Make your project ideas a reality with Crowdfund Worcestershire

The latest deadline to create your project on Spacehive and pitch to the Crowdfund Worcestershire Fund is on 22 September.

So far, more than 1,700 backers have helped raise over £360,000 for 55 local projects across the county.

One project to really benefit from the scheme is The Village Connector.The service was designed by Peopleton and Drakes Broughton Parish Councils, with support from the County Council community transport team.



It runs one day each week to Pershore and one day to Worcester. The pilot minibus route was established last year in response to local demand. Funding was provided from then local county councillor, Rob Adams, and both parish councils with some additional money from the CT development fund and run by two well-established and experienced Community Transport providers, Pershore Volunteer Centre and Worcester Wheels.

With funding running out, those involved decided to raise more money via Crowdfund Worcestershire.

Tim Mason, Chair of Peopleton Parish Council said: Members of the community bus group worked really hard to get local support and raised over £6000, which secured operations until 31 March 2022 and will also help to develop the service. It provides journeys for those who cannot use or have no access to public transport in a fully-accessible minibus and, throughout the very difficult last year, has always maintained social distancing and had PPE in place on the vehicle.  A big part of the campaign has been to try and encourage people to make journeys after the lengthy periods of isolation and lockdown in a safe and supported way.  Passenger numbers are growing and plans are being made for extending the route to more communities in the area.”

Councillor Matt Dormer, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Communities, said: “Crowdfund Worcestershire has been really successful in terms of making community projects a reality and we want to do all we can to make sure this continues as we go into the autumn. The latest round of funding is coming to a close and we really want to make sure that local communities who have been thinking about using the platform pitch for a pledge.”

Crowdfund Worcestershire is an initiative that gives local residents with an idea to improve their community the opportunity to gain funding via Spacehive’s crowdfunding platform.