Bude Groups Have Days Left to Claim a Share of £10,000

There is £10,000 sitting in a Bude-Stratton Town Council pot this year, and some of it could land in the account of a local group near you. The catch is that the door is about to close on the first slice of it.

Community groups and individuals across Bude and Stratton have until 9th June 2026 to apply for a Community Grant from Bude-Stratton Town Council (BSTC), with the first round of this year’s funding due to close in a matter of days.

The council hands out grants to local community and voluntary organisations that operate for the benefit of residents in the parish and can show a clear need for money. Applications that bring in a range of different recipients are especially encouraged, as are those that line up with the council’s strategic objectives. Applicants are expected to show that the service they provide is needed by the community and that it has community backing.

What the money can be used for

The council says it wants people to come forward with their own ideas. The examples it gives include funding for a new project, setting up a new group or local forum, capital items such as equipment, events, training or capacity building, and exceptional running costs such as wages for a focused spell of work on a project.

A grant can also act as part funding for a project that has already been the subject of a previous application, though the group will need to show evidence of how the earlier funding was spent. BSTC will look at more than one grant per group in a single financial year, but only where clear exceptional circumstances or separate projects can be shown.

Any organisation working with children, young people or vulnerable adults should have an appropriate safeguarding policy in place. In most cases, the council expects a grant to be spent within a year.

Who can apply

Applicants generally need to be a resident of the areas the Town Council administers, unless they can show a clear benefit to the people of the town. They also need to be socially inclusive, with membership consistent with the council’s Equality and Diversity Statement.

How much is on the table

BSTC has set aside £10,000 for grants across the whole year. That pot is split equally between two rounds of funding, which leaves £5,000 for each round.

How to apply, and the deadline that matters

Grant applications are considered twice a year. The deadline for the first round is 9th June 2026. The second round deadline for 2026 has not yet been confirmed.

Most applicants fill in an application form, but the council runs what it calls an inclusive applications policy, so it will also consider applications submitted as presentations or videos.

Applications and enquiries can be sent to the Town Clerk at Bude-Stratton Town Council, The Parkhouse Centre, Ergue Gaberic Way, Bude, Cornwall EX23 8LD, or by email to [email protected]. You can find out more and apply online on the council’s grants page.

What happens after you apply

Every application is first checked by Town Council staff to make sure it is eligible, and applicants may be contacted for more information. After that, there is a chance to talk things through with councillors at a private meeting. The final decision is made by a councillor vote at a Full Council meeting, which the public are always welcome to attend. Minutes of public meetings are available from the BSTC office and on its website.

Where the money has gone before

The council has shared a selection of projects it has backed in the past, which gives a fair sense of what tends to get funded.

• Bude Carnival Committee received £1,500 towards the rising costs of running the carnival, which has been going for over 100 years. The money helped cover road closures, safety measures and event logistics. Funds raised at the carnival are donated to Bude-based charities and groups.
• Bude Football Club was given £1,000 towards accessibility and facility improvements for its 300-plus members aged 5 to 75, including a portable disability ramp and upgraded toilets with baby changing areas.
• Bude Cancer Support received £500 towards the running costs of its twice-monthly café events, covering room hire and refreshments for six months at The Parkhouse Centre, where people take part in peer support sessions, workshops and restorative therapies.
• Bude North Cornwall Cricket Club got £862 to launch a youth cricket section, buying equipment that included a batting cage so it could offer hard ball cricket to local children. The club expects to involve 40 children over the next year.
• Bude RNLI received £500 towards the rising costs of Bude Lifeboat Day, an event that this year marked the RNLI’s 200th anniversary.
• Atlantic Academy was given £138 so that a Year 7 student from Bude, whose family was facing financial difficulties, could join the rest of the year group on the annual residential trip to the Ultimate Adventure Centre.
• Bude Pilot Gig Club received £2,000 towards refurbishing its wooden racing gig, Bedehaven, which was relaunched in March 2023 after old paint was stripped back to the wood, fresh marine paint and new signage were added, and the floor was replaced.

Groups weighing up an application have until 9th June to get the first round in. The second round deadline for 2026 has not yet been set.