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A charity that uses the heritage of sport and memories to tackle dementia, depression and loneliness in older people is among 588 organisations sharing £19 million from the Big Lottery Fund today.

Sporting Memories Network supports older people by engaging them in social activities and helping recall memories of watching or playing sport. It receives £483,373 to establish more groups which use reminiscence, storytelling and indoor sports to engage older people, mainly men, to help them gain new friendships and improved confidence and health.

The charity, which has 80 groups across the UK, will use the funding to train more than 100 volunteers in communities in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Bristol and the South West to establish 64 new groups in partnership with sports clubs, libraries, housing associations and universities. Younger people will work alongside older people recording personal sporting memories, researching local sporting heritage and getting involved in indoor games.

Tony Jameson-Allen, Co-founder, Sporting Memories Network, said: “There is growing evidence of the negative impact loneliness and isolation has on our health and wellbeing, particularly in the case of older people. We use the fantastic history and heritage of sport as a focus to bring together groups of older men to have fun sharing their sporting memories, making new friends and to exercise and play sports.

“Whilst piloting this approach we have also involved schools, colleges and youth organisations to organise and run community events with sports clubs, sports stars and older people. There is a real buzz at these events and it’s fantastic to watch the generations come together as they find common ground through sharing memories of watching or playing sport. Keeping people connected, active and exercising plays a big role in ageing well.

“We’ve been thrilled to receive support from many sporting bodies and sports stars who have shared their own memories to use in the volunteer-led, community based weekly groups. We’re also asking the public to get involved in adding their own memories to the project.”

Lyn Cole, Big Lottery Fund, England Grant Making Director, said: “We've learned that social isolation is bad for health, with links to chronic conditions and increased mortality. With more people living well into their eighties, it's more important than ever that projects such as Sporting Memories can unlock precious memories of excitement, joy, near-misses and triumph, to help promote healthy ageing. This is an excellent example of the kind of projects we fund - people working together, often as volunteers, to help others in their community gain the skills they need to get the most out of their lives.”

Another England-wide grant being awarded today is to the single parent charity Gingerbreadwhich will use £496,553 to continue and expand its helpline and information service which will help more than one million people over three years. Single parents with the most complex and multiple problems will be supported by the helpline which is staffed by specialist workers offering advice tailored to their specific circumstances. Areas of advice will include child maintenance, family access arrangements, childcare, welfare benefits, tax credits, employment, housing and debt.

Online information covers issues like money, family and work, while interactive ‘decision trees’ can guide single parents to the information most relevant to their circumstances such as separation, bereavement and finding work.

Today’s awards have been made through the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All and Reaching Communities programmes. 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 for more long term projects.

For a list of all 588 awards announced today totalling £18,972,689 click here

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 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 change the lives of millions of people. Every year we fund 13,000 small local projects tackling big social problems like poor mental health and homelessness.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £34 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.