Member Article

North East bags fund's 1000th award

A North East regeneration scheme has received the 1000th award under the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme. The Easington Colliery Regeneration Partnership will have a share in £480,000 that was pumped into the region on Wednesday.

Easington Colliery is the fourth most deprived community in the UK, but the Regeneration Partnership offers new activities for residents of all ages. It is thought that with the £138,557 grant, the Partnership will be able to continue its work. Its programme, People and their Parks, will run 153 activities, including sports sessions aimed at improving health and fitness. In August 2006, Easington was named as the ‘most obese’ town in England.

The money will also be used to improve community awareness and to organise events that celebrate the history of the former mining town, such as Victorian days and 1940s tea dances.

The Partnership Project Manager Michael Fishwick said: “The award from the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities is going to breathe new life into the fantastic parks and community spaces of Easington Colliery.”

Other schemes that have been awarded in the 1000th Reaching Communities donation are the Dawdon Youth and Community Centre and the Human Givens Outreach programme. The former will spend their £54,501 on the A Vibrant Community strategy, which will offer support to young, elderly and disabled people in Seaham.

The Human Givens Outreach programme is a cause that provides guidance to people who suffer with emotional and psychological difficulties. It receives £286,006.

James Turner, Big Lottery Fund’s North East Head, said: “The fact that the 1000th award is going to our region is a true reflection of the huge number of excellent North East projects that have now got Reaching Communities funding.”

For more information on the Big Lottery Fund, or to apply for a grant, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/northeast.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .