17 winners of 2025 Hall & Woodhouse Community Chest Awards announced by brewery and hospitality business

The annual awards are run in the eastern area with the support of Sussex World and its weekly newspapers across East and West Sussex, and they have been since their inception more than 20 years ago.

Hall & Woodhouse, known for its award-winning Badger ales, established the awards in 2002, offering an annual fund of £60,000 to provide help for local communities in the south of England trading area.

The brewery was founded in Ansty, near Blandford in Dorset, in 1777 and goes back seven generations. Mark Woodhouse, the family director who created the initiative, said the aim was to provide long-term help for local people.

Speaking at the awards evening at The Black Rabbit in Arundel on Friday, January 30, Mr Woodhouse said: "What we are looking to do is help those small, local voluntary organisations, because we know what fantastic work they do. It's a case of you can pretty much apply for anything.

"It's about working together to improve the lives and facilities of local residents. It's also about encouraging other organisations to get involved in supporting their community. We are all in this together.”

With a drinks business and hospitality business operating from Kent to Cornwall, he pointed out that pubs were the focal point of the community and so were the awards.

The family business has set a goal to provide £1million in funds for local communities each year by 2027, the company's 250th anniversary. The total given out by the end of 2025 was £943,000, including £60,000 in Community Chest awards.

Chairman Anthony Woodhouse said: "We exist to make people’s day and enrich our communities from generation to generation. Who doesn’t like making people smile? We do not believe we would have survived if we were not deeply embedded in our communities.”

He said they were ‘within a whisker’ of the £1million target and were confident of achieving that in 2027.

The team of judges presented the awards before guests were served a buffet and given time to meet and chat with fellow volunteers.

Gary Shipton, Editor In Chief of Sussex World and its weekly newspapers, thanked Hall & Woodhouse for supporting so many great causes over so many years.

Arun Youth Aqua Centre, which teaches young people to sail dinghies in the sea at Littlehampton, received £1,110 to replace a launching trolley with a new trailer for one of the safety boats.

Chattertots, which was set up by parents in 2015, received £2,000 to fund specialist speech and language therapy for primary school children with Down Syndrome across Berkshire.

Children’s BookFest, which takes authors into schools and provides a new book for every child at each visit, as well as supporting Bognor Regis Foodbank, received £1,000 towards the purchase of new books for the Bognor Regis festival in February.

Confide Counselling, which supports individuals in Chichester, Bognor Regis and the surrounding areas, and provides clinical supervision and training for students and qualified counsellors, received £2,000 towards supervisor training and admin costs to enable them to expand their services and reach a wider audience.

Crawley Town Lifesaving Club, which teaches CPR and water safety at weekly training sessions, as well as competing all over the world with its competition squad, received £1,500 to replace damaged equipment and upgrade to up-to-date defibrillator units.

CYCALL, an inclusive cycling project based at Brooklands Park in Worthing, received £1,500 to be used for running costs, including the provision of an accessible toilet.

Furnihelp Mid Sussex, which collects and recycles furniture and household goods to donate to people in need, received £3,000 to fund its work helping those with little or no money to obtain the basics, such as a bed or sofa.

Grandads Front Room, which supports people in the Arun district and Chichester, received £2,500 to help fund a warm and welcoming space in the winter months, where people can access hot food, drinks, emergency supplies and benefit from human connection.

Hailsham Boxing Club, a charity boxing club offering free boxing to children under 16 and the opportunity to box under a national platform, received £2,400 to purchase new boxing equipment for the club.

Langstone Pilot Gig Club, which promotes gig rowing on Hayling Island, offering inclusive rowing opportunities for more than 200 members of all ages and abilities, received a £600 gift card to be used as a raffle prize to raise funds for the club.

Locksheath Pumas RFC in Fareham, which offers inclusive rugby programmes for more than 300 children and adults, received £2,000 to towards additional storages containers, to be used as changing facilities, and to help fund the replacement of existing rugby posts with taller, regulation-standard posts to enable age-appropriate training and match play.

Southwater Youth Project, a community charity engaging with children and young people aged 8 to 19, received £2,000 to support the continued employment of a professional community youth worker responsible for recruiting and training local volunteers to delivery various youth programmes.

St Vincent De Paul Society, operating from St Charles Borromeo Church in East Worthing, received £2,000 to purchase white goods, which are generally bought new. The society supplies everything to furnish a home for families who are unable to source it themselves, the majority being donated and passed on free of charge.

THINK 18, which supports young adults with learning disabilities across West Sussex and runs a popular monthly pub club, received £2,049 to fund additional sessions at The Fountain in Chichester.

Together in Mind, a weekly drop-in group for adults with depression and mental health difficulties in Horsham, received £500 to help fund sports and arts activities.

Vision 4 Youth, which provides youth clubs and services for young people in the Yateley area, received £1,341 towards the running costs of a new youth club that was set up in Blackwater last year.

Young People’s Shop, which offers confidential and emotional mental health support for young people in Chichester, received £1,500 towards holistic workshops for young people, especially those who are on counselling waitlists.