Lottery strengthens centres of village life in the North West

Area:

North West England

Programme:

Community Buildings

Release date:

30 3 2009

The Big Lottery Fund is helping village life in the North West to weather the economic downturn with the announcement that ten villages in the region will be funded to revive village halls and centres at the heart of the communities.

Four projects in Cumbria, three in Lancashire and three in Merseyside are sharing in over £3.5million from the Big Lottery Fund.

Helen Bullough, Big Lottery Fund Head of the North West region said: “Voluntary and community organisations in particular are facing challenging times because of the economic downturn. These grants will bring much needed improvements and will support the long-term sustainability of the facilities and of the communities that use them.”

The Embleton and District Community Hall Trust (Cumbria) have secured £279,076 to demolish their existing building and build a new one. The existing village hall was opened in 1925 and is the only facility for sport and leisure activities in the village, apart from the young children’s play area. The new hall will enable activities that have folded due to the condition of the existing hall to return and will cater for a variety of uses including youth club, dance classes, indoor bowling and private functions.

Margot McQueen Fish, Project Manager at the Embleton and District Community Hall Trust, said: "Hearing about the grant was the best thing that's happened to us, it will make such a difference here. What we have at the moment is basically like a bike shed with a dance floor but we're going to turn that into a nice little community building. It's going to be a plain and simple building, accessible, well used and available for everybody in the community to use. It means so much to us, it's just terrific."

Newbiggin Village Hall is also in the money today after receiving £115,313. Newbiggin is a small village on the fringe of the Lake District National Park and in recent years has lost its post office, shop and pub. The sole remaining amenity, the village hall, is over 50 years old and is showing its age.

Alan Rich, Chairman of the Village Hall Committee, said: “The grant, together with others from Cumbria Waste Management Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Low Carbon Buildings Programme and Cumbria County Council, will allow us to rebuild the hall. The new and improved building will help the community to retain its cohesion, provide an environmentally-firendly community centre, and assist in delivering amenities and facilities for the elderly and the vulnerable in our community.”

Plans for a new village hall to serve Helsington and Brigsteer are also looking up with the Helsington and Brigsteer Village Hall Management Committee receiving £274,963. Despite local fondness for the current hall - a rusting Second World War Nissen hut which was in service at Barrow Dockyard - it will now make way for a new building comprising a main hall, kitchen and smaller meeting room.

Richard Griffiths, Chairman of the Village Hall Management Committee, said: “The successful Big Lottery Fund bid is excellent news for Brigsteer. Over the years the village has lost its school, petrol station, shop and post office. Apart from the hall, only the Wheatsheaf Inn and the church remain as places to meet. The current users of the village hall struggle on despite the cold, damp and musty conditions but a new, user friendly hall will provide an opportunity for residents of all ages to participate and support each other in the many and varied activities that take place in the hall.”

The Gilcrux Village Hall and Educational Trust in Allerdale is also sharing in today’s awards. Their £399,129 grant will be used to refurbish the existing village hall which was built in 1864. The project will provide a multi media meeting room, a rear extension, accessible toilets, a new kitchen and a glass fronted entrance which will also serve as a youth shelter.

Susan Eastwood, Funding Secretary of the Trust, said “We are delighted with the funding support we are receiving from the Big Lottery Fund as it means we can make a real difference to a much valued community resource. We have been working hard for many years to get to this stage and really value the support we have received from our community and from previous village hall committees. We look forward to this project helping to strengthen the relationships within our own community and surrounding villages.”

All of today’s awards for the North West region are as follows:

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

• Community Buildings is dedicated to investing in buildings that give communities a chance to improve their quality of life and meet local needs, by offering a range of activities and services open to a broad range of people.
• Up to £50 million is being distributed across England over three years with grants of £50,000 to £500,000 available.
• The programme opened for applications in June 2006. 200 applicants were invited to submit stage 2 applications and development funding was awarded to some projects.
• The programme is now closed for applications
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half 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. 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 £22 billion has now been raised and more than 300,500 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

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