East of England region update

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Welcome to the latest update from the Big Lottery Fund in the East of England. This edition includes news of our BIG Local Trust and Community Wildlife programme.

You can read Len Andrews’ timely account of his wartime service in the Far East, sixty five years ago, as we remember VJ-Day on 15 August 2010.

Hear from Jamie Conway our intrepid Regional Development Officer and his account of a 37 km cycle ride through the Fens – a journey exploring the progress of one of the regional Sustrans projects.

I’d also like to mention our brand new Communities webpage. This pulls together various components that highlight our commitment to improve local communities, including related programmes, lessons learnt through research and inspirational stories told through case studies, video or podcasts – a one stop shop for those who want to help their community. http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/communities

And finally congratulations to...

Lottery funded project, the Phoenix Group for Deaf Children has been shortlisted for the national Signature Annual Awards 2010.  Signature is a charity that champions excellence in communication with deaf people. The Phoenix group has been shortlisted for ‘people and organisations flying the flag in deaf communication’ and are in the category for organisational excellence. We would like to congratulate them and wish them well in the November finals. More information about the awards is available at www.signature.org.uk/awards

And further congratulations to the ‘Forest of Marston Vale’ project which is the regional entry for the Best Environmental project in the National Lottery Awards finals. Find out how you can cast your vote in the update below.

I hope you find the update useful and informative. We always welcome your feedback.

Best wishes,

Sara Betsworth, Head of Region – East of England

Heroes Return 2 - A personal account

Len Andrews, from Southend-on-Sea remembers his wartime service in the Far East. This year Len will make a Heroes Return 2 trip to Singapore for the first time in 65 years.

Joining up with the Royal Army Service Corp aged 18 Len became part of a demonstration platoon, training soldiers in fire arm drill and assault courses, before moving on, somewhat reluctantly, to a posting as an instructor training troops who had returned from Dunkirk.

He recalls, “I didn’t want to do that, as I hadn’t done anything, and after all those chaps had been through at Dunkirk, what could I teach them? So I volunteered for Burma.”

Read more about Len’s experiences in the Far East by visiting the Heroes Return blog at heroesreturn.org

The Big Lottery Fund is continuing to ensure the efforts of Second World War veterans from across the UK and Ireland are not forgotten through its Heroes Return 2 scheme, awarding grants for ex-servicemen and women to return on commemorative trips back to places across the world where they saw action. Veterans or their widows/widowers are still being urged to apply to the initiative, which remains open for applications until January 2011. If you would further information please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_heroes_return

BIG invests in Local Trust

Big Local Trust, which launched on 27 July, aims to get people involved in deciding how to improve the areas where they live.

Up to £200 million will be invested in 100-150 urban and rural neighbourhoods in England that may have had difficulty obtaining funding in the past.

Of the 50 neighbourhoods identified so far, four are in the East of England. Each will receive at least £1million through Big Local Trust.

These areas are Kingsbrook and Cauldwell in Bedford; Whitehouse and Whitton in Ipswich; Leeming Road/Aycliffe Road in Hertsmere and Ramsey in Huntingdonshire. Find out more on our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

An independent charitable Trust will be set up to support local funding schemes in the targeted areas over 10 years. BIG is asking for expressions of interest from organisations interested in running the Trust by Thursday 12 August 2010 Interested? Find out what we're looking for

If you’re not in one of the areas above, there are still plenty of opportunities to help your community. Check out the Communities page on BIG’s website which includes details about all our relevant funding programmes currently open, lessons learnt from projects and previous experience, and inspirational videos and podcasts from community based projects.

National Lottery Awards – The regional entry!

The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects. All projects have already received Lottery funding, and the Awards celebrate how they have put that money to good use.

The National Lottery Awards have several projects funded by BIG that you can vote for. The winning project in each category will receive national recognition on a star-studded BBC1 TV show later this year.

One of the finalists for the Best Environmental project is the East of England’s ‘Forest of Marston Vale’. The Forest Centre is a lively conservation centre, set in the spectacular Millennium Country Park, just a few minutes drive away from Milton Keynes and Bedford. The main park and visitors centre are open all year round and entry’s free! The Wetlands reserve has a ticketed charge in order to support maintaining this part of the site for wildlife. With easy parking and trouble free access for everyone, the Forest Centre is a natural place for the all the family to come and explore. For more information and to find out how you can vote please visit National Lottery Awards  

Sustrans’ Connect 2 – regional update!

Sustrans' Connect2 is funded by a £50 million Big Lottery Fund grant which the UK public voted for as the winner of the People's Millions Lottery contest on ITV1 in December 2007. The project is aiming to transform local communities across the UK by developing better provision of walking and cycling routes over the next five years.

Behind the scenes at Sustrans, the Connect2 team has been working closely with the Big Lottery Fund and local partnersto get the UK-wide project underway. Over the next 5 years (to 2013) £50 million of Big Lottery Funding will be matched with more than £100 million of other funding to create dedicated, high quality local walking and cycling networks benefiting anestimated 6 million people across the UK from Devon to Perthshire.

Here in the East of England we have six ongoing projects through Connect 2. They are in Cheshunt, the Watton and Griston Link, the Norwich to Whitlingham Link, Royston, St Neots and the Wicken.  

Work is in progress on all these projects and this year at the Wicken Vision project a new bridge will be installed at Burwell Lode. BIG Lottery Fund’s Regional Officer in Development, Jamie Conway, got on his bike to view the progress in June.

Jamie said, ‘The original idea for a cycle ride was conceived in March 2010 as a request to monitor the progress of one of the East of England’s Connect 2 schemes’ development.

The day began at 12pm with a rendezvous at Green Dragon Bridge, Chesterton.  The initial party consisted of myself and partner stakeholder representatives from Sustrans, Cambridgeshire County Council and the National Trust. We cycled along the River Cam through to Fen Ditton village where we stopped for an opportunity to see the start of the Sustrans route.  

From here we peddled on to Anglesey Abbey, we stopped for lunch and took the opportunity to discuss the progress of the scheme in more detail.  After lunch we cycled on, through the spine route to Reach Bridge, stopping at various spots to discuss landmarks and scheme works such as the resurfacing of White Fen Drove and the ‘cycle counter’ machine to measure the number of visitors.

We eventually arrived at Reach Lode Bridge, which had been lowered into place only the week before.  Here we took the opportunity to speak to the onsite contractors about the logistics and problems encountered during the operation.  Work on the approach to the bridge continued as we arrived.  We stopped to take shelter from a rain shower and took the opportunity to take plenty of photographs.

Once past Reach Lode Bridge, we cycled on to Burwell Lode where we discussed the plans for the next bridge crossing, which is still in development.  After leaving Burwell Lode, we got caught in another heavy downpour on our way to the Wicken Fen Visitor’s Centre.  Here we took a welcome break for tea and cakes and to dry out!  After much further conversation about the scheme and other opportunities, we wished each other farewell and departed our separate ways.  

To find out more about Sustrans’ Connect 2 in your region please visit http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/connect2  

Community Wildlife

Community Wildlife is Big Lottery Fund’s programme aimed at projects that can bring local people together to discover, enjoy and protect the wildlife in their local area.

The programme is open to a wide range of organisations including voluntary and community organisations, schools, town and parish councils, and statutory health authorities. Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are available.

The Community Wildlife programme is running in partnership with the BBC. It complements the BBC’s ‘Go Wild’ campaign and is designed to provide opportunities for people and communities to become involved with, enhance and protect their local wildlife.

The programme has been launched with up to £2 million available across the UK. Organisations can submit applications before the next two programme deadlines of 22nd September and the 24th November 2010.

For further details about the programme and to get an application form please visit our website www.biglotteyfund.org.uk/communitywildlife, or call our helpline on: 0845 367 0610. For more ideas for projects visit the BBC Wildlife Fund website

External news

Comic Relief

Comic Relief continues to seek applications for its current programme and is keen to support projects in the East of England. Funding programmes cover Young People, Older people, Sexually Exploited Young People, Local Communities, Domestic and Sexual Abuse, Mental Health and Refugee and Asylum Seeking Women.

For more details please visit ukapplication@comicrelief.com.

The next funding round opens on 11 October 2010 and the deadline for submitting your application for this cycle is 7 January 2011.

To discuss possible applications please contact: Nors Jackson, Comic Relief, East of England Adviser on 01206 323 822 or email nors.jackson@dial.pipex.com

Teams of Tesco Volunteers - Need for Community Projects

Get CSR Connected CIC is a social enterprise based in Hertfordshire and specifically support local employers to do group volunteering in the area. They have regular teams from Tesco who are looking at doing a project for community organisations based in the Hertfordshire area.

These projects are usually done in ½- 1 day with a Tesco team as a manpower resource. This can be a great opportunity to complete projects, whilst also building a relationship with local head office Tesco employees. They support both parties to organise and complete the project in partnership.

If you have any project you think may be suitable – please get in touch. They currently have teams of 30, 45 and 150 waiting for projects they can complete!

Projects can be large or small, indoor or outdoor and the more challenging the better! Some examples are:

• Vegetable/sensory/fruit gardens;
• Redecoration/regeneration projects (indoor or outdoor);
• Wildlife/environmental areas;
• Clearance of outside areas and/or creation of areas;
• Themed projects/ecological/environmental projects;
• Educational projects with/for clients/students.

Here are some examples of projects already completed www.getcsrconnected.org.uk/tesco_community_days.php - see the great benefits that can be achieved.

Please get in touch ASAP if you think you have any projects that may be suitable – the teams waiting are looking for projects they can complete from September 2010 onwards!

Contact Get CSR Connected CIC on 01920 485552 or teamday@getcsrconnected.org.uk