Funding Boost for Northern Ireland groups from Awards for All

22 Nov 2017 11:26 AM

Community groups across Northern Ireland are celebrating after benefiting from National Lottery funding. 

A total of 80 groups across Northern Ireland are sharing in £677,010 from Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme (click here to download a full list of awards). 

Time2Choose MindCrafts, which uses craft projects to support people with mental health illness in the Derry/Londonderry area, has been awarded a £10,000 grant to provide weekly drop in sessions, a summer scheme, mental health training and a celebration event. 

North Lurgan Community Association supports residents of Kilwilkie estate in Lurgan. They have been awarded a £10,000 grant to provide activities including a luncheon club for older people, social outings, and wellbeing activities. 

Springfield Primary School Playgroup in west Belfast has also been awarded £9,400 to provide training in Makaton, a way of communicating using signs and symbols, for parents and staff, parenting classes, a First Aid course for parents, and an ICT programme for children. 

Also receiving funding is Mid Ulster Child Contact Centre. The group provides a neutral, child friendly and safe space for children to spend time with their parents or significant people in their lives who they no longer live with following family separation. They are using their £2,689 grant to provide more play equipment. 

Julie Harrison, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said: “I am delighted to announce these grants under the Awards for All programme and I want to say thanks to all the National Lottery players who have helped make this possible. 

“Awards for All funds health, education, environment and community projects that help people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and well-being, develop skills and create safer communities. 

“The application process is simple and accessible and shall remain so, making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.” 

Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

 For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at enquiries.ni@biglotteryfund.org.uk  

For media enquiries, contact Rachel Skinner or Lucy Gollogly at the Big Lottery Fund Press Office on 028 90 551 450, 028 90 551 432 

Out of Hours Media Contact: 0774 7532846, 07580 811135 
Website: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/northernireland  
Twitter: @BIGNIonline #BigLottery 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFundNI

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, £35 billion has been raised and more than 490,000 grants awarded.