WIREDGOV

A community gardening group is celebrating the news that it’s received a National Lottery grant to bring people together through improving residential areas.

Thanks to National Lottery players, Upfront Gardens CIC in Cardiff is one of three projects sharing in £143,812 of medium-sized grants as part of the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund’s People and Places programme. (See a full list of awards)

Watch Liz Court and Michele Fitzsimmons of Upfront Gardens CIC talk about what the project will do, and what impact it will make

They will use £99,994 to will improve neighbourliness, connectivity, volunteering and community organising in Grangetown and Splott in Cardiff by working with partners and community members to develop community-led, street-based groups capable of developing their front gardens to make the local streets greener.

Welcoming the grant, Liz Court, Director of UpFront Gardens CIC, said: “Upfront Gardens CIC is thrilled to have been awarded a People and Places grant to carry out the “Growing Street Talk" project. Growing Street Talk is about bringing neighbours together so they get to know each other whilst helping each other with their front gardens and learning and sharing gardening skills. The long term plan is for participants to set up informal street-based gardening clubs to support each other with their gardens, promote the project and recruit other residents.

“Running the project with our partners, the UpFront Gardens Club in Grangetown and the Keep Splott Tidy Group, will ensure the project is led by the community and creates a real buzz around the streets of Grangetown and Splott!  We would like to thank all the National Lottery players for giving anyone living or working in these two areas of Cardiff the chance to get involved with improving where they live.

Responding to the good news, Ed Stubbs, Splott Councillor said "I would like to thank and congratulate everybody involved in this bid. It is an exciting project that will make a difference to our communities and help foster community pride. It will also help to make Splott and Grangetown wards look great. I can't wait to see it develop."

Lynne Thomas, Chair of Keep Splott Tidy, said, ”We’ve been talking about doing this for ages, and Liz came along on a litter pick and mentioned this Upfront Gardens project, and we thought “oh my gosh, this is serendipity”. We’ve teamed up as a partner on this fantastic project to try bring some greenification to houses in Splott, and even terraced houses without gardens. We’re delighted to be partners in this fantastic initiative in Splott, and Grangetown. Thank you, National Lottery players.”

Elsewhere, in Bishton Community Council in Newport will use £30,000 to provide new gym equipment and security systems for the community gym as part of a revamp of the local community centre.

Welcoming the grant, Ben Rice of the project, said: "Bishton Community Council would like to thank the Big Lottery Funding scheme and National Lottery players for their support in developing this special community project. The funding has helped us release over £120,000 for our project and without it we would not have been able to achieve all our ambitions. It will give the community an opportunity to take a lead role in their future and create their own investment opportunities through the re-developed facility.

“The funding is worth a lot more than just a monetary figure to our community and it will have a lasting effect for many years to come. We can't wait to get started and show everyone what can be achieved when communities come together!"

Finally, in Caerphilly, Libanus Lifestyle CIC will use £13,818 to fund the final phase of the refurbishment work by creating a new kitchen and community café area where they can provide adult education classes, coffee mornings, lunch clubs and drop-in services for help, support and advice.

Highlighting the importance of the People and Places programme, Rona Aldrich, Wales Committee Member for the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Programmes like People and Places are making a difference to the lives of so many people in communities across Wales.

“It delivers on our promise to use National Lottery funding to regenerate and revitalise communities, tackle disadvantage head on and leave a lasting legacy.”

The People and Places programme awards grants of between £10,001 and £500,000 for a broad range of community projects. For further information about the programme and how you can apply for funding, please visit http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/fundingfinderwales

Further Information:

Alexander Davies - Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 029 2067 8236
Public Enquiries Line: 0300 123 0735                           
Text Relay: 18001+0300 123 0735
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow Big Lottery Fund Wales on Twitter: www.twitter.com/biglotterywales
Find Big Lottery Fund Wales on Facebook: www.facebook.com/biglotteryfundwales

• 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 £6.5 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 500,000 grants awarded.