About the VE Day 80 Celebration Fund

• Community and voluntary groups.
• Faith groups.
• Charities, including small charities and registered charities.
• Other not for profit organisations.
• Town and Parish Councils.
• Schools – events must be open to the wider public, beyond the school community to attend.
• Residents Associations – larger scale events for an area/housing estate - events must be open to the whole community.
• Applications are invited from the Royal British Legion, Uniform Cadet Services and Armed Forces.

• Small grant – up to £750, cash match funding of at least 50% is required 
• Large grant – over £750 and up to £1,500, cash match funding of at least 50% is required

All applications must demonstrate that the applicant is contributing cash match funding of at least 50% of the grant request value. For example, if you are applying for a grant of £1,000, you must also contribute £500 in cash to the delivery of the event. 

The cost of staff time cannot be included as match funding.

Applicants needing support with match funding are invited to contact their local Councillor and request match funding support from their 2025-2026 Councillors’ Pride Fund allocation. You can find contact details for your local councillor on our website.

Successful applicants will be eligible for a free Road Closure Application for community and street parties held between 3 and 11 May 2025 (fees may apply for contractors to manage the Road Closure on main thoroughfares and hire of equipment). 

Should we receive more eligible applications than we are able to fund, we may offer funding at a level below that which you have requested. Please consider how you will be able to manage this when planning for your event. 

Payments cannot be made to personal bank accounts, where a group does not have a bank account they must provide the name of an organisation that is willing to manage the funds on their behalf. 

Telford & Wrekin Council is pleased to offer grant funding to support communities within the Borough to hold a community event, project or creation of a legacy piece to mark the 80th Anniversary of VE Day*. 

Applicants are encouraged to visit the official VE Day 80th Anniversary website for inspiration on how the event will be celebrated across the country - visit the VE Day 80 website.

Events must be held on or around 8 May 2025 (3 May – 11 May inclusive) and must be held within the Borough of Telford and Wrekin. 

Activities under this grant must celebrate VE Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of war in Europe. Applications are encouraged which demonstrate how their activities:

• bring people together in peace and common friendship
• promote international relationships, celebrate the diversity of our communities
• remember those that fought and lost their life and those that fought and returned home
• remembering the wartime experiences of people at home
• celebrate/mark history and bring it to life
• learn from the lessons of the past and look to our future
• create lasting legacies which can be shared.

Examples include:

• The raising of a unique VE Day Flag
• Lighting of Beacons and Lamps 
• Holding parties of celebration throughout the day 
• Fish and chip suppers
• Tea dances
• WI VE80 Cake (Orange & Ginger) competition or tea party
• Storytelling 
• Exploring wartime clothes, music, games and food
• Photography/portraits exhibitions
• Ration Parties 
• Dig for Victory Feast (planting and growing vegetables to share) 
• Repair and Reuse Get together 
• Recording Stories from elder members of the community who remember the war.

* Applications to mark the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day on 15 August 2025, marking the end of the Second World War may be considered.

We are keen to see young people playing a lead role in the celebrations. 

We are particularly interested in events that look to increase or develop volunteering opportunities and involve the wider community in their planning, organisation and delivery. 

Events must be open, allowing the whole community to get involved, but where there is reasonable justification and all other criteria is met you may have a target audience for your event. 

The VE Day 80 Celebration Fund aims to support the delivery of free VE Day events across the borough to help residents mark the occasion. Priority will be given to applications that offer free events. Where charges do apply the affordability of tickets will be taken into account when making our decision. If you plan to charge for your event you must only charge to help cover the cost of running your event, grant funding will not be allocated where your ticket price leaves you with a surplus or fundraising after your event. If you plan to charge for your event you must be able to justify why this is required in addition to grant funding.

Where there are a number of applications for one geographical area or target audience and potential duplication of effort, we may suggest a partnership approach in planning and holding your event, so it’s worth finding out what else is being planned in your area/for your target audience before you submit your application.

Applicants may only apply for one grant unless there is proven reasonable justification for one organisation to run large events in more than one area.

Examples of eligible expenditure include, but are not limited to:

• reasonable venue/room hire costs where venues may lose revenue by holding the event 
• equipment hire
• entertainment
• resources and materials for activities 
• reasonable prizes for competitions
• a contribution to the cost of food where the provision of food fits the theme 
• insurance costs.

All eligible expenditure must demonstrate best value for money.

• events run by businesses
• religious services
• small street parties
• applicants are encouraged to consider their impact on the environment; therefore we will not fund single use plastic items, non-compostable or non-reusable items such as tableware, bunting, decorations and balloons 
• bouncy castles and other inflatables for health and safety reasons 
• gifts
• the purchase of alcohol
• staff time to manage the event
• activities that promote political or religious activities/causes 
• events that take place outside of Telford and Wrekin 
• closed events that are inaccessible to the general public, unless there is proven reasonable justification and all other criteria is met
• if you plan to charge for your event, we will take into account the affordability of tickets in making our decision.

These lists are not exhaustive. We reserve the right to discount applications that do not adequately demonstrate how the proposed expenses will meet the grant criteria outlined above or where the application does not demonstrate value for money. 

This is a great opportunity for communities to come together and we all want the events to be a success. There are some things you will need to think about to ensure that your event is run safely and so that everyone can enjoy it. These are some of the things that you might need to have in place: 

• risk assessments 
• insurance
• compliance with food law
• permission to use a public space – you will need to seek permission from the landowner
• licences 
• permission to close a road – see below.

To help you plan your event the Council has produced an events toolkit, please use this to make sure you have everything in place that you need, view the toolkit on our organising event page.

If you would like to use one of the parks and open spaces belonging to Telford & Wrekin Council, you will need to book your event onto our calendar to reserve your date and time and then submit the appropriate paperwork before your event is approved. You can book your event online using our organising event webpage, there will be no charge for the use of Telford & Wrekin Council parks and open spaces for events funded by this grant.

If you’re new to organising events and would like to speak to someone about your plans, please contact cpt@telford.gov.uk giving some details of what you would like advice on. Your query will be forwarded to the most relevant person who will then get in touch with you.

Telford & Wrekin Council have agreed to waive Road Closure application fees for events funded by this grant that are taking place between 3 and 11 May 2025. 

Please note: not all road closure requests can be granted, it is important you seek advice at the earliest opportunity, more information can be found on our applying for a closure on the highway page. 
All formal requests for a road closure between 3 and 11 May 2025 must be submitted by 31 March 2025. View all relevant information and submit your application using our applying for a closure on the highway page. 

Make sure you read the criteria in full before completing your application.

Applications cannot be saved and returned to; therefore it’s suggested that you prepare your answers in advance, you can download a list of the questions you will be asked and guidance notes to support you in answering each question.

Applications should be submitted by the deadline below, late applications will not be accepted. 

• Applications open: Friday 24 January 2025.
• Applications close: Monday 24 February 2025 at 9.30am.
• All applicants informed of outcome by: Monday 10 March 2025.

Submit your grant application via our online form:

Complete our VE Day 80 Celebration Fund application now

In addition to your application please submit your governing document to grant.applications@telford.gov.uk.

To help you with your application the following downloads are available:

• About the VE Day 80 Celebration Fund – the criteria document
• VE 80 – Guidance for completing your application – a list of the questions you’ll be asked.

If you have any queries about making an application please ensure you read the “About” document in full as this can answer most questions, however should you have a further query please contact grant.applications@telford.gov.uk.

Your application form will be checked to ensure it is eligible for the VE Day 80 Celebration Fund and that you have provided all the information required – if we require additional information to make a decision you will be given two working days to provide this. 

All applications will be considered by an Officer Panel who will consider applications against the following:

• the extent to which the event celebrates the 80th anniversary of VE Day 
• proximity to VE Day 
• location to ensure a spread of events across the borough
• variety or type of event to avoid duplication and ensure there is a good range of events that are inclusive for all to enjoy 
• number of beneficiaries and value for money for the number of beneficiaries 
• any lasting benefits from the event 
• community involvement in planning and running the event
• meeting match funding requirements.

The Panel will make recommendations to the Director for Housing, Employment and Infrastructure, explanation will also be given as to why some applications are not recommended. 

The final decision for allocation rests with the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Cabinet Member the Economy and Cabinet Member for Inclusion, Engagement, Equalities and Civic Pride.

All applicants will be informed of the decision on their application by Monday 10 March 2025.

Successful applicants will be sent a grant agreement letter, payment voucher and New Supplier Detail form (you will only receive this form if you have not received funds from us in the last 18 months). Applicants must sign the grant agreement, keep a copy for their records and return one copy to us alongside the completed payment voucher and New Supplier Detail form (if relevant).

Once these documents have been received by the Council your payment will be processed via BACs. 

Congratulations now the hard work and fun starts! 

Firstly, if your event includes a road closure you will need to submit your request by 31 March 2025 in order to achieve permission in time. More details can be found above in the Road Closure section. 

You will have lots of things to plan and arrange, please review our Events Toolkit to ensure the event you hold is safe and that you meet your legal responsibility in ensuring the health, safety and welfare of the people attending your event, as well as that of the employees, volunteers, contractors and sub-contractors working there. This includes any licences that may be required and other essential requirements to hold an event, such as public liability insurance, first aid provision and carrying out risk assessments. You can find our event toolkit on our organising an event page.

In addition to viewing the toolkit we will also provide details of all supported events to our Health and Safety team, they may get in touch with you to offer advice and information. 

As a condition of receiving your grant funding you are required to clearly state that your event has received funding from Telford & Wrekin Council including in any written materials or oral promotion of your event. You are required to include logos provided by the Council on any marketing materials you create in relation to your event which will be provided electronically, this may include but is not limited to, the Telford & Wrekin Council logo and any logos created to mark VE Day 80. So, for example, if you create a poster to promote your event, this poster must carry the logos we provide to you, if you create graphics for social media to promote your event, these graphics must carry the logos we provide to you. 

In order to let people across the Borough know how they can get involved with The VE Day 80 celebrations all successful applicants will be required to;

• register their event on the official VE Day 80th Anniversary website 
• and submit details of their event to the Council which will be added to the Council website, events will be added by our administration team. At this time you will also be asked to provide your promotional materials so that we can feature these on our various platforms where appropriate. 

Successful applicants will also want to think about how they carry out their own promotion. To help with this you will be provided with a Guidance on Communications document, this will help you to think about the tools you might want to use to tell the public about your event and key things you need to remember when doing so, such as acknowledging the support from Telford & Wrekin Council in providing this funding.

Following your event you will be asked to complete a short monitoring form to let us know how it went, this will include things such as how many people attended, what took place on the day, photo and or video coverage and whether there are any future plans following the success of your event. You will be provided with a copy of the monitoring questions with your grant agreement. You will also be asked to confirm how your grant money was spent. The Council retains the right to reclaim any monies not spent in accordance with your grant agreement letter or not spent within three months of your event concluding.