Small grants helping to build strong communities

Welsh projects to support people with disabilities and ill health, combat climate change and set up a community radio station are among those benefiting from the latest round of Awards for All funding.

A total of 199 community-based projects across Wales share in the £709,279 awarded under the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All small grants programme (full list of awards at the end of the release).

Some 23 projects in Carmarthenshire benefited from funding, including the Progressive Action Group which will use its £1,360 award to fund art, craft and ceramic sessions to help boost the self esteem of disabled people.

A number of awards were aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of people in Welsh communities including £4,086 given to the National Osteoporosis Society in Pembrokeshire, which is holding an awareness raising event and establishing two local support groups in rural areas.

Caroline Metz, Trust Fundraiser for the Society, said: "As many as three million people in the UK live with osteoporosis which can lead to painful and disabling fractures. The experience can often be lonely and isolating. The grant will go a long way towards easing the isolation for those with, or at risk of developing, the disease in rural areas of Wales. Thanks to this funding, the National Osteoporosis Society will be able to provide more people with help and information through regional awareness events and establishing support groups."

The South and West Wales Younger Parkinson’s Network in Swansea will use £5,000 to take members on a short holiday. And Parents for Change in Newport will spend £4,000 on an activity weekend for disabled children and their families.

Another project in the city benefitting from Awards for All money is Hold Out a Hand Ltd which will use £5,000 to improve their bereavement services to people in South and South East Wales.

In Powys, £4,907 will help Double Take fund an open eco-homes weekend to increase awareness about how people can use green technology in their homes to reduce their carbon footprint.

Meanwhile, in Denbighshire, Point FM Ltd, which is establishing a community online radio station, will use a £5,000 award to part fund computer software, studio equipment and transmitters.

A similar project in Gwynedd, Porthmadog and District Amateur Radio Society, received £4,890 to fund radio equipment to help educate local people about amateur radio and encourage them to participate.

In Cardiff, Alor Dishari has been awarded £4,661 to help run weekly training sessions to teach women from Bangladesh to sew. Co-ordinator Abdul Hannan said: "The money will help give women the opportunity to come out of their homes, meet other people and learn new skills."

Other projects that celebrate diversity and support black and minority ethnic groups were also winners through Awards for All. The All Wales Ethnic Minority Association will spend £3,980 to develop services to meet the current and future needs of older people, while the Sikh Association South Wales will use £4,857 to hold an event to showcase their traditional cultural activities.

The Awards for All programme has awarded more than £20 million of lottery funding to good causes since 2001.

Recognised as one of the quickest ways to secure lottery funding, Awards for All is one of the most successful lottery funding programmes to date and has injected grants of between £500 and £5,000 into a wide range of community projects.

Bel Crewe, Awards for All Programme Manager for BIG in Wales, said: Awards for All is having a positive impact throughout Wales.

"Money is helping to establish groups, societies and clubs, promoting learning, increasing volunteering opportunities and helping to build stronger communities."

Available in English and Welsh, the application for the programme can be downloaded, completed and emailed direct to the Big Lottery Fund as being available in hard copy. Application forms are available from www.awardsforall.org.uk or by phone on 0845 4 10 20 30.