News on HS2 in Bucks & Oxfordshire

Today saw the announcement of new projects awarded funding as part of the HS2 Community and Business Funds , with two projects in Bucks receiving over £90,000 combined.

In Wendover, the Chilterns MS Centre has received over £74,000 to deliver a project to improve access to exercise for people with MS. Evidence shows that regular exercise is beneficial for people with MS and they currently provide a limited number of classes within their physiotherapy programme.

These classes include yoga, Pilates and T’ai Chi, which increase stamina, flexibility, balance and strength, and improve mental wellbeing. This funding will provide specialist exercise classes across the community and will continue to fund the current level of exercise classes, as well as to expand the number and range of exercise classes on offer at the Centre and to help people with MS to exercise in their communities. The funding will also encourage and enable people with MS to exercise more often by giving them more choice about where and when they exercise and by making classes easier to access. It will also help them to reach people with MS who are not currently using their services or exercising regularly.

You can find out more about the Chilterns MS Centre by visiting www.chilternsmscentre.org

Also, the Amersham Museum has received over £16,000 for their accessible mobile museum. The Mobile Museum is a travelling exhibition that will share the story of life in Amersham and the surrounding area in the 20th Century. This will include oral history, film, photographs, documents, objects, artwork and displays created by local people. Funds were already secured from other sources for the purchase of a vintage vehicle, this will fund materials and equipment to be used with the travelling exhibition. The vehicle will house an immersive exhibition, created with local people, that travels around the community to events, schools and care homes. It will include a facility for securely displaying collection items, creative pieces made by community groups and a space where new memories can be collected and recorded. The Mobile Museum is an outreach tool, enabling people who don't or can't visit the museum to have a rich and engaging museum experience from their home, school, at an event or in a community setting.

You can find out more about the Amersham Museum by visiting: www.amershammuseum.org

The community and business funds are administered and managed by independent community charity, Groundwork UK. For more information on Groundwork and the funds themselves click here

You can also see an interactive map showing all of the projects awarded funding so far by clicking here