- Area:
- North West England
- Programme:
- Reaching Communities
- Release date:
- 20 2 2007
An army of volunteers in Liverpool hospitals will offer a helping hand and a friendly word to people ill or in distress under a project awarded £487,931 by the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme.
The five-year project will share in £1.8 million in awards with five other projects across the North West, including initiatives by the Alzheimer's Society, West Cumbria Branch and by the Catholic Caring Services (Diocese of Lancaster).
Volunteers in the Aintree University Hospitals will perform a myriad of tasks to help make life better for patients and visitors; from making tea to running errands, helping fill in menus, delivering library books and engaging people through craft-making, entertaining, playing chess or simply having a chat.
In turn, the volunteers will gain valuable experience that could help them gain work or one day study as a nurse. Volunteers for the Supporters of Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust Volunteer Scheme include young people, disabled people, the unemployed and lone parents. The scheme currently has more than 700 volunteers, including 100 with disabilities. Since it started 10 years ago, more than 550 volunteers have started nursing studies and at least 260 have found paid work.
Jim Birrell, Chief Executive, Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “There has been a huge devotion of time, effort and dedication to developing the Aintree Volunteer Scheme which now has a national reputation for its quality and innovative approaches – especially in its strategy of using volunteering as a means of NHS employment and training. Receiving Big Lottery Funding will allow us to build on this excellent reputation and benefit many sectors of the community who would otherwise be excluded from this advantageous opportunity.”
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. Based in Workington but covering Allerdale and Copeland, the project will support people with dementia to receive care at home. Carers will receive comprehensive support plans and have access to a telephone helpline. New services will be extended to young people with dementia and people in day care.
Laurence Hilland, Branch Manager of Alzheimer’s Society West Cumbria, said: “This grant will be the foundation for a comprehensive package of dementia services throughout West Cumbria for the next five years. It will mean we can give extra support to both carers and enable people with dementia to stay at home for a longer period of time.”
A project working to prevent re-offending among men recently released from prisons in Lancaster and Cumbria has been granted £280,958. Prison authorities refer former offenders to the Catholic Caring Services (Diocese of Lancaster) scheme for help, which starts as soon as the man walks out of the prison’s front gate and continues for the following six weeks. Volunteers assess needs and provide advocacy and advice to help men find accommodation and job opportunities, develop community links and keep appointments.
In other awards for the North West, families in East Lancashire struggling to care for children with disabilities will receive some relief from a Caring Today scheme awarded £215,679. Thanks to a £143,497 award, the presses will keep rolling at the Old Trafford News, a non-profit magazine in Manchester produced by residents for residents that offers training and media experience to local people including those with mental or physical health impairments. In Pendle, mentors will guide and motivate young people from the Asian community who struggle with school or finding work under a Southfield Community Action Forum Limited initiative awarded £288,322.
Big Lottery Fund Head of North West Region, Helen Bullough said: “Many lives will improve thanks to today’s awards. Thanks to the volunteering in Aintree University Hospitals project, people will be there for patients or visitors when they need a chat to take their minds off illness or a simple favour that can mean so much in a time of need. The grant to the Alzheimer’s Society, West Cumbria branch means people with dementia in West Cumbria will be able to stay in a familiar environment at home with family or friends for longer instead of being admitted to an institution. The Catholic Caring Services initiative is making terrific inroads into recidivism among former offenders and will run for another three years. I am delighted by the awards, which show what a real difference the Reaching Communities programme is making to people and whole 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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