WIREDGOV

Across Scotland, 247 groups share Lottery funding worth over £1.8m.

A full list of awards is available here

Today the National Lottery’s Awards for All programme is awarding grants totalling £1,817,873 to 247 groups across Scotland.

Starvers Lunch Club, based in Glasgow, will use their award to run a lunch club for up to sixty older people in the area. The club provides a hot filling meal every Wednesday followed by tea and coffee and a game of bingo. The grant of £4,900 will enable them to pay for rent and transport costs to run the club.

Project Co-ordinator, Alison McLaughlin, said, “We’ve been feeding hungry pensioners in Govan for over 10 years now.  This award will ensure that Starvers can continue to provide a first class service for at least another year and we are delighted that Awards for All have funded our project.”

Young children in Argyll will have the chance to learn to play the fiddle, thanks to an award of £2,199 to The Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop. The group will now be able to set up a traditional fiddle class for local children. Youngsters will learn to name parts of the fiddle and name and pluck the strings, as well as learning about tempo and rhythm.

Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders lays claim to the fact that it’s home to one of the country’s oldest bands. St Ronan’s Silver Band has been based in the town in one form or other for over 200 years.  Now the group will be able to refurbish the interior of their band hall, built in 1932, for the first time. Band secretary, Keith Belleville, said, “This award will make a huge difference to a lot of people.  The inside of the hall hasn’t really been done up in over 80 years and is in desperate need of re-decoration.  We will now be able to install an acoustic ceiling, new lighting and buy a new carpet and rehearsal chairs. All of these things will help to create a much more comfortable and enjoyable rehearsal experience and help us to attract new members.  We are really excited about this award and the support from Awards for All. “

Based on the Isle of Skye, community radio station, Cuillin FM, will be able to upgrade their IT system which will be simpler to use for their volunteers.  Thanks to the grant of £8,400 the station will now also be able to cover Highland League Football games throughout the winter for the first time.

An Awards for All spokesman, said: “The grants we are announcing today shows the variety of projects that can be funded through Awards for All.  We are always surprised and enthused at the difference a relatively small amount of money can make in communities across Scotland and wish all of these groups the best of luck for the future.”

Awards for All is the small grants scheme supported by three of the National Lottery good cause distributors in Scotland: Creative Scotland, the Big Lottery Fund and sportscotland. The scheme makes awards of between £500 and £10,000 to grass-roots community groups and voluntary organisations.

For more information regarding this release please contact:
Lorna McNiven, Communications Officer
Big Lottery Fund Scotland
0141 242 1451 |lorna.mcniven@biglotteryfund.org.uk

For more information on Big Lottery Fund Scotland (including programmes and grants awards):
Visit the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland
Ask Big http://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk/help/scotland
Or call Big Advice Scotland: 0300 1237110

Notes to editors

• Awards for All is a joint awards programme set up to help small groups. It involves three Lottery distributors: the Big Lottery Fund, Creative Scotland and sportscotland.
• Awards for All makes grants to help people take part in arts, sport, social, environmental, health related, educational and other community activities.
• The Heritage Lottery Fund left Awards for All on 31^st March 2009. Details of its small grant schemes are available at www.hlf.org.uk.