- Area:
- East of England
- Programme:
- Awards for All England
- Release date:
- 27 3 2012
National Lottery funding has put a spring in the step of community groups across the East of England region today as they share in grants totalling £254,916 from the Big Lottery Fund’s popular small grants scheme, Awards for All.
As the weather warms up, some of the 31 projects will use their grants to help people get out and about, enjoy outdoor activities and become more active.
One such project is Feildes Fun in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, which has received £10,000 to provide a disabled access boat for visitors to the group's nature and fishing facility, situated on an island adjacent to Feildes Weir Lock on the river Lee. As a result, people with disabilities and their families and carers will be able to take part in outdoor activities, including fishing and nature watching, without restriction.
John Bridges, Chairman of Feildes Fun, said: “We’re really pleased to have been given this grant from Awards for All and now we can progress our plans with only a little bit more funding to find for the project. The boat will be wheelchair accessible and able to hold up to eight wheelchairs. What makes it different is that it will have an electric motor instead of an outboard motor and it will have an additional steering gear so that it can be operated with a joystick. We hope to have the boat ready to take to the water by the end of Summer.”
Also getting out on the water and putting safety first is the 8th Norwich (Norwich School) Sea Scout Group. The group will use a grant of £8,000 to buy a rigid-inflatable boat with a 50HP outboard motor so that they can provide a rapid rescue response should an emergency occur while participating in sailing and other water based activities.
Elsewhere in the region, Ringstead Woodland Garden and Walks Group in Norfolk has received £9,645 to develop an overgrown area of land into a recreational space for residents and visitors to the small village. The space will be ideal for use by groups such as scouts and schools to run outdoor activities and events.
Meanwhile, in Ipswich, the Thomas Wolsey School will develop an adventure and sensory garden for disabled children and the wider community thanks to a grant of £10,000, and in Bedfordshire, Toddington Parish Council will install a climbing and activity unit in the park for young people to use with its £10,000 grant.
Other projects receiving grants today include: The Connections Bus Project in Cambridge which receives £10,000 to provide their mobile youth work facilities in Ely North, Soham North, Littleport and Chatteris; Dacorum Council For Voluntary Service which will use £9,870 to recruit and train volunteers to operate an online community radio station; and Actone ArtsBase in St. Albans which receives £10,000 to deliver a performance and workshop tour of dance theatre in special schools and children's hospitals.
BIG’s Awards for All programme offers grants of between £300 and £10,000 to social and environmental projects that will benefit local communities and make a difference to the lives of those most in need. Voluntary and community groups, schools, health organisations and parish and town councils can all apply.
Sara Betsworth, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the East of England region, said: “With the Spring sunshine coaxing many of us outdoors it’s great to see that plenty of community groups are putting their Awards for All grants towards outdoor, environmental and fitness activities. A grant from the Awards for All programme can have a huge impact on local communities and I hope that these successful projects inspire others to get their applications in too.”
See a list of the grants awarded today
- 392KB
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