Animals help People and Places in Wales to grow

Area:

Wales

Programme:

People and Places

Release date:

19 2 2008

From Wrexham in North Wales to Swansea in the South, sixteen community projects throughout the country are benefiting from the £2,971,159 cash roll out, which aims to bring people together to make communities stronger and to improve rural and urban environments.

One of five projects to be awarded in North Wales, the Clwyd Special Riding Centre in Llanfynydd, near Wrexham, will spend £56,420 on a project to enable young people over the age of sixteen with special needs to improve their life skills through the medium of horse care. Over the years, the lives of numerous youngsters with disabilities have been dramatically changed thanks to classes run by the centre, which received the Queen’s Unsung Heroes Golden Jubilee Award in 2003. The charity, run by a group of volunteers, welcomes more than 200 people of all ages every week who benefit from the stimulation of riding, carriage driving and equesterian vaulting. The classes help to improve muscle strength, coordination and concentration of people with disabilities. Through this new project, participants will attend the Centre part time to take part in a programme specifically designed to target life skills such as communication, literacy and teamwork. Horses will be used to provide the framework to the programme and will be the basis for learning activities.

Meanwhile, in South Wales, the Swansea Community Farm in the Cadle area of the city will spend £147,523 to continue and expand its current ‘Grow With Us’ project by increasing volunteering and training opportunities for children and young people. Over the years, the once derelict piece of land in the middle of Swansea’s urban sprawl has been transformed into a green oasis with previous help from the Big Lottery Fund. Run by local people for local people, it’s a place where people can grow alongside the crops and animals and develop new skills, make new friends and face new challenges. The grant, over three years, will fully fund the salaries of a new part time Child and Youth Worker and increase the hours of a current Project Manager.

In Powys, mid-Wales, a grant of £185,085 will allow the Rhayader and District Community Support Ltd organisation to provide community transport to socially excluded people living in rural areas around Rhayader. Nestling among the unspoilt peaks of the Cambrian Mountains, in the very heart of beautiful mid-Wales, the small historic market town of Rhayader is a picturesque rural idyll. But as most people are aware, transport is a necessity for people living in an isolated rural community, especially where access to vital services and expertise is concerned. This project will enable people to access a new weekly well-being group that will encourage healthy active lives by promoting well balanced diet, healthy exercise and increase social networks. The project will enhance an already successful mini bus service, which was also supported by a Big Lottery Fund grant.

In a project encompassing Wrexham, Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, the Displaced People In Action organisation will spend their £230,943 award on a project to improve the integration of displaced people, by providing both refugee awareness training and by undertaking 'community based' inclusion initiatives. It will also expand upon Displaced People In Action's (DPIA's) 'Readiness for Work' project to break down barriers which can prevent refugees from gaining employment. This will closely involve refugee community organisations and will support asylum seeker and refugee volunteers to deliver refugee awareness training.

Commenting on the positive impact the awards will have on the communities throughout Wales, Big Lottery Fund Wales Committee Member and Chair of the People and Places Committee, Janet Reed, said: “Programmes like People and Places are making a difference to the lives of so many people in communities across Wales. People and Places delivers on our promise to use Lottery funding to regenerate and revitalise communities, tackle disadvantage head on and leave a lasting legacy. I’m sure these awards will have a positive impact on the lives of many people in the community and will continue to do so for years to come."

The £66 million People and Places programme awards grants of between £5,001 and £1 million for a broad range of community projects. For further information about the People and Places programme and how you can apply for funding, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk and use the ‘Wales’ specific search facility.

For further information about the projects and to obtain contact details for the individuals and organisations involved, please contact the Big Lottery Fund press office on the numbers below.

Download a full list of projects 
- 38KB

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office – Oswyn Hughes: 02920 678 207
Out of hours contact: 07760 171 431
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102 030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

Notes to Editors:

• In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out close to £1 million a week in Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales 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. It was 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 £20 billion has now been raised and more than 250,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

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