Help shape National Lottery funding
We are looking for 10 – 12 people in Wales to take part in user testing to help The National Lottery Community Fund (formerly ‘Big Lottery Fund’) improve the process of applying for funding.
The National Lottery Community Fund wants to improve the overall experience of applying for National Lottery funding, which includes transforming our digital and web services and refining the application process. Participants can be successful and unsuccessful applicants, who will help us to map out the stages of applying for funding (the ‘customer journey’), and tell us their experiences of what went well and what was difficult.
We would be very grateful for your contributions as it is so important to improving our services and making sure our funding has the best possible impact on a wide range of communities. Read more…
Carmarthen ten-pin bowling’s right up our alley
As part of our rebrand to become The National Lottery Community Fund we went to visit some of the projects that we’d awarded grants to over the years. Alex Davies from our Communications team tells us about his visit to the Xcel Bowl centre in Johnstown, Carmarthenshire which was awarded a Community Asset Transfer grant of nearly £800,000 way back in 2010.
“My initial thoughts about my visit were that I could have picked a better day to go and visit the centre as there was some of the heaviest rain I’ve driven in for a long time. That thought, however, was quickly dispelled once I’d arrived as I wasn’t sure where I’d be able to park given there were so many cars there. It turned out that it was the perfect day for dozens of families that were looking for something to do to go there as the place was full-up, and I even spoke to a few students from the local school who were there on their lunch-break to play a few games who said how valued the venue was to have so close to them.
Sports projects: What can we fund?
The National Lottery Community Fund supports a wide range of activities including projects that develop people’s skills, promote community involvement and encourage healthier lifestyles. However our funding doesn’t cover projects where the main purpose is to promote or develop the arts, heritage or sport.
Having said that, we recognise that these types of projects are often a focal point within the community and play an invaluable role in people’s lives so our Funding team has shared their tips for distinguishing the blurred line between fundable and non-fundable sports projects.
What we can fund:
We can fund projects if they use sport as a means to support community activity and meet the aims of our funding programmes. These could include projects that use sport to tackle inequality or integrate communities by bringing together people of different ages, projects that improve the ability of disabled people to take part in activities, or projects where for example, a sports club is also used as a community centre.
“I lost a friend to suicide recently so it’s a big motivating factor for me to try and make a difference.”
“I’m James, I’m a second year Translation student at Cardiff University. I first got involved with Mind Your Head through working with the Welfare department of the Students’ Union where I met Rosie and Lewis our Co-Presidents. I’m now Secretary of the group and took part in the launch week of Mind Your Head week and helped facilitate a Mind Your Head café which we’re doing again this week for the “Alright Mate?” campaign.
“I mostly got involved to try and make a difference with mental health. I lost a friend to suicide recently so it’s a big motivating factor for me to get involved and try and make a difference. When I was growing up my mum had pretty ill health which progressed into me needing to seek help through my sixth form and eventually through to university when I got here. I struggled with anxiety surrounding that for a while, and stigma was definitely something that prevented me from seeking help because I felt like it shouldn’t have been an issue or should I just get over it, or my mum’s problems were worse than mine.
Merry Christmas from the National Lottery Community Fund
With Christmas just around the corner and the year drawing to an end, big Lottery Fund Wales’ Director John Rose would like to take this opportunity to share his personal appreciation to the many people and communities that have enabled great things to happen all over Wales during 2018.
Firstly, I want to start by thanking National Lottery players. Sometimes people forget that buying a National Lottery ticket helps good causes and this year alone we will have distributed £34 million in Wales. So thank you to every one of you that buys a National Lottery Ticket. You all play a part in supporting communities the length and breadth of Wales and indeed the UK.
You cannot always appreciate the difference this makes until you speak to funded projects and meet the people they support. Then, once you delve a bit deeper, you see that every day the National Lottery is making a positive difference and changing lives for the better. Read more…
Elsa’s smiling more than ever thanks to her new role as Engage to Change Ambassador
“Hi Elsa!” The calls ring out as Elsa Jones walks down the street in Llanidloes. Clearly well-known in the community, Elsa has a learning disability and has been volunteering at the Severn Hospice charity shop in the town for the past four years. Now, following work placements and job coaching through Engage to Change, she has been successful in her application to become an Ambassador and promote the Engage to Change project across Wales.
“I enjoy going out to work. It gives me confidence, meeting people, socialising, and I enjoy keeping busy,” says Elsa. “I really enjoy it so much.” At the charity shop she spends her time at the shop serving customers, dressing mannequins, sorting donated items and putting them out on the shop floor. “I always like to make sure it’s presentable.” One of her favourite aspects of her work has been the opportunity to learn new skills and to develop her existing ones, such as time management and money handling. Read more…
Community mini bus brings people together thanks to National Lottery
This week in the run up to Christmas we’re celebrating some of the amazing projects that we’ve funded recently, making an amazing difference to their communities.
Earlier this year we awarded Llandysul a Phont-Tyweli Ymlaen Cyf a National Lottery grant of £98,300 to run a community transport scheme in Carmarthenshire. They are one of 29 projects that received £2.77 million for community facilities in 2018.
We went to visit the project for the day to see the bus in action helping local groups. We joined the bus carrying people with Alzheimer’s and their carers to a local dementia group. Madelaine Richards, one of the carers told us how much she valued being able to get out of the house, joking “I can’t leave my husband alone, if I was in prison it wouldn’t be much different and at least I’d get my meals.”
Mullany Fund supports young people to develop new skills thanks to National Lottery players
The Mullany Fund received £486,630 of National Lottery money earlier this year to expand their e-mentoring 1+1 project to new areas. The project works through schools and voluntary organisations who are working with harder to reach young people, to widen participation within life-science professions and raise aspirations and educational attainment among young people from under-represented communities with low social mobility. They are one of 12 projects that received £3.26 million for employment projects over the last year. We spoke to Jarrod Thomas who has been through the programme.
Hello, I am Jarrod Thomas, 20 years old, a former mentee of the Mullany Fund and an incoming mentor in the next cohort of mentees, and will be the sole mentor based in Aberystwyth. I am currently an undergraduate student studying Biochemistry at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), an internationally-recognised teaching research centre at Aberystwyth University.
I joined the Mullany Fund when I was in Comprehensive School, back in 2015, three years ago, the reason was to received tailored advice on careers in life science, and to talk to someone in the field, whether they were studying or a clinician. I was matched with a junior doctor and then later a medical student, very similar – but incredibly distinct roles which highlighted the significant differences between clinical education and clinical practice.
Theatre workshops for people affected by homelessness thanks to National Lottery players
Theatre Versus Oppression received £187,478 of National Lottery money to run their Behind the Label project to provide a series of applied theatre workshops to people affected by homelessness in Cardiff. They are one of over 160 projects that received over £15 million for health and wellbeing projects over the last year. We spoke to Suzanne Phillips about their project and how they are hosting a show starring service users at Wales Millennium Centre.
“Behind the Label is an Applied Theatre project run by TVO in partnership with The Wallich and Wales Millennium Centre. Started in 2016 it uses drama and performance to give marginalised people a voice, tell their story and offer a new perspective on a social issue and the reasons behind it. Our aim is always to create compelling performances that challenge the audience to look at different perspectives.
This week in the run up to Christmas we’re celebrating some of the amazing projects that we’ve funded this year that are making an amazing difference to communities.
Earlier this year we surprised Bridgend and District Resource for Children with Disabilities (Y Bont) with the news that they were successful in applying for a National Lottery grant of £530,000. Read more about it here.
Over five years will support disabled children and their families in Bridgend to reduce the challenges they face, in particular isolation and a lack of social opportunities, encouraging them to develop peer support amongst each other, build relationships and enjoy an active lifestyle through activities that include the whole family.
