Mile Cross community Festival at Sloughbottom Park on Saturday. Megan and Chloe Hall enjoy an ice cream

A Community Cash grant helped a much-loved festival celebrate its 30th birthday in 2011.

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The organisers of the Mile Cross Festival were given £1,000 last year to help foot the bill for the community event at Sloughbottom Park.

Without the cash, the festival would not have been able to go ahead at all, said Kevin Wyer, secretary of the Mile Cross Community Association.

“We rely on grants such as the Community Cash to be able to stage the festival,” he said. “We can keep entry free and allow other groups and clubs to bring their stalls for free, which further benefits them and the community.

“I can’t emphasise enough that without the money we received, we would not have been able to hold the event.”

The Evening News is working with the Norfolk Community Foundation and Sport Relief to give away another £50,000 in 2012.

The grants, of between £500 and £1,000, are available to community groups, social enterprises and charities for people in the Norwich City Council local authority area.

“Grants from elsewhere are getting smaller, so it’s important to take these opportunities,” said Mr Wyer.

The association put the money towards security and portable toilets for the festival and paying for that means other parts of the festival can be kept free of charge.

“I don’t think there’s many events out there like ours,” added Mr Wyer. “The public come to have a great time for free – and that doesn’t happen often these days.”

To find out more about Sport Relief Community Cash, see www.eveningnews24.co.uk or call 01603 623958