- Area:
- East of England
- Programme:
- Awards for All England
- Release date:
- 2 10 2012
The latest Awards for All grants in the East of England have sparked a facelift frenzy for green spaces, village halls and playgrounds across the region. Many groups will use their grants to make a range of community improvements ranging from village hall refurbishments to cleaning up overgrown river areas.
In total almost £400,000 is being shared among 37 projects in the East of England today. The money comes from the Big Lottery Fund’s popular small grants scheme, Awards for All.
One group receiving funds is the River Waveney Trust Association. The group receives £9,982 to carry out river water sampling and preservation work with the local community so they can make improvements to sections of the upper River Waveney which is currently overgrown, particularly around Diss.
David Gladwell, Secretary of the River Waveney Trust Association, said: “In the upper Waveney River there are de-oxygenation problems where the oxygen level has dropped so far that fish are unable to survive. With the Environment Agency we are going to montior oxygen samples in this area and the Awards for All grant has enabled us to buy all the equipment we need for a completely modern set up. We’ve also been able to buy a range of tools for our volunteers – who we call ‘wet feet volunteers’ – to use.”
The grant will also enable the group to run a schools project next year working with children on an Eel Elver project. Elvers are young eels which are two to three inches long and have swum from the Sargasso Sea into the river systems here. When they mature, they will swim back out of the river systems and to the Sargasso Sea where they will breed.
David said: “We have found that newly engineered weirs have been causing obstructions in our river systems which have prevented the Elvers from getting upstream. In the Waveney, Elver numbers have dropped to 5% of what there used to be, and nationally numbers have dropped to 7%. On this project we will work with members and children in installing special ladders and stones to help Elvers navigate the weirs and other obstructions so that with this recruitment scheme, alongside the National Rivers Trust, we can see the numbers start to increase.”
On the 13th October the group will be running a free walk and talk along the river. To find out how to get involved visit www.riverwaveneytrust.org or email David on dgladwell22@hotmail.co.uk
Elsewhere in the region, Hertford Town Council receives £10,000 to create a community allotment area for people of all ages. The idea is to encourage young and older members of the community to work together to grow vegetables and maintain the site.
While Lewsey Farm Learning Centre in Luton receives £10,000 to improve a derelict area of land by creating a sensory garden, vegetable plots and wildlife areas.
Several village halls in the region are receiving funds of between £4,500 and £10,000 to improve access for people with disabilities and update their toilet facilities. These include Peace Memorial Hall in Bedford, Harling Community Centre in Norfolk, Thorpe End Village Hall Association in Norwich, Little Horkesley Village Hall in Colchester and High Kelling Village Hall in Norfolk.
A number of schools and councils will also upgrade their playground areas thanks to today’s grants. Hall School in Norwich will use £6,901 to install a range of outdoor fitness equipment in their playground area; Oak Bank School in Bedfordshire receives £9,786 to build an adventure playground; Shottisham Parish Council gets £7,184 to improve the village play area and install play equipment; and Lawford Parish Council will use £6,670 to upgrade its under-7 play area at School Lane playing field.
Sara Betsworth, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the East of England region, said: “We would like to hear from community groups in the East of England region who might need a small grant for their community project. Awards for All funds a wide range of activities and groups may not realise just how straightforward the application process is.”
Awards for All 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.
Click here for a full list of today’s awards
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Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment
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