Sheringham Shoal Community Fund celebrates!
Colin Galer at the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund celebration.
Representatives from many of the organisations which have received grants from the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund recently came together to celebrate the Community Fund’s success in awarding over £1million to projects in North Norfolk since it was established in 2010.
The Sheringham Shoal Community Fund receives an annual donation of £100,000 from the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm and this has enabled it to provide grants totalling £1,069,749 to 114 community projects.
The grant which took the Fund through the £1 million milestone was awarded to the Hawk and Owl Trust in May 2022, so it was felt fitting that the celebration event should be held at the charity’s Visitor Centre at Sculthorpe Moor, near Fakenham in North Norfolk.
Against an exhibition backdrop highlighting the work of the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund, members of the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm team were on hand to hear from those attending the celebration event how local communities have benefitted from the diverse range of projects supported by this grant funding.
During the course of the day many of the visitors also went on a trailer ride to see the plethora of birds and other wildlife which inhabit the Sculthorpe nature reserve, with the trailer being towed by an electric vehicle purchased by the Hawk and Owl Trust with its Community Fund grant!
In thanking the Hawk and Owl Trust for hosting the celebrations, Colin Galer, the Sheringham Shoal Power Plant Manager, said:
“I believe the grant criteria associated with Sheringham Shoal Community Fund continue to be as relevant to the North Norfolk community today, as they were when the Fund was established 12 years ago, so my colleagues and I here at Equinor look forward to seeing many more innovative grant applications over the coming years.”
The Sheringham Shoal Community Fund is administered by the Norfolk Community Foundation and full details of the grant application criteria can be found at www.norfolkfoundation.com/funding-support/grants/groups/sheringham-shoal-community-fund
About Equinor in Norfolk
Equinor is a long-term partner for Norfolk and has been an active member of the community for over a decade through the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms it operates off the Norfolk coast.
The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is owned by Equinor, Masdar and China Resources, whilst Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is owned by Equinor, Equitix Offshore 5 (co-owned by Equitix and the Renewable Investment Group TRIG) and a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management).
On behalf of its partners, Equinor is also maturing the proposed Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon extension projects (SEP and DEP). SEP and DEP will double the capacity of the existing Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms, providing renewable energy to power an additional 785,000 UK homes and making an important contribution to the UK’s decarbonisation goals.
Currently, the combined output of Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms is sufficient to power around 710,000 UK homes, and the proposed extensions will increase that to nearly 1.5 million UK households.
Both wind farms have established community funds which in total have awarded over £1.4 million to projects in Norfolk. The funds were set up to provide grants to Norfolk community groups, including schools and charities, seeking financial assistance for projects or initiatives that meet key criteria and focus on renewable energy, marine environment and safety, sustainability, or education in these areas. During 2020, the funds provided grant funding to the Norfolk Community Foundation’s COVID-19 funding initiatives, and during 2021 grant funding has been made available to support Norfolk’s ‘every child on-line’ initiative.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Alice Baxter
UK Media Relations Manager, Equinor
Abax@equinor.com
+44 7557973941
For consultation of community enquiries, please contact:
Nigel Tompkins
Nigel Tompkins, the Projects’ Community Liaison Officer based in Norfolk,
nigel@ni4b.co.uk
+44 7860 206565