The Big Lottery Fund has announced the allocation of just under £19m to 588 organisations across England.
Awards were made through the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme – which provides small grants of between £300 and £10,000 – and the Reaching Communities programme which awards grants of £10,000 and above for more long-term projects.
Organisations set to benefit include the dementia and loneliness social enterprise Sporting Memories Network which received a grant of £483,373 to train more than 100 volunteers in communities in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Bristol and the South West.
Tony Jameson-Allen, co-founder of the Sporting Memories Network, said: “We’ve been thrilled to receive support from many sporting bodies and sports stars who have shared their own memories to use in the volunteer-led, community based weekly groups. We’re also asking the public to get involved in adding their own memories to the project.”
Lyn Cole, England grant-making director at the Big Lottery Fund, said: “With more people living well into their eighties, it's more important than ever that projects such as Sporting Memories can unlock precious memories of excitement, joy, near-misses and triumph, to help promote healthy ageing.
“This is an excellent example of the kind of projects we fund - people working together, often as volunteers, to help others in their community gain the skills they need to get the most out of their lives.”
Another organisation receiving a large grant as part of the latest tranche of funding is single parent charity Gingerbread which is set to receive £496,553. According to a statement released today, Gingerbread will use the grant to “continue and expand its helpline and information service”.
