of a total of 18 around the region to take part in the project.

Kenny Farrar, from Sparth Community Centre said: “We are really happy to be a part of this project and we have raised well over £100 in just a couple of weeks and that’s just from local residents coming in off their own backs.

“Sparth Community Centre is a small, multi-cultural community centre situated close to the centre of Rochdale, and is in one of the most deprived wards in the country.

“We're keen to reduce our carbon footprint, by working with the local and wider community, to raise money for solar panels. Please help us by sponsoring a panel or two, and by telling others about this project.”

Sohail Ahmed, from Deeplish Community Centre, said: “Deeplish Community Centre provides a friendly and welcoming environment for the local community and user groups, enabling them to participate in educational, social, recreational and learning activities organised by the centre. We also promote cohesion, empowerment, integration, and training opportunities for the local young people and communities.

“We are proud to work in partnership with Community Energy GM. Like other organisations, we have a vision to achieve energy efficiency through solar power to meet our future needs. This will help the environment and also save money that can be used to support much needed community projects. We hope that our supporters and community members including user groups will work with us to achieve our target."

Cecily Spelling, project manager at 10:10, said: "Greater Manchester Community Energy project is all about people coming together around clean energy, and that community spirit seems to be blooming in Rochdale.

“Deeplish and Sparth community centres are both off to such a great start, already raising £280 between them, and they've been helping each other out too. The teams will be working hard to meet their fundraising targets before the summer - we can't wait to see what they have planned."

To donate, visit:

Deeplish Community Centre:

https://www.cegm.org.uk/deeplish-community-centre

Sparth Community Centre:

https://www.cegm.org.uk/sparth-community-centre