East Midlands region update
May 2012
Reaching Communities, this month total £1.5million!
BIG’s Reaching Communities programme aims to help those most in need and build stronger communities. This month six groups take a share of £1.5M to deliver their projects.
Parishioners of Heydour, nr Grantham in Lincolnshire will soon have access to a new and much needed community centre and parish hall. The venue will be home to an increased range of services, events and clubs for the whole community to enjoy. It will benefit residents from Heydour and nearby Aisby and Oasby. The £458,133 awarded will pay to tear down the existing World War One officers’ mess hut, to replace it with a modern and versatile community facility.
The new Heydour village hall will provide a local place for older residents to access cultural, health and social support and clubs whilst providing a base for activities for the whole community. New facilities will include a multi-use hall, meeting room, storage, kitchen, bar/server area and changing areas for events and outdoor sports. WiFI and internet access will also be provided, opening up online facilities for all.
Norman Hatcliff, Chair of Heydour Parish Hall Management Committee said: “The new hall for Heydour will be a wonderful legacy for our community, our children and the generations that follow. We’re aiming to complete next summer with a grand opening jamboree in June or July.”
Other awards this month include £295,105 to the Just Good Friends Club. The funds will enable the project to continue to provide social activities for adults with learning disabilities in Bolsover, North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield.
The club will provide support to over 2,000 individuals. Through day time drop in sessions, evening social clubs and regular nightclub events, users will increase their independence. At least 80 will gain organisational skills through involvement in volunteering, the management committee and decision making. The activities will also offer respite to their carers and families.
Participants will be able to choose from regular social and sports events at three locations in South Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Chesterfield. Activities will include bingo, boccia, curling, darts, meals out, pool, arts and crafts and shopping trips.
Vicki, Chairperson of the Whitwell Club who has been going to Just Good Friends events for nine years said, “The club is very good and if there wasn’t a club I would get bored at home.” The club’s activities encourage the service users to make friends. The club’s treasurer, Ian said: “The club makes me feel important.”
In Nottingham city the residents of the Meadows Estate will benefit from £328,000, enabling the Arkwright Meadows Community Gardens horticulture project to continue. A new Cultivating Futures education centre will open on the site which will provide formal training and an education programme.
The community project aims to tackle poverty, increase life skills, raise aspirations and combat health inequality. They will provide a staffed, green space that will be accessible and safe. The produce grown will be sold, at low prices to the local community. In addition, staff and volunteers work with groups such as adults with learning disabilities, school children and other local community groups.
More than £440K for Awards for All
A community group in Derby will be able to continue to help those suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, thank to a grant of £6,895 from Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme. Being One Distinguished You will use the money will support self-help classes and create a short promotional video. Their aim is to raise awareness of the condition, which sees people spend an excessive amount of time worried and concerned about their appearance.
It is just one of 58 community projects across the East Midlands that will take a share of the £443,000 from Awards for All, May allocations. Projects from across the region are set to benefit, including Derby, Chesterfield, Northampton and Lincoln.
Amongst those receiving grants in May are, The Older People’s Arts Forum in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. They will use £9,810 to train volunteers to run creative workshops, aimed at older people in care and nursing homes.
Cornwater Clubs (Ravenshead) in Nottingham has received £10,000 to deliver a range of recreational and social activities at their club for older people. Their specific focus is those who are frail or showing early signs of dementia. The activities will help to improve service users’ mental and physical health, reduce isolation and maintain their independence for longer.
£9,982 for the Community Court Yard in Northampton will deliver a range of activities to support young people, including anger management, conflict resolution and gardening workshops. In Derbyshire, Duckmanton Primary School has secured £9,810 to establish afterschool dance and exercise classes for pupils and the wider community.
Elsewhere in the region, Central Youth Club in Carlton, Nottingham, has received £2,893 to set up a new youth group. European Multicultural Foundation (EMF) Limited are awarded £7,340 to run a leadership development programme for young people in Leicester, and Bourne Outdoor Swimming Pool Preservation Trust in Lincolnshire will replace recirculation pumps for their outdoor pool thanks to £4,370.
Mick McGrath, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the East Midlands region, stated: “Today’s grants are fantastic news for communities across the region. Small amounts of money can make a big difference and we are proud to be able to support so many community groups with £443,112 in grants this month.”
Visit www.awardsforall.org.uk or phone 0845 410 20 30 for more information.
For a full list of this month’s awards click here
A Buzz in Northamptonshire
In rural Northamptonshire, the bees are claiming back their air space, thanks to a fantastic project at Stanwick Lakes. The 750acre countryside attraction and nature reserve in the Nene Valley is taking part in the national drive to save the honey bee. Through a series of taster sessions and educational events volunteers will teach the next generation to value the extraordinary honey bee.
The Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme awarded £8,031 to the Hive of Activity project run by Rockingham Trust. The money has increased the number of hives to ten, and financed decking to protect the apiary from flooding. It has trained the volunteers to take care of the hives, run community education projects and purchased bee-keeping suits to protect from the odd sting! Finally it has brought a transportable observation hive for outreach events.
In support of the project, and to view the good work, Louise Mensch MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire visited the apiary. She was accompanied by Mick McGrath, Head of Region, Big Lottery Fund East Midlands.
Ms Mensch got into the swing of things and donned a bee-keeping suit to get up close and personal with Stanwick Lakes’ newest residents. She was impressed with the dedication and hard work on display. She stated,
“I was extremely happy to have been able to come to Stanwick Lakes. To see the good work the Rockingham Forest Trust are doing with the Hive of Activity Project and how the Big Lottery Fund are supporting this. The Trust’s work on environmental conservation is to be commend.”
Thanking the representative of the project, Big Lottery Fund’s Mick McGrath commented,
“It is inspiring to see a project that’s objective is to up-skill community volunteers, to transfer skills that can be taken on to other places. The project fits the Awards for All profile perfectly, supporting local education, health and the environment. Thank you to Rockingham Forest Trust for the great work they are doing”
The project’s aims are to help conserve the honey bee. Not simply to provide us with honey to spread on our toast and sweeten our tea, but to improve the local flora and improve the delicate habit around the lake, to further sustain and support local wildlife. In Northamptonshire alone a third of all food grown is reliant on bees for pollination, and nationally the species is under threat.
As for the future, the Hive of Activity Project is aiming to become self-sustaining; generating revenue by selling the honey produced, and we at Big Lottery Fund can confirm, it is delicious!!
To find out more about Awards for All visit www.awardsforall.org.uk/england or call
0845 4 10 20 30
Purple Zebra
Purple Zebra received £313,669 from Big Lottery Fund's BASIS program to increase and support the use of ICT in the East Midlands. We visited a social media surgery that they were running, giving voluntary groups in Nottingham that chance to drop in and get help, support and advice, in using online channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
Watch the video:
Village SOS Roadshow comes to Lincoln
The Village SOS Roadshow will visit Lincoln on 27 June, come along to this FREE event to learn about the benefits of community enterprise.
Village SOS is an investment from Big Lottery Fund to revive rural communities through new business venture.
Be inspired by the people behind community enterprises like shops and pubs, broadband projects and transport schemes as they share their real-life experiences.
For further information, visit:
http://www.villagesos.org.uk/uk-event/village-sos-roadshow-showroom-lincoln
The Big Jubilee Lunch, Sunday 3 June 2012
This year, the fourth annual Big Lunch coincides with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The Big Lunch from the Eden Project, aims to get as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours in a simple act of community, friendship and fun.
This year’s event should be bigger than ever before as Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary recently announced an additional £185,000 to help more areas plan and arrange their own Jubilee Lunch celebrations.
Find out how to join it at http://www.thebiglunch.com/join-in/index.php
Latest edition of the BIG Mag is out now
Issue Eight of England’s BIG magazine is available now, featuring East Midlands’ project, Wheelbase.
Click here for Link to PDF version
Follow us, like us, or get in touch
If you would like to contact the East Midlands team please email enquiries.em@biglotteryfund.org.uk or call 0115 8722950. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter too!
BIG advice line 0845 4 10 20 30
