Lottery cash for local projects

A wide range of arts, sports and community projects across Scotland are today celebrating a National Lottery cash boost of £637,778.

The funding to 94 groups comes from National Lottery Awards for All Scotland – a quick and simple way to access small National Lottery grants of between £500 and £10,000. 

In Edinburgh, Sikh Sanjog (above) will use their £10,000 award to run a specialised mental health and wellbeing programme for women from the BME community.

Trishna Singh, Founder, Sikh Sanjog, said, “We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding from the National Lottery and will put it to very good use.  This will fulfil a key component of our work in response to an ongoing and growing need amongst people we work with who are looking for support for mental health problems either for themselves or within their family unit.

“Working in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation we will put together and deliver a programme for the people we work with, aiming to contact them at an early stage to provide them with help when they need it the most.”

There’s also an award of £7080 to Muirhouse Millennium Centre, who will use the money to engage with families who are homeless or at risk of being homeless by providing group work sessions on cooking and budgeting. Creche facilities will also be provided.

An award of £6,295 to Thurso Youth Club means that they can keep their 50 year old club open for another year and expand the range of activities they offer to local young people.

Andy Hourston, Centre Co-ordinator, Thurso Youth Club, said, “Thurso is the most northerly town on the Scottish mainland and young people in this area are reliant on local facilities for the majority of their recreational activities. Iwould like to thank National Lottery Awards for All Scotland for their valued support which will help to ensure that youth work provision in this area will be in a much stronger position at the end of this Year of Young People than it was at the start.”

All About Barrhead Ltd will be able to organise the town’s annual Halloween Street Parade thanks to an award of £2,673.

Andy Dunlop, BID Manager, All About Barrhead Ltd, said, “This award allows us to continue growing the event and will help us to reach out to even more people in the community to create a fantastic spirit in the town. We’re on target to double the size of the parade itself and we anticipate around 10,000 people will come out to watch the fireworks finale. We are all working in partnership to ensure Barrhead is a positive place to live, work, shop and visit and this award from the National Lottery is a huge step in helping us to reach that goal.”

Thanks to an award of £5,000, Kelvingrove Community Tennis Club, based in Glasgow, will be able to continue their inclusive tennis coaching programme.

Carol Jones, Chair, Kelvingrove Community Tennis Club, said, “This award will make a huge difference to the continued success of our two special projects of tennis coaching for people with mental health problems and for people with learning disabilities. Our project for mental health and wellbeing may possibly be the only one of its kind in the UK so we are proud that this grant will allow us to continue to promote tennis as an excellent way of improving mental health.”

An award of £1,000 will help Dunbar Sewing Club continue to make and donate specially made quilts to sick, terminally ill and traumatised children who live in the area.

Beth Nelson, Chairperson, Dunbar Sewing Group, said, “At the moment we have to rely on the generosity of our volunteers to provide fabrics which can be very costly as the pure cotton fabric can be very expensive.  Now that we have the money we can build up our stock of fabrics again and get sewing.”

A National Lottery Awards for All spokesperson said: “This is National Lottery money making a real impact in communities across Scotland. The 94 groups receiving funding today showcases the range of projects that can be funded through this programme and the difference that the smallest amounts of money can make.”

National Lottery Awards for All Scotland is now more straightforward to apply to and faster to get funding from. Applications are received on a rolling basis and can be received at any time.

To find out what National Lottery Awards for All Scotland could do for your community visit  www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/awardsforallscotland or phone 0300 123 7110.