Yesterday 720 community groups across England shared in more than £29 million of funding from the Big Lottery Fund.

Over The Wall has received £93,213 to develop their volunteer programme in nine camps across England. The project will deliver activities in camps for children with life limiting illnesses, their siblings and families. They will also increase applications from disabled people who experience barriers to securing volunteering opportunities. The aim is to use volunteering as a way to reduce their isolation, improve their mental health, confidence and self-esteem.

Molly Hunt, 21, Volunteer at Over The Wall

In 2004 Molly was diagnosed with bone cancer when she was just ten years old. She underwent a course of chemotherapy and in the same year had surgery for a hip and femur replacement. The following year she had two more surgeries to correct a dislocation of the new hip joint, and then two further surgeries in 2008. Molly has ongoing mobility issues and uses both a stick and crutches depending on how far she needs to travel. She has excelled at school and is currently studying medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University. Her first experience of Over The Wall was in 2006, aged 12, as a camper at the Dorset Serious Illness Camp and her first experience of volunteering for Over The Wall was in 2013, age 19, at The Midlands Camp.

Molly said: “I knew from the first time I went to camp as a 12 year old that I would like to volunteer as soon as I was old enough. The first volunteer I saw on my first day was a lady with a limp. Like me. I remember I asked her what was wrong with her leg and she said she had had bone cancer. Like me. And she had even been on the same ward in hospital as me. I remember thinking that I could be like her one day. Every time I go back to camp I feel safe and accepted and my condition is secondary – it’s just not an issue. I am never judged. At camp, we learn from the kids. They learn that they can be themselves and do things they never thought possible.”

Stand Alone has received £148,741 to separately address the issues of adults and young people as a result of family estrangement in peer support groups and then mixed groups. This is the development of a pilot delivered by Stand Alone Charity (SAC) in Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire and Greater London.

Ellen, 21

Ellen is a 21 year old graduate living in Newcastle. Her relationship with her family started to break down during her teenage years, leading her to become completely estranged whist she was studying at university. Like many other people in the Stand Alone community, her estrangement was not a sudden choice.

Ellen explains: “Me and members of my family experienced domestic violence throughout my childhood and my relationship with family was complicated and confusing for me. My dad left, which felt like a relief, but after that my relationship with my mum became more and more dysfunctional. She often lashed out at me, and we didn’t have the supportive, loving or caring relationship that I needed. I began to recognise things weren’t right especially as I left home for university. I wasn’t allowed to make my own decisions and became under increasing pressure to leave university. After some time apart, we tried to talk about the situation, but she couldn’t accept my choices.”

Ellen found Stand Alone as she was about to graduate. “It was a big relief. It felt like no-one else at my university was dealing with the same pressures or had anything other than a normal relationship with their family. It can be very hard, as you feel like you’re the only one. Listening to others’ stories and experiences has helped me to see that I am not alone. People at Stand Alone know and understand that families are complicated and that there’s sometimes a need to make difficult choices.”

Becca Bland, Chief Executive for Stand Alone said: “Our research suggests one in five families will be touched by estrangement in the UK. Many factors contribute towards family estrangement, our service users are often dealing with abuse experienced within the family, divorce, and key differences in morals, values and beliefs. Issues regarding honour violence, forced marriage and family rejection connected to gender identity and sexuality are also common. There are a lot of expectations for families to be supportive and close, which can be frustrating for those people who can't have that type of relationship. Bringing people together to share their experiences has a powerful impact for those who feel isolated by their different experience of family.”

Also receiving funding is Project for Advocacy, Counselling and Education (PACE) which will be using £333,845 to provide online support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and for young people experiencing mental health issues across England. PACE is expanding its service to include a range of new targeted activities including national volunteer-led advocacy support, additional involvement of volunteers in providing advocacy and information, and support to service users through online counselling.

Chance for Change has received £418,656 to enable young adults aged 18 to 28 with challenging life stories such as homelessness, drug or alcohol misuse to take control of their lives. These people are ready and willing to take control of their lives but may be struggling to become independent and move forward. Participants will be encouraged to take responsibility for themselves and others, making them more mature and employable individuals through learning to plan, solve problems, work with others, manage time, and build and maintain positive relationships.

Lyn Cole, Big Lottery Fund, England Grant Making Director, said: “Whether it is supporting young people with life limiting illnesses or people who have grown distant to their families, these projects will make a huge difference to the lives of many. These projects are excellent examples of people working together to help others in their community including supporting them to attain the skills they need to realise their potential.”

Yesterday’s awards have been made through the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All and Reaching Communities programmes awarding National Lottery funding to communities and people most in need in England. Awards for All provides grants between £300 and £10,000 to voluntary and community organisations and Reaching Communities awards larger grants of £10,000 and above.                                                                                                                                  

Please see spreadsheet for a full list of awards across England.

Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
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Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery for good causes and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes. 
• Since June 2004 we have awarded over £8 billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £34 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.
• Awards for All small grants programme makes lottery awards between £300 and £10,000 for a wide range of community projects aimed at developing skills, improving health, revitalizing the local environment and enabling people to become more active citizens. 
• Reaching Communities large grants programme makes Lottery awards between 10,000 and larger to support people and communities most in need to give people better life chances, develop stronger communities, improve rural and urban environments and promote healthier more active people and communities.