Welcome to this New Year edition of Big Briefing. In this edition we update you on how, across the country, Big Lottery Fund (BIG) investments are helping people make a difference on the issues that matter most to them.
We put the spotlight on our popular flagship programmes Awards for All and People and Places which remain central to our funding portfolio and continue to offer grant funding to groups in your constituency.
We showcase two fantastic projects: supporting young people with Autism and the valuable work of volunteering within the health service.
There are also links to current funding programmes and awards made in your area. I hope you find the briefing helpful. You can keep up to date by following twitter.com/BigLotteryWales or by following us on facebook www.facebook.com/Biglotteryfundwales
John Rose
Director for Wales, Big Lottery Fund
In this issue:
Awards For All
Our small grants programme Awards for All continues to kick start an amazing array of community projects across the UK.
Awards for All funds projects between £500 and £5,000. In Wales, over 782 awards worth £3 million were made in 2011/12.
Awesome New Club for Kids with Autism
Thanks to a grant of nearly £5,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s (BIG) Awards for All programme, the Black Park Chapel Trust Limited, based at the Black Park Chapel in Halton, Wrexham, have been able to run ‘YourSpace’, an activity club for children and young people aged 8 to 19 years old who have Autism. Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates and relates to other people.
The money from BIG is helping the project to encourage those who have a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder to communicate much better and enable them to achieve their potential.
Highlighting the difference that small amounts of funding can make, Rachel Hancocks, the YourSpace Co-ordinator, said: “We have been able to start the club, staff it for fifty weeks of the year and buy a small amount of music, games, and craft equipment. We have also been fortunate in recruiting a number of volunteers who help out each week on a rota basis.”
“The grant from the Big Lottery Fund proved to us that we were worth investing in and gave us the confidence to approach other funders. Without our initial award, it would have taken a lot longer to achieve the position we find ourselves in now. The project is benefiting children and young people with Autism from various areas and communities who previously had no such facility on offer to them. Over seventy children and young people have now registered with us.”
Our medium to large grants programme People and Places will fund capital and revenue projects that encourage co-ordinated action by people who want to make their communities better places to live. We will support local and regional projects throughout Wales that focus on:
- revitalising communities,
- improving community relationships, or
- enhancing local environments, community services and buildings.
People and Places funds project between £5,001 and £1 million. In Wales, over 499 awards worth £100 million have been made to date.
People and Places is open to projects throughout the year. If you would like us to hold funding advice surgeries for your constituency please contact us.
Read about the impact a People and Places project is making below.
Stroke stopped me walking and talking - I was only 34
A Big Lottery Fund People and Places grant of £384,045 was awarded to Hywel Dda Local Health Board in West Wales to develop volunteer services within health services in west Wales. It aims to improve the experience of volunteering and a patient’s experience of healthcare.
High-powered businesswoman Gwyneth Morse regained consciousness and couldn’t talk. One minute the 34-year-old was enjoying a holiday in Aberystwyth and the next she suffered a massive stroke that changed her life forever.
Gwyneth, who was working as a supervisor in two large hotels spent the next two years in hospital. Such was the severity of Gwyneth’s stroke doctors did not expect her to survive.
But through sheer determination during her stay in Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, Gwyneth slowly learned to walk, talk and communicate again.
Her gruelling rehabilitation programme included speech therapy, walking between parallel bars and picking up beads and transferring them between pots. Today, Gwyneth has made a good recovery but still suffers some paralysis on her right side.
Grateful for the level of care she received, she now volunteers for the BIG-funded Volunteering for Health project, giving her time to help patients on the Ystwyth Ward, and has also raised funds for the unit.
“Volunteering gives me the opportunity to give something back to the service and people who helped me so much,” she says. “My disabilities are such that I used to spend long periods in my flat just getting up, getting dressed, watching the television and then going back to bed. I volunteer so I can meet people, improve my social life and feel part of the community.
Now aged 47 and living in Aberystwyth, Gwyneth says volunteering has meant she has been able to make a difference to the lives of other stroke victims, including those affected at a young age.
What has been funded in my area?
Search for projects that have been funded by BIG in your area or for funding by all National Lottery distributors