£11 million Lottery funding is icing on the Xmas cake for community groups

Big Lottery Fund is spreading the Xmas cheer across England today as it distributes a multi-million pound funding package to 52 community groups.

Children, older people, single parent families and people with disabilities are amongst those to benefit from the latest round of grants from the Reaching Communities programme.

Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, Sir Clive Booth said: "The grants awarded today recognise and support the valuable work of hundreds of people, who are bringing help to those most in need. Many of the organisations supported by Reaching Communities programme work on the principle of helping people to help themselves. The Big Lottery Fund is delighted to provide backing for projects that support innovative and creative ideas to encourage self sufficiency, help their beneficiaries develop and realise their own potential and show how lottery money can bring real improvements to individuals and their communities."

One of the groups receiving funding is the Volunteer Reading Help, who work with looked-after children to develop a love of reading and learning, inspiring generations of young people to achieve their full potential. The £361,513 grant will train over 200 new volunteers to provide one to one weekly reading sessions for children in care in Central and Greater Manchester, Kent, Dudley, Walsall and the West Midlands areas.

Lesley Sharp, Northern Regional Manager for Volunteer Reading Help, said: "The BIG Lottery money will allow us to sustain and expand the project and develop it as a model which will benefit other looked-after children.

"Ultimately this project provides children with the life chances that they otherwise wouldn't have. Children face a lifetime of social exclusion if they lack basic literacy skills and we have found that an hour of individual, dedicated, positive time each week can help change a child's perception of their ability. The one-to-one sessions ensure greater achievement in the classroom, improve social interaction with others, develop better motivation towards learning generally and cut down levels of truancy.

"At the same time our volunteers, who act as both mentors and role models to the children we support, will also benefit from the scheme. Many find their experience of volunteering helps them to develop their skills and confidence, others are looking to put something back into society following retirement."

In another project, an outreach service will use their £273,405 award to span hundreds of miles across New Forest, Hampshire, to give relief to previously isolated people living with dementia, and their families and carers.

The Alzheimer's Society's New Forest Branch will deliver a range of support services over five years to enable people with dementia make their own informed decisions about dealing with the condition. More than 3,500 older people and at least 50 younger to middle aged people live with the condition in the New Forest. Most are in small towns and villages scattered across 290 square miles. They will receive support and advice at all stages of dementia from pre-diagnosis to the closing stages of the illness.

Gilda Newsham, Chair of the Alzheimer's Society New Forest branch, said: "This service will open doors and reach out to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It will give hope for people who feel alone and isolated and will strengthen communities. The Lottery grant has given the branch a wonderful opportunity to spread this important service to all the communities in the New Forest, including the rural towns and villages, which up till now have been excluded."

Kids in Need and Distress (KIND) receives £471,660 to run the project from the newly refurbished Social and Environmental Education Development (SEED) Centre in Toxteth, Merseyside. It will offer an informal setting for fun and practical environmental activities including a community green spaces project recruiting volunteer Green Rangers, healthy cooking lessons and an opportunity to catch up on education and improve language skills for both kids and their families.

Stephen Yip, Chief Executive said: "I have always wondered what it must be like to win the Lottery and now I know. One of our young volunteers opened the letter and the whole office proceeded to go into communal shock - to be awarded this grant and at this time of the year, I do believe in Father Christmas. This is a tremendous boost to KIND and our new centre in Toxteth. It will enable us to work with and for many individuals and groups within our community who are often excluded from the mainstream. Our new centre will offer a wide range of activities all designed to promote positive social values and alternatives."

Bristol-based Lifeskills-Learning for Living will be setting the scene to help young people and adults with learning disabilities get streetwise. The innovative life skills project will use the £175,016 award towards stage sets which will create a realistic village location, including houses, supermarket, road with vehicles, dark alley, building site, playground, stream and railway. The sets are designed to simulate hazardous situations through which learners can study safety and injury prevention in a practical way, enabling them to recognise everyday risk and make safer choices. The project will, in turn, boost training for people with learning difficulties to act as volunteer guides to teach their peers about independent living skills.

Louise Salter, Independent Living Programme Manager, said: "Lifeskills-Learning for Living is a permanent, regional safety education and training centre built as a realistic village. The Lifeskills approach is interactive and bridges the gap that often exists between knowledge and behaviour. It is designed to help people learn about safety in a fun and practical way, specifically in the home, on the road and during leisure time.

Under Reaching Communities, the Big Lottery Fund gives out grants of up to £500,000 over five years for projects that offer people better life chances, build stronger communities, develop improved rural and urban environments and improve health and well being.

Reaching Community Grants awarded today:

Name of Organisation                    Region              Amount New College Nottingham                  East Midlands     £344,290 Focus Charity                           East Midlands     £394,005 Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire East Midlands     £498,038 Ltd Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire East Midlands     £229,009 Ltd Greetham Jubilee Community Centre       East Midlands      £15,000 Peterborough Citizens Advice Bureau     Eastern           £106,821 Youth Talk Limited                      Eastern           £340,087 Isabel Hospice Limited                  Eastern            £49,988 Home-Start Swaffham and District        Eastern            £57,626 Home-Start Harwich                      Eastern            £83,560 Sit and Fidget                          Eastern            £10,205 Volunteer Reading Help                  England - wide    £361,513 Save the Children Fund (UK)             England - wide    £496,482 The National Organisation of Foetal     England - wide    £184,436 Alcohol Syndrome ASWAC                                   London            £164,595 Brick Lane Youth Development            London            £483,167 Association Broadway Homelessness and support       London            £469,487 TAGEERO                                 London            £160,434 Limehouse Project                       London            £289,532 Brent and Harrow Community Health       London            £235,457 Project Newham Community Renewal Programme      London            £276,546 The Stuart Low Trust                    London             £40,000 The Middlesbrough Domestic Violence     North East        £446,267 Forum Home-Start Seaham                       North East        £348,980 Sports Recycler Limited                 North East         £74,922 North Sunderland & Seahouses            North East         £61,900 Development Trust Middleton Day Centre                    North West         £25,000 Rossendale Domestic Violence Forum      North West        £460,198 Glenmore Trust                          North West        £393,875 Cumbria Deaf Association                North West        £239,845 South Lancashire Learning Disability    North West         £23,027 Training Consortium Kids in Need and Distress               North West        £471,660 Oldham Children and Youth Alliance      North West        £373,771 Crime Reduction Initiatives             South East        £194,999 The Kingwood Trust                      South East         £92,648 Alzheimer's Society - New Forest Branch South East        £273,405 Home-Start Portsmouth                   South East        £182,230 Thames Valley Positive Support          South East        £120,000 East Kent Rape Line                     South East        £229,218 Young Voice                             South East         £14,632 Mind in Taunton and West Somerset       South West        £325,000 The Shekinah Mission (Plymouth) Limited South West        £437,759 Lifeskills Learning for Living          South West        £175,016 St Petrocks (Exeter) Ltd                South West        £292,003 Age Concern Bristol                     South West        £110,394 West Cornwall Womens Aid                South West        £140,264 Black Country Learning Academy          West Midlands     £185,450 6 Towns Credit Union Ltd                West Midlands      £56,738 Keighley Volunteer Bureau               Yorkshire and     £143,100                                         Humber Depression Anxiety Self Help            Yorkshire and      £38,661                                         Humber People in Action (Leeds)                Yorkshire and     £157,489                                         Humber Willow, The North Hull Women's Centre   Yorkshire and     £397,371                                         Humber

Big Lottery Fund Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030 Textphone: 08456 021 659 Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors * Big Lottery Fund is the joint operating name of the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Charities Board (which made grants under the name of the Community Fund). The Big Lottery Fund, launched on 1st June 2004, is distributing half of all National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.

* The Big Lottery 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. To date, the two merged Funds have committed more than £6 billion to initiatives with national, regional and local partners from the public, voluntary, charity and private sectors, with a particular focus on disadvantage.

* 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 http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/publications.htm

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