- Area:
- North East England
- Programme:
- Reaching Communities
- Release date:
- 20 2 2007
Children from an urban suburb of Newcastle will play their way to better health with a £52,944 grant from the Big Lottery Fund that will create a brand new playground and community garden in Heaton.
Together with four other groups from across the North East, the project is part of a Lottery handout of £712,442, from BIG's Reaching Communities programme announced today.
Chillingham Road Sports and Arts Centre will spend its Big Lottery grant building a new outdoor play area at a primary school that will be open to all local youngsters. In a true community effort, groups of local volunteers of all ages will be invited to help design the space that will include a climbing wall, sensory garden, shelter and stage and will be enlivened by decorations.
Last year, the arts centre welcomed 10,000 local people to use their facilities and, once completed, the new play area will be open to local children during the day and after-school.
Stephanie Wallace, Community Development Worker for Chillingham Road Sports and Arts Centre, said: “We have a fantastic community building attached to our school which includes an art studio and climbing wall. Yet the children’s outside play area currently looks really awful. It is really important that we have a decent outdoor community space, as this school is situated in a built up area of Heaton, with many of the nearby terraced houses having no gardens.
“We want to involve local people in making these changes We are particularly excited about creating a sensory garden, which will involve children planting flowers and local people creating mosaics and garden art.”
Other groups being awarded funds today in the North East of England include two citizen advice bureaus. Over in Northumberland, the Berwick Citizens Advice Bureau will use £199,722 to strengthen relationships between workers and the local community in rural areas of Berwick, while a £86,677 grant to the Derwentside Citizens Advice Bureau will help people with mental health issues to deal with debt, housing and employment problems.
The East Durham Domestic Violence Forum will use its £155,500 to support children and young people to overcome the traumatic effects of domestic violence, while the Durham Dales Action For Carers will continue to service communities across Teesdale and the Wear Valley with £217,599 to with initiatives such as health checks, support groups, development of a carers practice register and healthy living events.
James Turner, Big Lottery Fund Head of North East England, said: “Today, we are delighted to provide these groups from across the North East of England financial support that will enable them to continue the big difference they make to people’s lives within their local communities.”
Further information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
- The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
- On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.
- Reaching Communities is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s portfolio of new programmes. Following an intense and comprehensive process of consultation with stakeholders and the general public over the last year, the Fund has undertaken to distribute 60-70% of its funding to the third sector. At least one-third of BIG funding will be demand-led and lightly prescribed. In England, this will amount to at least £600 million over the period 2005-2009. This commitment will be met from a variety of funding streams, including, Reaching Communities, Awards for All, part of the Young People’s Fund, Community Buildings, Advice Services and the People’s Millions.
- UK-wide, the Big Lottery Fund will distribute through its new programmes and allocations funding worth over £2.6bn between now and April 2009. Regularly updated information on the Big Lottery Fund’s new programmes is available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/publications.htm
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