A HOST of charities and community groups across West Somerset will be keeping their fingers crossed for a windfall when voting gets underway next week in the 2012 Natwest CommunityForce grant scheme.

Only a handful of projects stand to win grants, with the most popular in each area receiving £6,000 and two runners-up being given £1,000 each.

The grants will be awarded based on the number of votes they receive via the Natwest CommunityForce website, with voting due to start on Monday (September 26).

In Minehead, members of St Michael's First School's Parents Teachers Association are hoping to win £6,000 to "drive forward" plans to replace the rusting, leaking and close-to-collapsing small school pool.

They want to build a bigger pool in a more permanent outbuilding for everyone in the community to use.

Tracey Sweetland, the association's chairman, said numerous fundraising events were already planned but a NatWest grant would make a huge difference to the appeal.

"The £6,000 would enable us to drive the project forward much more quickly and with the events we have planned and the local support we have already amassed we should be able to provide a new pool for summer 2012.

"Our plan is to remove the existing pool - which is rusting, leaking and about to collapse - replace the pool and the temporary building it inhabits and replace them with a permanent building and pool."

But the PTA is facing stiff competition from a range of other schemes, including a bid to provide a dedicated youth club in Minehead.

The club would be based at a local children's centre and offer youngsters somewhere to meet after school, once a week.

According to the online grant application, the funding is needed for "A range of resources selected by the young people themselves".

This would included subsidised transport, sports and music equipment and arts and crafts materials.

"It would also help to fund a lead youth worker to organise and develop the club and its opportunities further in the future."

Another Minehead-based group is also in the running for grant-aid, IT Help Con-Dem.

The organisation wants to set up a group of volunteers to visit people with dementia in the area.

The application states: "My wife is currently in a home and only three of us visit regularly - many other patients would enjoy support."

Grant money would be used to set up a database of volunteers, create a website, pay for communications with local hospitals and care homes and to cover other set-up costs.

Across in Exford, the Exmoor Community Youth Club is also after funding to partly subsidise additional holiday activities, trips and events.

"The club plays a vital and unique role by providing supervised educational, recreational and inclusive activities for young people, aged six to 16, who live in one of England's most isolated and deprived areas.

"In its first year (2010-2011) over 120 different children enjoyed the Exmoor Community Youth Club for a total of over 1,200 registered visits," the club said in its application.

The Harbour Community Bookshop in Watchet is another organisation appealing for public votes.

The second-hand bookshop relies on donated books and a staff of volunteers to enable all profits to be donated to charity.

Half of the profits go to local good causes, with the remainder going to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

A spokesman for the bookshop said: "Last year we helped 28 local groups and sent £12,250 to the CF Trust.

"So far this year we have sent £7,250 to the trust and helped 12 local groups from babies to pensioners, school pools to healthy eating, music festivals to conservation projects, dancers to carers."

A NatWest grant would be used to cover the bookshop's expenses, such as utility bills and rent to enable every penny raised to be donated to charity.

The Bicknoller Community First Responders team is also in the running for votes.

Made-up of ten volunteers who have received training in basic life support, patient care and the use of oxygen and portable defibrillation equipment, the team is sent out ahead of ambulance crews.

Team members use their own transport to attend medical emergencies in and around Bicknoller and are able to reach patients faster than an ambulance that is based many miles away.

In their application for a grant, the team said: "We would like to have two responders on duty at any one time, each with a full set of emergency response equipment.

"This will improve our response times and patient care, on-scene within our allocated area, a three miles radius from the centre of Bicknoller village, thus including Crowcombe, Vellow, Stogumber Woolston, Sampford Brett and Williton."

Over in Wick, near Stogursey, the Labrador Rescue Trust has applied for a grant to enable to continue rescuing and rehoming unwanted, abandoned and stray Labradors across the South West.

The trust has been helping Labradors in need for over 20 years and currently helps between 600-700 dogs a year.

Everyone involved is a volunteer and grant aid would help to cover ever-rising vet bills, which currently come in at more than £100,000 a year.

"We are also hoping to open a small shop in the run up to Christmas 2011.

"This will provide us with a central packing and storage area for our very popular Christmas mailings.

"The unit will also be available for the trust to hold regular management/trustee and board meetings and also for local volunteers to meet regularly," the application said.

In nearby Nether Stowey, a bid has been made for money to renovate the ageing children's play area at Nether Stowey Recreation Ground.

The recreation ground is used as a meeting place for old and young alike, with facilities for dog walking, BMX ramps, a skateboard half-pipe and football pitches.

There are also tennis courts and a children's playground which require considerable renovation as do the football changing facilities and community temporary building.

The application said: "The award would be a valuable contribution to the renovation cost of the children's play area, which is the current priority for the charity as it is becoming unsafe and closure is imminent."

Young people are also the focus for two applications from Wiveliscombe.

Sneaky Fox Outdoors is an outdoor education project for youngsters aged between 11 and 18 years and sometimes takes people up to 25 years in certain circumstances.

The group offers "positive outdoor activities" to help people develop social skills, boost their self esteem and encourage healthy living.

"We are in the process of rewriting our plans to include young people who are not in education, employment or training and individuals who are excluded from school," the group's application said.

Funding would be used to continue to develop the project and to support training, community volunteers and peer leaders, as well as improving access and services at the woodland site and covering the cost of new equipment.

Wiveliscombe Rugby Club is also on the hunt for grant aid and currently has around 220 members, five junior teams with ages ranging from between 13 and 18-years-old and two senior teams.

The club wants cash to build an extension for kit and storage and to pay for the refurbishment of the kitchen, ladies toilets and clubhouse floor.

Children are also at the centre of a grant bid from Cotford St Luke Primary School and it's Fledglings PTA.

Having already raised money to create a fitness trail extension, the association is now hoping to get funding to develop an outside stage area and an outside classroom for forest school activities.

A PTA spokesman said: "We run events that involve and entertain the whole local community such as the village fete, Christmas fayre and bingo.

"We deliver projects that enrich the environment of the community school and pre-school plus breakfast, holiday and after-school clubs.

"£3000 would provide an outside stage that the pupils have requested via "pupil voice" and would be used for outdoor recreation, learning, events & performances.

"Another £3000 would support the provision of a tiered seating area on a bank within the forest school to become an outside classroom 'amphitheatre'."

Money would also be used to create an additional area of safe surface flooring to link the playground with the fitness trail.

More information about each of the projects is available on the website communityforce. natwest.com.