• Volunteers’ Week is an annual opportunity to recognise, celebrate, and give thanks to volunteers for all the incredible contributions they make to our country, and it’ll be running from the 3rd to the 9th June. The week culminates in ‘The Big Help Out’ from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th June, in which people across the UK will be able to experience a range of volunteer taster sessions. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week, so it’s especially important to make sure this year is the biggest yet! And with around 14.2 million people volunteering through a group, club, or organisation in 2021-2022, it’s really important to commemorate their work and say ‘thank you’ for all their efforts. I’d really encourage people across Corby & East Northamptonshire to get involved!
• Calling all schools in Corby & East Northamptonshire! National Grid Electricity Distribution are offering grants of up to £25,000 per school to install solar panels to help cut their carbon emissions and energy bills. Apply and find out more, here.
• I was delighted to hear that groups in Corby & East Northamptonshire have been awarded a share of £193,034 of funding by The National Lottery Community Fund between November and February this year, including most recently to Souster Youth in #Thrapston, who deserve a real shout-out for the safe, fun space and wellbeing support they provide to young people locally. Fantastic work and really great news!
• During my time as the Minister for Disabled People, Health & Work, I was incredibly proud to work with many brilliant organisations, including the RNIB, as well as various remarkable and hugely inspiring disability champions. Making sure that disabled people can flourish in their daily lives and can access our democracy to make their voices heard is something we must all strive to do more on. That’s why I am supporting the RNIB’s call to make the 2024 General Election the most accessible ever, including by adding Alt Text to my pictures. It’s a small change that can help make a huge difference, and I urge all involved in politics to try hard to play their part too.
• Good news! The British Business Bank have recently launched their £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II to help smaller businesses thrive across the Midlands. The fund aims to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting new and growing businesses through investment strategies suited to meet the needs of different firms, with loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investments up to £5 million to help businesses start-up, scale up, or stay ahead. The inaugural version of the fund has helped 739 smaller businesses since 2017 – this is an opportunity well worth exploring and to find out more, see, here.
• I’m really pleased that grassroots community projects in Corby & East Northamptonshire can apply for up to £20,000 of funding through National Lottery 'Awards for All'. I’m excited to see the great ideas come forward that will have a lasting positive impact on our communities! More information, here.
If you have anything you would like to be featured next week, please email all the details to pursglovet@parliament.uk.
Also, if you have taken any photos of constituency landscapes or landmarks, which could be featured in my ‘Community Notices’ headers, please send them in and I will try to use as many of them as possible (and credit them accordingly!), as a celebration of the fantastic place we live and work in. I know we have many budding photographers in our community and it would be great to showcase their work!