Multi-million awards put health at heart of People and Places in Wales

A project supporting spinal cord injured people in Wales and another giving specialist care to Huntington’s Disease patients in North Wales are among a range of groups throughout the country sharing in a total of over £4.8 million awarded under the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund’s People and Places programme.

In total, £4,834,663 is being distributed to support 22 projects throughout Wales this week, which all aim to bring people together to make communities stronger and to improve rural and urban environments (full list of awards at end of release).

In a project encompassing the whole of Wales, the Spinal Injuries Association will spend £112,683 on providing a peer support service for spinal cord injured people being treated in non-specialist medical settings throughout Wales. Meanwhile the Huntington’s Disease Association will spend £92,282 on a project to develop the Regional Care Advisory Service, enabling the organisation to provide specialist care to Huntington's Disease patients, their carers and those at risk of getting the disease throughout Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire and Gwynedd. Specialist training will be provided to health and social care professionals, social services, nursing homes and residential care teams in order to better facilitate care for Huntington's Disease patients.

The Gwent Cancer Support Young Person’s Project Ltd share in a total of over £800,000 distributed between five projects in the Gwent area under the latest round. Working throughout Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen, the Gwent Cancer Support Young Person’s Project Ltd (expanding work previously funded by BIG) will continue to train volunteers to deliver one to one support to young people aged 11-25 who have been affected by having either a relative or friend with cancer. It will provide a 24 hour telephone helpline and promote the services in wider geographical areas and will develop a youth forum, peer support groups in schools, young people resource packs and annual events which the youth forum will be supported to organise. This will aid the development of their confidence and self esteem.

And in Swansea, South West Wales, the Swansea Council for Voluntary Service will use their award of £151,000 on a pilot project to train mental health service users to become volunteer peer mentors. The peer mentors will be people with first hand experience in recovery from mental illness who will support service users/mentees to develop their self-awareness and improve self-confidence.

Highlighting the importance of the People and Places programme, Big Lottery Fund Wales Committee Member and Chair of the People and Places Committee, Janet Reed, 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 Lottery funding to regenerate and revitalise communities, tackle disadvantage head on and leave a lasting legacy. I’m sure these projects will have a positive impact on the lives of many people in the community and will continue to do so for years to come."

The £66 million People and Places programme awards grants of between £5,001 and £1 million for a broad range of community projects. For further information about the People and Places programme and how you can apply for funding, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk and use the ‘Wales’ specific search facility.