WIREDGOV

Listen to the incredible reaction of Lynne Thomas of Cardiff University as the Big Lottery Fund surprise her with the news of their £1million grant.

Cardiff University are one of five projects receiving a total of £5.4million of National Lottery money from the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Asset Transfer 2 (CAT2) programme to transform disused spaces into local landmarks and community hubs. (Read full project descriptions here).

They receive £1,072,692 to refurbish and extend the vacant Grange Pavilion in Grangetown to create a multi-functional community building with café, office and meeting space. They will also improve the existing grounds to create an accessible community space, an orchard and pollinator garden that will provide opportunities for education, training, health promotion and enterprise development.

Lynne Thomas, Project Manager for Community Gateway, one of Cardiff University’s flagship engagement projects, said: “We are delighted to have received this grant, which is the culmination of much hard work from everyone involved. The funding will be used to further develop Grange Pavilion into a high quality, dynamic venue, securing its future for the long-term benefit of the people of Grangetown. 
  
“The aim of the project is to help make Grangetown an even better place through developing world-class research, teaching and volunteering opportunities that are co-produced between the community and University for mutual benefit.

“Grange Pavilion is a partnership project between Cardiff University and residents’ groups Grange Pavilion Project (GPP), Grangetown Community Action (GCA), Grange Pavilion CIO and Cardiff Council and is supported by Garfield Weston Foundation, Cardiff Bay Rotary Club, Cardiff and Vale College, Cardiff Council Neighbourhood Partnerships, IKEA, ASDA, The Hideout Coffee Shop and other key partners.”

Elsewhere, in Carmarthenshire, Menter Bro Dinefwr receive £1,100,000 for the transfer of Llandeilo Shire Hall to create a new integrated community facility. The building will be developed to provide a heritage and tourist information centre, meeting and training rooms for hire, and a business and innovation hub that will provide office space for local businesses as well as a focus for Welsh language resources.

Owain Gruffydd, Chief Executive of Menter Bro Dinefwr, said: “This is fantastic news, not only for Menter Bro Dinefwr but also to Llandeilo and the wider area. It is one of the biggest community investments ever in the area and it will develop one of the town’s oldest buildings into a community centre that will be open and accessible to all. It will also contribute towards economic, community and linguistic development. We are extremely grateful to a number of partners, especially Llandeilo Town Council and the Big Lottery Fund, for making it all possible.”

In Rhondda Cynon Taf Age Concern Morgannwg Limited are awarded £1,100,000 for the transfer of St Mair's Community Centre "Cynon Lincs" in XXXXXXXXX, a single storey building built in 1969. They will refurbish the building and create an extension to create a multi-purpose centre with offices, a main hall for community activities and events, nursery provision, GP surgery, therapy rooms for hire, and a social enterprise Bistro.

Welcoming the grant, Rachel Rowlands, Chief Executive of Age Concern Morgannwg, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been successful in our bid for Community Asset Transfer Programme funding from the Big Lottery Fund to support our Cynon Linc Project proposal. The current St Mair’s Centre plays a really important part in the lives of the people who use it. They find friendship there, they can eat a meal with company and they get involved in groups and activities which keep their mind and body active. 

“Our Cynon Linc proposal will retain the valued services that current users enjoy whilst introducing new, sustainable activities that the community has said they would welcome. This new and exciting project is the result of real partnership working between the community, the third sector, the local authority and local NHS Trust and we look forward to continuing that good work for many years to come.”

Brymbo Heritage Trust receive £1,095,915 to renovate and redevelop the 1920's-built Machine Shop building at the Brymbo Steelworks site. They will transform the building and create a heritage and learning centre that will include community spaces to include a training workshop, events and activity space and an exhibition area for heritage learning.

Welcoming the grant Gary Brown, Heritage Officer at Brymbo Heritage Trust, said: “This means the world to us, thank you to everyone that’s played the National Lottery. This part of the project is at the heart of the community. This is a key bit of co-funding and the fact that now we can get scaffolding on the building to start doing it up rather than taking it down is a huge step forward.”

Elsewhere in Newtown, Powys, Going Green for Living Community Land Trust Limited receive £1,098,819 for the transfer of 130 acres of open space in Newtown to create a multi-functional site with the aim of establishing Newtown as a Stop & Stay visitor destination. The land will provide river access points for water based activities, a BMX pump track, events space, a destination play park, allotment areas, a mobile food unit. and a park hub.

Chairman of Going Green for a Living, Stuart Owen, was pleased to announce this fantastic news. “This is all about doing things differently, about investing in our open spaces and developing economic and social opportunities for the town. Newtown will be pioneering a different approach, exploring how open spaces can be managed more imaginatively by the communities that use them to deliver significantly more benefits for residents and visitors alike. This is a truly grass roots solution having worked closely with dozens of local volunteer groups and organisations for the past 18 months to make this dream possible. This is an exciting opportunity to put Newtown ‘on the map’. Our project is all about stimulating use of natural assets to deliver positive benefits.

 “Whilst retaining and enhancing the beautiful open spaces, the plans include opening up access to the river for paddle sports and fishing, provision of youth facilities; BMX ‘pump’ track, greatly improved play park, construction of a Mountain Bike Trail, improved picnic areas, heritage and nature trails, food growing spaces and the building of a community hub to facilitate and enable access to our green spaces.  Protecting and enhancing the special wildlife & biodiversity we have in our town will be of paramount importance and this will feature across the entire project.”

Big Lottery Fund Wales Director, John Rose, said: “The CAT programme was a huge success empowering communities across Wales to use buildings and land to suit their needs. We’ve taken the learning from CAT and built upon it to develop CAT2 into a programme that meets the needs of communities in Wales.

“The CAT2 programme aims to create more sustainable communities; supporting asset transfer to enterprising organisations that actively involve and benefit the communities they serve. It is about improving services and facilities for communities in Wales that are sustainable.”

Further Information:

Alex Davies - Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 029 2067 8236
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030   |   Textphone:  0845 6021 659
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 

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 £6.5billion 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.
• The £9 million Community Asset Transfer 2 Programme (CAT2), aims to provide both capital and revenue funding to support the transfer of assets, such as land and buildings to community ownership. The assets can be transferred from individuals, the public or private sector.