WIREDGOV

Across Scotland, 285 community groups are today sharing National Lottery funding worth £2,015,070. 

A full list of awards in your area is available here

From sending a dance group from Fife to represent Scotland at national dance championships to setting up a community observatory in the Scottish Borders, there’s something for everyone in the latest round of grants from Awards for All Scotland.

Awards for All Scotland gives out grants of between £500 and £10,000 to projects that bring communities together to enjoy a range of activities.

Ballroom dancing has enjoyed a great revival over the last few years, thanks to the success of programmes like Strictly Come Dancing. Now, Falkirk based dance group, The New Wheelies, want to make sure that this experience is open to everyone. Thanks to an award of £6,110, they will be able to represent Scotland at the Wheelchair Dancing Championships in Blackpool next month. 

Secretary, Walter Campbell Cairns, said, “We are absolutely delighted with this award. It will give us the impetus to give our all representing Scotland in Blackpool. Thanks to the award we have been able to buy costumes which will truly enhance our performance and pride in our team. There are eight teams competing in this year’s Championships and our ten wheelchair dancers will be giving their all. Thanks to the Awards for All funding we have been given the chance to showcase our talent and hopefully bring home a trophy to Scotland.”

People in the small village of Ancrum in the Scottish Borders will now be able to get a closer look at the stars, thanks to an award of £10,000 to Ancrum Astronomy Club.  The group will be able to set up an observatory or “astronomy shed” at the back of the village hall. The money means they will be able to refurbish a dilapidated shed and buy equipment including two telescopes and a planetary imaging camera.

From their base in Coatbridge, SoundSational Community Music offers a wide range of creative and musical opportunities for people throughout North Lanarkshire from choral and community singing to drama workshops.  Thanks to an award of £9,852, they will be able to buy a range of equipment for their new performance room which will be used by over 400 local people every week.

With their award of £7,342, Tayside Deaf Forum will be able to run a programme of training events throughout the year.  All the events will be specially designed to build confidence levels for people within the deaf community in Dundee and the surrounding area.  The money will allow them to employ experienced trainers who will deliver the sessions in British Sign Language.

An Awards for All spokesman, said: “These grants, totalling more than £2m will benefit over 280 groups across the country and shows the variety of projects that can be funded through Awards for All.  We are always surprised at the difference a relatively small amount of money can make in communities across Scotland and wish all of these groups the best of luck for the future.”

Awards for All Scotland is a partnership by sportscotland and Big Lottery Fund. The programme re-opened to applications on 4 August with a new and improved simpler application form. Groups can download this form here www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/awardsforallscotland.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 0141 242 1451
Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @BIGScotland #biglf 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFundScotland

Notes to editors

• Awards for All is a joint awards programme from the Big Lottery Fund and sportscotland.
• Awards for All makes grants to help people take part in arts, sport, social, environmental, health related, educational and other community activities.
• Awards for All re-opened to applications on 4 August with a simpler applications process and a renewed focus on funding smaller organisations with an annual turnover of less than £250k (except for schools)