Welsh youngsters ‘walk on the wild side’ with Lottery cash

Area:

Wales

Programme:

Young People's Fund Make it Happen

Release date:

31 8 2007

Projects developed by young people in Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly share in a total of £5,015 awarded through the Make it Happen strand of the Young People’s Fund. Make it Happen helps Welsh young people aged 10–19 years old to make positive changes to their lives.

The money will help provide activities for youngsters from a range of different backgrounds. The projects will also focus on developing new skills and will provide new opportunities that many would otherwise be unable to enjoy.

Georgetown Boys and Girls Club in Merthyr Tydfil will be spending the £2,050 they received on a trip to a safari park and theme park. On September 7, the girls football team and some of the disabled youngsters will be venturing all the way to West Midland Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire.   

Commenting on the award, the Chair of Georgetown Boys and Girls Club and the Coach of the girls football team, Mandy Keating, said: “They’ve worked hard all season on and off the pitch and have given a lot of their time and effort for the club. It’s great for them to have a little treat like this. Some of our members would rarely get a chance to participate in activities such as this if it wasn’t for programmes like Make it Happen. It would have taken far longer for us to raise money for something like this on our own.”

Deri Regeneration Group in Caerphilly were also successful under the latest round of awards. They will spend their £2,965 on a project to provide a variety of activities, visits and workshops for young people, which will enable them to have new experiences, gain skills and knowledge and increase their self confidence.

Highlighting the importance of the Make it Happen programme, the Big Lottery Fund Wales Committee member and Chair of the Young People’s Fund Committee, Mike Theodoulou, said: “The projects will provide youngsters with an opportunity to learn valuable new lessons, be creative, develop new and exciting skills and express themselves in a safe environment. The message these grants send to other groups is clear: If you think that between £500 and £5,000 in cash can help your group develop a range of skills and take part in a variety of activities, then get your application in to BIG.”

For further information about the projects, and contact details for the groups and organisations involved, please contact the Big Lottery Fund Wales press office by email or on the numbers below.

For further information about the Young People’s Fund and how your group can apply for funding, log onto the Big Lottery Fund website at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk and use the ‘Wales’ specific search facility. Alternatively, you can telephone the Big Lottery Fund office on 01686 611 700.

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 207
Out of hours contact: 07760171431
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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