£5000 prize from national award and will buy two tabletennis tables for the playground


Deirdre Chapman (co-chair of governors) and Cheryl Gigg (headteacher) with year 5 & 6 pupils Kezia, Sienna, Micah, Jacob, Rio, Kayden and Taisha

Granard Primary School has secured £5,000 to buy two outdoor table tennis tables, after winning a national award. It was awarded the funding by financial mutual, OneFamily, through its Foundation Community Awards. The annual awards provide game-changing opportunities for community organisations, groups and projects across the UK.

Encouraging participation in sport is an important part of the school’s curriculum, and the teachers and governors wanted to install the new table tennis tables to encourage pupils to get active at break time.

Granard Primary School was nominated for a Foundation Community Award by Deirdre Chapman, a parent on the Board of Governors and a OneFamily customer. The charity was one of 41 organisations presented with an award in the latest round.

The school, based on Cortis Road, has more than 500 pupils and the funding will be used to buy two new concrete table tennis tables. The tables will be fitted in its playground, which is used by children in years three to six. The school also hopes to launch a new table tennis club, to encourage more children to take up the sport.

Deirdre said: “The support from the community during the awards was fantastic and we’re so grateful to everyone that voted for us. The children are already excited about learning how to play table tennis. We’ll be approaching a specialist to manufacture and install the tables to make sure that they are fully weather-proof and can be used for years to come.”

Karl Elliott, marketing director at OneFamily, said: “It’s fantastic that Granard Primary School is encouraging its pupils to get out in the open air and learn a different kind of sport, and it’s fantastic to be able to provide the funding needed to buy the new tables.

“Our Community Awards go right to the heart of what being part of a mutual society is all about, directly benefitting our customers and the causes closest to their hearts.

“Our next round of Community Awards is set to launch in the autumn and we’d encourage our Putney-based customers to get involved and nominate a cause that’s important to them.”

Through its Foundation, OneFamily redistributes a proportion of its profits back to its customers, to help them to help their families, their communities and those they care about most. In 2016, an estimated 100,000 people directly benefitted from the Foundation Community Awards.

Over a period of five years, OneFamily aspires to make £5 million available through its Foundation, helping to improve the lives of its customers, their families and communities.

For more information please visit www.onefamily.com/your-foundation

March 2, 2017