Lottery backs relief for isolated and ill in West Midlands

Area:

West Midlands

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

20 2 2007

A £477,325 award to the Wolverhampton Sickle Cell Care & Social Activity Centre will pay for years of pain-relieving therapies and other services for people with the inherited blood disorder. The project will set up a respite care facility to provide alternative treatments such as massage, diet advice, exercise and cognitive therapies to help manage pain and reduce hospital admissions. Parents with the disease will be helped with day-to-day tasks such as cooking, cleaning, ironing and gardening. Carers will be given respite and training in massage techniques so they can deliver pain relief at home.

Claudette Mitchell, Managing Director of the Wolverhampton Sickle Cell Care and Social Activity Centre, said: “We have been working on a shoe string. Our after-school club that ran children’s activities and gave parents some relief from care responsibilities recently closed because of lack of funding. This grant is terribly important, as it will enable us to expand our services and continue to help people tackle this painful disease.”

Meanwhile, a time bank scheme in Birmingham, awarded £27,046, will break down social barriers between young and older people and develop practical skills for participants. Under the Bournville Village Trust’s TimeBank project, participants record time they spend in volunteer work such as performing household jobs for other members of the scheme. In return, they are entitled to receive as many hours of volunteer help as they have “banked”.

Rebecca Debenham, a Youth Worker for the Bournville Village Trust, said: “The project will be very important for the local community because it will emphasise volunteering for older and disabled people, with the aim of improving intergenerational relationships and reducing social isolation.

“Using this grant, we will employ a local young person who will become a community advocate and administer the TimeBank by liaising with our Young Peoples Forum and volunteers. The project will target young people in order to develop their skills and to encourage them to take a more positive role within the community.”

The Coventry East Credit Union Limited will enhance its services thanks to a £130,965 grant. Volunteers will be trained to provide a range of help targeting isolated elderly, lone parents and other people who face exclusion from banking services. The volunteers will promote personal budgeting and money management, signpost people to appropriate money providers, develop a school savings club and help people open new basic bank accounts.

The Reaching Communities programme awards grants of up to £500,000 for projects that offer people better chances in life, build strong communities, improve urban and rural environments and promote healthy activities.

Big Lottery Fund Head of West Midlands John Taylor said: “Today, we are really pleased to offer financial support to these three hard working local groups from across the West Midlands who do so much to bring new opportunities and a better quality of life to people in 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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