WIREDGOV

A project that will recruit volunteers to make toys for local children is among 135 London projects celebrating a good-causes windfall from the National Lottery.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of good causes funding from the National Lottery, is celebrating its tenth birthday next month but today’s announcement will get the party started early for a wide range of projects across the capital.

One of these projects is the Fern Street Settlement in Tower Hamlets. The group will use their award of £6,114 to bring together a mix of volunteers who will make handmade toys, books and games and hand them out to children in the local area. The charity, which has been running since 1907, will also be making a patchwork quilt that will celebrate the local community. This will also help to build relationships between different generations.

Tracy Godden is the project co-ordinator at Fern Street. She said: “Our charity originally started for children but now we help a real mix of people, all the way up to pensioners. Over the next few months we’re going to be working with an artist to help make the quilt and the toys will bring a bit of happiness to the local kids. Without the grant from the Big Lottery Fund we’d have really struggled to make it all possible.”

The project is just one of 135 projects in London sharing over £1.1m in the latest round of Awards for All grants from the Big Lottery Fund. The Awards For All scheme offers grants between £300 and £10,000 to social and environmental projects benefitting local communities and people most in need.

Newham Action Against Domestic Violence will use a grant of £7,474 to deliver a programme of multimedia activities for young people and a community event showcasing their work. This will give local young people the chance to work on creative projects relating to social and environmental issues.

In Wandsworth, My Space Matters have been awarded £9,992 to provide therapeutic training for young people who are at risk or have developed mental ill health. This will help them deal with negative emotional and behavioural issues and develop coping mechanisms.

Meanwhile there’s a buzz in the air in Lambeth, as Brockwell Greenhouses will use their grant of £7,000 to set up an apiary that will introduce more bees to the area and support community volunteering.

Dharmendra Kanani, Big Lottery Fund England Director, said: “As the Big Lottery Fund celebrates our tenth birthday, these great projects across London demonstrate the life-changing impact that just small amounts of Lottery funding have had over the years and will continue to do so, long into the future. I wish them all the best of luck.”
 
A full list of awards announced in London is available here

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk 
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf 
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.
• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006. 
• In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was returned to the Good Causes.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £31 billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.