Lottery cash helps carers cope in east Lancashire

Area:

North West England

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

20 2 2007

The Pendle-based project will share in £1.8 million in awards with five other schemes across the North West, including a mentoring initiative for the Asian community in Pendle and a community-run magazine in Old Trafford, Manchester.

Caring Today will train volunteers to ease the burden for families caring for children with disabilities by providing respite care for children and advocacy for families. The charity currently has more than 40 families on its waiting list for services, which under its project will include a parent support and counselling group, help with attending appointments and with translation, after-school and homework clubs, healthy eating sessions and exercise classes. Volunteers will gain experience that could lead to paid work with other care organisations.

Feeraz Begum, Project Co-ordinator, Caring Today, said: “Caring Today is all about making sure disabled children have the same rights and same activities as anyone else in the community. We don’t look at the child’s disability; we look at the child and what their needs are and how we can meet those needs. We are delighted to receive a five-year grant towards services for the most isolated and vulnerable children and young people within the locality. This grant has given us the sustainability to provide the much needed service for another five years. We truly appreciate the support provided by the Big Lottery Fund.”

Meanwhile, thanks to a £143,497 award, the presses will keep rolling for another three years at the Old Trafford News, a non-profit magazine in Manchester produced by residents for residents and offering training and media experience to local people including young peope and people with mental or physical health impairments.

Ally Fogg, co-ordinating editor of Old Trafford News, said: “The magazine is a platform for the community to express itself and is a creative outlet for writers, photographers and designers. It also provides valuable information, news and entertainment in an area not served by other free media. Above all, it offers free skills training, support and work experience to people in one of the most deprived inner-city areas in the country.  

Mr Fogg continued: "Everyone in Old Trafford will be thrilled that the Big Lottery Fund has agreed to support Old Trafford News for the next three years. This news will ensure that a valuable community resource will remain available to the community of Old Trafford, and provide extensive opportunities for individuals and groups within the community to improve themselves and develop skills that will help them long into the future."

In Pendle, mentors will guide and motivate young people from the Asian community who struggle with school or finding work. The Southfield Community Action Forum Limited has been awarded £288,322 to recruit and train mentors who will provide advice and support over the next five years. Young people and mentors will share similar backgrounds and together will explore education options, career choices, lifestyles and other faiths and take part in cultural, educational and recreational activities including visits to universities, museums and national parks. The forum will work with schools, mosques and the Nelson Connexion Service to deliver the service in Pendle.

In other projects for the North West, an army of volunteers in Liverpool hospitals will offer a friendly word and a helping hand to people ill or in distress under a £487,931 award to the Volunteers for the Supporters of Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust Volunteer Scheme. New respite and support services will raise the quality of life for 3,000 people in West Cumbria with dementia and their carers under an Alzheimer's Society, West Cumbria Branch project granted £430,636. And a Catholic Caring Services (Diocese of Lancaster) project working to prevent re-offending among men recently released from prisons in Lancaster and Cumbria has been granted £280,958.

Big Lottery Fund Head of North West Region Helen Bullough said: “Each of the Reaching Communities-funded schemes announced today will bring real improvements to many lives across the North West. East Lancashire families that are overwhelmed by the challenges of caring for disabled children will be grateful for the support from Caring Today. Old Trafford locals will be delighted to have a voice in the press and a rare chance to start forging a career in the media industry at the News. New experiences and pathways in life for young people from the Asian community in Pendle will be formed through the mentorship scheme. I am delighted by the awards and look forward to the changes they will bring to both people and communities.”

The Reaching Communities programme delivers grants of up to £500,000 over five years to schemes that offer people better chances in life, build strong communities, improve urban and rural environments and promote healthy activities.

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

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