Lottery cash fuels innovative energy saving community project

22 May 2013 03:50 PM

A rural Armagh community will plant and harvest its own fuel making its local hall much more energy efficient thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Fund.

Madden School House Heritage Committee is one of 22 groups in Northern Ireland to be awarded grants totalling almost £1 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Energy Efficient Venues programme. The programme, which is now closed for applications, offers Lottery cash to local groups to carry out improvements to their community venues so they can make savings on their heating and lighting costs.

The Committee has been awarded a grant of £48,994 to install a new biomass boiler which the group will fuel by burning an African grass which they will grow in fields surrounding Madden Schoolhouse. The grant will also be used to fund solar panels to provide electricity.

The building which was previously a school from 1725 to 1970 where lessons were taught upstairs while the local church used the ground floor as a parochial hall.

“After the school closed the church building deteriorated,” said Honor Hawthorne, committee member and former director. “We began renovations two years ago and the work inside was completed last April. We now run a playgroup and hope to start an after school club in September.

“We already have solar panels on the roof of the old carthouse to heat our water, but want to produce our own electricity by putting solar panels in the field beyond the schoolhouse. We will be producing more electricity than we need so we will also feed into the National Grid.”

The committee is exchanging its wood pellet boiler for a more energy efficient boiler which will be fuelled by Miscanthus grass, commonly known as ‘elephant grass.’

“We have two acres in which to plant the grass tubers. They will continue to grow for 25 years,” said Honor. “The grass is like bamboo stakes. It will be cut every April, bailed and stored for use by local farmers who have offered to keep it in their sheds.

“This is a real community enterprise. The grass does not need fertiliser and will provide us with carbon zero heating. The impact of burning the fuel is cancelled by growing the fuel.”

The schoolhouse is now used by Scouts, Sunday School and for classes and social events.

“Any farmer will tell you that they are always looking out for their environment,” said Honor. “We want to educate the next generation about accountability. This is a throwaway society and we need to take responsibility for our own piece of the environment.”

A grant of £26,058 will also allow Extern in Fermanagh to carry out energy saving improvements to chalets used by vulnerable young people for residential breaks.

Extern’s Roscor Youth Village is on an eight acre site at Bolusty More, on the shores of Lower Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh. The education and outdoor activity centre has 112 beds and runs a variety of activities ranging from canoeing to cookery and art to archery.

The majority of the eight to 17-year-olds from the Western Trust area, who stay at the centre have been referred by social services or the youth justice agency.

Nineteen of the centre’s bedrooms are in chalet accommodation and the grant will allow the organisation to install four new boilers with temperature controls, insulate cylinders and pipes, and upgrade the roof insulation in the chalets.

Brian Murray, Programme Manager, said: “This will cut our heating bills, saving us money which we can pour back into the programmes we offer.

“Coming here gives these young people opportunities they would not otherwise have. It improves their social skills and their self esteem and also helps them deal with the issues that have caused their difficulties in the first place.”

Brian said a stay at Roscor was a highlight of the Extern’s programme for many young people, “they get real enjoyment from coming here. The residential is the component they value the most”.

Frank Hewitt, the Big Lottery Fund’s NI Chair said: “The Energy Efficient Venues programme supports community organisations to carry out energy efficiency improvements to their venues which help them make savings during this difficult period of recession, and have a positive effect on the environment.

“This has been a very popular programme and we have awarded grants to a range of organisations across Northern Ireland. Organisations should be aware that the programme is now closed for applications.”

For more information contact:
Karen Ireland, Press Office Big Lottery Fund: 9055 1426
Mobile: 07788 640 791

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment