250504

21 May 2004

Eleven groups have been successful in securing funding for their projects.

Two organisations to have benefited will support disabled people, and have a collective win of £199,419.

The Lifetrain Trust will support disabled people to develop greater independence and self esteem, while helping them gain recognised qualifications and get back into work. The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy will develop a volunteer programme that will train and support volunteers to help young people with complex epilepsy.

Phillippa Saray, Regional Manager of the Community Fund South East says:
'This project is going to give disabled people the opportunity to live independently and be recognised for the contribution they make to society'. She also says:
'Young people with epilepsy will benefit from the help of new volunteers and volunteers will gain new skills and confidence. It's a great example of how a community group can ensure everybody gains from their involvement in a project'.

The local authority areas benefiting from grants awarded in this announcement are:

Brighton & Hove: 1 Grant worth £118,926

Hampshire: £503,547
East Hants: 1 Grant worth £85,326
New Forest: 1 Grant worth £158,162
Test Valley: 1 Grant worth £260,059

Kent: 1 Grant worth £211,588

Surrey: £303,855
Guildford: 1 Grant worth £168,484
Tandridge: 1 Grant worth £30,935
Waverley : 1 Grant worth £104,436

For more information on today's awards, follow the link on the right hand side of this page.

For details of all the grants we have awarded to date please visit our grants database.

Notes to Editors

Community Fund gives out money raised by the National Lottery to charities, voluntary and community groups. Out of every £1 spent on the National Lottery the Community Fund gets 4.7 pence.

Since 1995 Community Fund has awarded over 60,000 grants worth more than £2.7 billion to UK charities and voluntary groups.

The legal name of the Community Fund remains the National Lottery Charities Board. The National Lottery Charities Board was set up in 1994 and changed its operation name to Community Fund – Lottery money making a difference in April 2001.

A new organisation is currently being formed from the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund and will soon be distributing a major share of the good causes money raised through the National Lottery. This is an exciting opportunity for us to build on what both Funds have achieved so far and create an even more responsive and accessible organisation. The new distributor, The Big Lottery Fund, will be launched in June 2004. Current programmes, beneficiaries or applications will not be affected.

The New Opportunities Fund distributes National Lottery money to health, education and environment projects across the UK. We intend to support sustainable projects that will improve the quality of life of people throughout the UK, address the needs of those who are most disadvantaged in society, encourage community participation and complement relevant local and national strategies and programmes. (Funding for programmes is divided between England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales on the basis of population weighted to reflect levels of deprivation).

Media contacts

For more information contact Resource Base on 023 8023 6806.

Download the full list of today's awards and project summaries (Word document)