Cork Lower Harbour Rnergy Group Award Cobh Community Allotments Grant Worth €7,000 From Community Gain Fund

Ann-Marie O´Sullivan, Director of H+A Marketing & PR and administrator of the Community Gain Fund presents a grant cheque worth €7,000 to Cobh Community Allotments Association chairman Robin Howie and committee members Arjen Stofberg and Jason Rowe. Cobh Community Allotments Association is the first beneficiary of the Cork Lower Harbour Energy Group Community Gain fund that aims to promote environmental sustainable initiatives in the Lower Harbour area.

Cork Lower Harbour Energy Group (CLHEG) has awarded Cobh Community Allotments a grant worth EUR7,000 as part of their Community Gain fund. The Community Gain fund, established by CLHEG members DePuy, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Biologics and Novartis aims to encourage and develop initiatives with a clear focus on the environment around the Lower Harbour area.

Cobh Community Allotments Association proposes to use the grant to install a well, low voltage lighting and improved signage around the allotment site. “We are a non-profit community organisation so we delighted to receive this grant from Cork Lower Harbour Energy Group, ” said Robin Howie, Chairman of the association. “The funding will ensure the growth and development of the allotment scheme that has already proven very popular amongst the local community,” he said.

As well as allotments for the growth of vegetables and flowers, a communal composting area and water storage containers to harvest rainwater are also available to educate and promote the benefits of recycling and sustainability.

“I´m delighted to present this cheque on behalf of Cork Lower Harbour Energy Group to Cobh Community Allotments today,” said Ann-Marie O´Sullivan, Director of H+A Marketing & PR and administrator of the Community Gain fund.  “The allotments are a fine of example of what can be achieved when a community comes together to get behind a green initiative that´s of benefit to all,” she said.

The Community Gain fund is an acknowledgement by the companies based in the Lower Harbour region of the importance of encouraging sustainable environmental initiatives within the community that they operate, having committed to developing a fund of EUR180,000 over three years.

The fund coincides with the development by Cork Lower Harbour Energy Group of a renewable wind energy plan with a target of reducing electricity costs by up to 30%, helping to maintain employment through improved competitiveness and making each site more attractive for additional