- Area:
- London
- Programme:
- Awards for All England
- Release date:
- 21 8 2012
A London charity which aims to use scuba diving to steer young people away from anti social behaviour is among the latest projects to receive backing from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All Programme.
Diversion, based in Bexley, has been granted £4550 to provide a range of scuba diving sessions for local young people. The group was originally started by a local police sergeant and a Community Support Officer who wanted a different way to capture the imagination of kids on their beat.
Some children have even been putting their new-found scuba skills to good use by helping to clear up local rivers.
Carol Demuth helps run the project. She said: “These scuba-diving lessons have had a great response, so much so we’ve had to put newcomers on a waiting list. The lessons give the children all sorts of new skills and because of the buddy system they work in, it has really improved their respect for each other and helped them make new friends.
“This Awards for All money means we can run more courses and help even more children. The application process was so simple, one of the easiest I’ve ever done so nobody should be shy about applying for their share of funding.”
The project is being supported by the Big Lottery Fund’s popular small grants scheme, Awards for All. A total of 76 projects in London are today sharing £665,078 in the latest round of awards and the Big Lottery Fund wants to hear from all groups, associations and charities, no matter how small, who have similar ideas to help improve their community.
Elsewhere in the capital, Age Concern Camden will use their £10,000 grant to provide a series of outings and a week-long residential trip for isolated older men from the local community while Deafroots in Newham will use £10,000 to recruit and train disabled and deaf volunteers to work with the organisation and support to other deaf members of the community.
Alison Rowe, Big Lottery Fund Head of London region, said: ““From scuba diving kids to training disabled volunteers, the Awards for All programme is a quick and simple way for community groups to get access to much-needed funding. I hope the range and scale of these latest grants inspires others to apply so that the Big Lottery Fund can help as many good causes as possible to receive their share of lottery money.”
See a full list of awards announced in London today
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