Friday 28 May 2010
Those of you who attended May's lecture (Dr. Colin John Bailey's fine appraisal of Velazquez) will have heard our Chairman Gill Castle announce that Folkestone DFAS has been awarded a Kent Community Foundation "Grassroots" grant to purchase our own digital projection equipment.
This year, sixty per cent of our lectures will have been presented in digital format - and that figure is likely to increase steeply over the next few years because conventional 35mm transparency projectors are swiftly becoming obsolete as spare parts are no longer manufactured. Until now, we've been fortunate in finding lecturers who have been willing to bring along their own digital projectors. But that situation could not continue since it is the responsibility of all DFAS societies to provide their own equipment.
By dint of careful budgeting, Folkestone DFAS had put money aside to purchase digital equipment, but such an outlay would have made a severe dent in the kitty. The grant now enables us to use that money in other much-needed ways - to make a donation of our own, for instance, to local schoolchildren to help fund the making of carnival costumes to be worn during Folkestone's "Charivari" celebrations.
Grassroots Grants is funded by the 'Office of the Third Sector,' which sounds rather sinister and Orwellian, but is in fact a benevolent branch of the government's Cabinet Office which looks after voluntary and community groups, charities, etc. The grants are administered by the Kent Community Foundation, a charitable foundation set up to encourage philanthropy for the benefit of the people of Kent. KCF's website explains, "Grassroots is a new and innovative three-year scheme [which] promotes projects and causes which focus on building a sense of community and improving quality of life... Our concept is simple. We provide the means for individuals and organisations to establish their own charitable funds which benefit local people. We offer all the pleasure of giving without any of the hassle." We can only add that they were a pleasure to deal with
TERRY SMITH
FDFAS Programme Secretary
Speaker (if appropriate):
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