Are you passionate about helping our local community? Could you help allocate charity grant funding?

The Foreshore Trust are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join the Grants Advisory Panel (GAP).

The GAP are an independent body of volunteers who advise the Foreshore Trust Charity on how its surplus income should be distributed through grants to community groups and organisations within the town.

The panel meets between two and four times a year (depending on how many rounds of grants there are) and is made up of local people who live in Hastings & St Leonards who are dedicated to helping and supporting our local community.

We would really like to hear from you if you are a good communicator, are able to analyse information, have an ability to understand budgets and have knowledge of social issues across the borough of Hastings.

Any experience of the charity or voluntary sector is very welcome, but not essential as we are mainly looking to broaden the membership of this group to reflect the diversity of the Borough. We would like to encourage people of all ages and communities to get in touch for an informal chat.

Cllr John Cannan, Chair of the Charity Committee said: "I've been chair of the charity committee for a year now, and it has been a really rewarding year. The grants make a huge difference to our Hasting community - we have been able to agree grants to support art workshops, mental health and wellbeing, community inclusion, activities for older and younger people.

"We're keen to hear from anyone who is interested in finding out more, if you haven't worked for a while or have never volunteered before, please get in touch."

If you would like to have an informal chat, please email Nick Porter (GAP Chair) on nicholas@tcschildcare.co.uk.