Addington benefits as Community Chest spills its gold

Addington Recreation Ground is one of 10 good causes across the south east which are sharing a £20,000 bounty thanks to South East Water’s Community Chest Fund.

The decision on where to place the money out of a record number of applications from 189 good causes was taken by a panel of five South East Water employees from all parts of the business, but all with an interest in raising money for good causes.

A grant of £2,000, awarded to Addington Recreation Ground, is to pay for the installation of a pump to use with a rainwater harvesting tank which contains rainwater collected from the roofs of the three buildings on the site. The rainwater will then be used to irrigate the cricket square during the summer months.

Tanya Sephton, Customer Services Director, South East Water said: “By using rainwater collected from roofs Addington Recreation Ground’s application fits in with our new marketing campaign ‘My simple change to make more of summer’.

“This year the Community Chest saw a massive 491 per cent increase in applications, giving the judging panel difficult decisions to make.

“But after careful thought and discussion they went on to choose a number of projects covering a wide range of good causes that needed a little extra financial help to make a difference.”

Peter Robinson, Chair of Trustees, Addington Recreation Ground, said: “We had already connected the guttering and drain pipes from the three on site community buildings into a rainwater harvesting tank.

“This grant from South East Water has allowed us to complete this work which means we will be able to keep the cricket square maintained during this year’s summer cricket season. “Now we will be totally independent of using fully treated drinking quality water for fine turf irrigation and machinery washdown.”

To view the full list of this year’s winners, visit www.southeastwater.co.uk/communitychest