Over the last few months we have distributed a large amount of fundraising proceeds from Dorchester Cider Festival to worthy local causes. We hosted the 4th annual Dorchester Cider Festival in August 2018 – a one-day event run entirely by volunteers. With funds raised at last summer’s festival we made donations to a number of local causes including The Grove Pre-School Playgroup, situated on Damers Road in Dorchester which provides places for children with a wide variety of socio-economic needs and children with a spectrum of needs and abilities. Paul Castle, Dorchester Round Table vice-chairman commented:

“When Cheryl from The Grove Playgroup approached the Dorchester Round Table and explained that the playroom floor needed replacing to keep the area safe to use, we could see that our financial support would go to immediate good effect and we were delighted to help benefit all that attend the playgroup.”

Cheryl Graham, The Grove Pre-School Playgroup Manager said:

“We are incredibly grateful for the support of the Dorchester Round Table. We were able to use the kind donation to complete urgently needed repairs on the playroom flooring. We care about laying the foundations for creating independent and happy children who love learning, and love playing. This donation helps us to provide a safe environment for them to do this.”

With money raised at the Dorchester Cider Festival we also made donations to Dorset Youth Association based on Lubbecke Way in Dorchester – an organisation with a mission to improve the quality of life for children, young people and families in Dorset.

Dave Thompson, Chief Executive of Dorchester Youth Association thanked Round Table for the donation, and said: “Our core work is to support Youth Clubs and Groups and the number of requests we receive for support has increased significantly since Dorset County Council made the difficult decision to cease funding for all youth centres in the county. It is a constant struggle to raise the funds to support our work and we are in the process of collecting vital evidence of the needs of young people and the need for our services. This evidence will be used to help us to review what we do and how we do it and to strengthen forthcoming funding bids. The funding from the Dorchester Round Table was unexpected and very much appreciated in these very difficult financial times.”

Other donations were also made to Young Carers, Dorchester County Hospital Maternity Ward, Volunteer Centre Dorset and Action for Children. Sara Shearman from Action for Children also thanked Dorchester Round Table for their donation:

“We were so grateful to receive this amazing donation. The funds will be used to help young people in Dorset through our Nightstop Project which provides emergency accommodation for young people that find themselves homeless. This donation will help us train volunteers to provide safe and secure accommodation for these young people and allow us time to get them help, Thank you.”

Robert Matthews, chairman of Dorchester Round Table, said:

“We’re blown away with the success of the Dorchester Cider Festival which started as a small gathering of local cider producers and has grown in popularity year-on-year, helping us to continue to support worthy causes.”

Dorchester Cider Festival takes place each year at Borough Gardens, welcoming a fabulous community of cider producers and much more. Visitors to the festival can enjoy music entertainment on the bandstand, as well as an acoustic stage and comedy tent.