Etchingham is a small, very picturesque village in East Sussex that was hugely under-resourced in terms of community facilities: the primary school was far too small and reliant upon “temporary” classrooms that were at least 30 years old and the village hall was again too small and on the point of collapse. Hence, the community-led Etchingham Trust for Sports and Recreation and the Parish Council campaigned for many years for a purpose-built hall and primary school on the same site on the edge of the village.

 

When this was finally approved, CSC was engaged to help raise funds for the village hall and thereby reduce the call on loan funding. We identified numerous potential sources of funding and, rather than implement a one size fits all approach that would probably not be successful, we prepared applications that were tailored to show how the Etchingham project met each organisation’s objectives. This was very successful, and nearly £50,000 was raised towards the capital costs of the hall, £10,000 for catering equipment and furniture, and another £20,000 for re-establishing a cricket and football pitch.  Parish clerk Paulette Barton said: 

​

"Etchingham Parish Council decided to appoint a professional fund raiser to help with two major projects for the benefit of the village. David Axford was chosen and proved the right man for the job. Fund raising is a time consuming task and really needed his expertise both finding the right potential partners and putting together applications that would give us the best chance of success.  If there is another big fund raising effort needed for something in the future we will certainly go back to him."

​

​