Almost £20,000 in grants has been given out in Helston this week by the town council.

Councillors received 21 applications for money in the second round of its six-monthly grants and not all were successful.

Projects that did get funds included £4,258 to the Epworth Hall, now managed by Central Methodist Church, towards its £33,000 project to replace the tiered seating to be in line with current regulations. Inspections currently have to be carried out every six months, which is now running into several thousand pounds, and inspectors have recommended the seats need replacing or will eventually have to be removed.

Also receiving a large sum was Helston Athletic Football Club, getting £3,000 towards six-metre high ball-stop netting around three sides of the main pitch at a cost of £34,863.

This is to reduce the risk of footballs being kicked out the ground, with the club saying: "In recent years there have been a number of near-miss incidents involving road traffic vehicles and local residents as a result of footballs being kicked out of the ground."

Falmouth Packet:

The Epworth Hall received £4,258 towards replacing its ageing tiered seating. Photo: Epworth Hall

Helston Rugby Club got £2,000 towards repairing its fence to prevent misuse and abuse by dog owners, relocate the pitch inline with the clubhouse so that part of the game can be viewed from inside, and relocate a floodlight to create two further training surfaces.

The same amount went to the Fishermen's Mission for a new 'hub' in Helston with extended shop area, meeting space and base for a fundraising manager, as well as to Helston Town Band towards replacing its uniform in time for Flora Day.

Helston Phoenix Mentoring Project received £1,000 for an event to mark the scheme's 18th birthday, through a day out of activities for its young members and their families, and Helston International Guitar Festival got its requested £1,080 to offer 36 half-hour free guitar lessons to the general public, particularly children and young people.

Helston Railway Preservation Society got £850 for educational visitor information at its Prospidnick and Truthall Halt sites, to support guided tours for visitors and schoolchildren, and Helston Memory Community Cafe was awarded £740 to cover the cost of coaches for member activities this year.

Grants of £500 were awarded to Helston Bowling Club for modernising the clubhouse, Helston Makes It! towards this year's event, Re-vamp the Ramps to set up a 'park guardians' youth group that would care for the skatepark area at Coronation Park, and South Kerrier Alliance CIC to support the refurbishment of the water wheel at Coronation Park.

Smaller grants of £300 went to Helston Harvest Fair towards the cost of printing schedules and £100 to Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust in support of extending its rescue hours until 2am, seven days a week.

Unsuccessful in their applications were 1st Helston Scout Group for fencing off the area it leases on the King George V playing field, Cornubian Arts & Science Trust (CAST) for its programme of events and activities - and to support its Arts Council England bid - Hellys Health & Fitness Community for its £500 request towards running fitness courses for people with mental health conditions, iSight Cornwall for its community outreach service for blind and partially sighted residents, and SSAFA Culdrose for a community garden on the service family accommodation patch.

It was agreed that Plastic Free Helston would receive £500 from the council's separate climate budget, to help promote its work with logo T-shirts and provide plaques to businesses that are 'plastic free champions'.