County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Website: www.ageconcern.org.uk

Age Concern South Lakeland was established as an independent local charity with the purpose of promoting the well being of older people throughout the area.

The Community Initiative award will be used to provide two new services for older people in the Windermere area of South Lakeland: a Nail-Cutting Service and an Advice and Information Service with an emphasis on financial services, welfare benefits checks and claims and dealing with issues of financial exclusion

The money will provide the salary of the Community Development worker and for the rent that is essential to facilitate this project.

Beneficiaries will be older people living in Windermere, Bowness and surrounding rural areas.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

The group formed in the 1940’s as a way to maintain the Village Hall in Nenthead. Their objective with this project is to provide an accessible and comfortable meeting space in the village. This is particularly needed as the space that previously served this purpose is being turned into the village shop and post Office.

The money from the grant is being used to install a stairlift, carpeting, refurbishment and a disabled toilet which will allow anyone with a disability access to the new upstairs meeting room in the village hall.

The beneficiaries will be the population of Nenthead but in particular the elderly and the many groups that need a suitable meeting space (Youth Club, WI, Ward meetings, Methodist church etc).

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Website: www.learningplus.org.uk

Learning Plus was set up to provide skills for life support for Learning Plus members on numeracy, literacy, study skills, English as a Second Language and ICT. The project we are supporting is to develop a specific outreach programme for migrant workers, incorporating teaching them English via ESOL classes, a proven method of helping them become part of the community.

The grant will be used to Employ an ESOL Tutor/Outreach Worker to Provide two ESOL classes each week, offering accreditation up to Entry Level 3. The project will also provide on the job skills training for volunteer tutors in delivering accredited training for ESOL students and a forum in which migrant workers and local residents can get to know each other and appreciate each others cultures.

The intended beneficiaries for the project will be migrant workers working in the hotel, catering trades and in local care homes in Ambleside, Windermere, Grasmere and the Langdale Valley. The majority of these workers are young people from Eastern Europe, but will also include adults from the Phillipines, Bangladesh, Spain, France and South America.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £9867

Website: www.sillothrugby.org.uk

Silloth Rugby Union Football Club has been in existence since 1880 but in recent years they have found it more difficult to recruit young players. Silloth would like to re-launch the Junior Section at the Rugby Club and encourage the younger members of the community to become involved.

Silloth Rugby Union Club will use the Community Imitative award to employ a part time Rugby Development Officer to run the Junior Section, they will :-

• Hold coaching sessions for young people aged 8-17
• Promote Silloth Rugby Club Junior section in 2 local schools
• Hold after school rugby activities
• Organise games against other Junior Rugby Teams in the county

The above plan was supported by North Allerdale Partnership's Strategic Action Plan which listed under its key themes: Ensuring adequate provision for sports and recreation, improved play and developed youth facilities, Increased play and learning opportunities.

It is an intended outcome that this activity will engage young people into a sporting activity leading through to them joining the senior sporting club, thus sustaining the club. It is also hoped that the engagement of young people into the club will lead to increased interaction between younger and older members of the community, and promote social interaction in general. The club also holds regular fundraising functions for all members of the community to attend.

County: Cheshire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Ashworth time bank encourages rural people in Cheshire to share their skills and time with Older members of the Community, bringing back traditional neighbourliness to rural communities and addressing the very real issues of rural and social isolation and exclusion affecting elderly people.

The grant will be used to expand their existing project to encompass the additional rural communities of Cuddington, Delamere, Duddon, Dunham on the Hill and Frodsham. The money will fund an essential part- time ‘Project Administrator’ position.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Grayrigg Coronation Hall is held in trust for the purpose of a village hall for the use of the inhabitants of the parishes of Grayrigg, Lambrigg, Docker, Whinfell and Patton (covering a total area of 20.23 square miles).

Grayrigg Coronation Hall has recently undergone refurbishment having installed new heating and electrics which completed phase 1 of planned works. In order for all the works to come together Grayrigg Coronation Hall were awarded a £10,000 Community Iniative Grant to see the completion of the extension shell as a storage area together with the refurbishment of existing toilets and entrance hall and provision of further storage. This will enable them to store more equipment, allowing them to put on activities, such as bowling and table tennis therefore promoting participation in events and provide access to services/facilities for people within the community. Following the formation of an events committee combined with the completion of works Grayrigg Coronation Hall will be able to expand the use of the facilities by providing a much improved venue for sporting, healthy living, social, educational, arts and cultural events.

The new activity will safeguard the Coronation Halls current activity, and will safeguard it as the only community building within 22 miles.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £7,012.21

Website: www.faithandthought.org.uk

The Victoria Institue was formed in 1888 to provide and maintain a venue that caters for the recreational and social, moral and intellectual development, of the residents of the parish of Caton with Littledale and the surrounding area.

The Victoria Institute wanted to increase the activity and services offered by employing a part time worker to support the new provision. This in turn will provide increased revenue from room hire and services offered and assist in achieving long term vaibility and sustainability for the institute.

A 6 month pilot has demonstrated increased usage/income of the institute and this one year extension will further strengthen the effectiveness of the overall aims of the institute and support for the paid worker.The venue acts as a hub - as a result of an employed worker, the beneficiaries will include the whole community who will be able to use and access the venue as a drop in centre, a café, and library during longer opening hours. The beneficiaries will also be those who undertake training - most of these being provided by the proposed worker and lead to employment, improvement of self esteem and confidence, and greater interaction with the community.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Website: www.sunbeamsmusic.org

Sunbeams Music exists to relieve sickness and assist in the remedial treatment of children and adults suffering from physical, emotional, psychological or other mental disorders by the provision of music therapy and to provide introductory music therapy training to individuals working with such persons.

The project will provide a service requested by the communities of rural Cumbria, which will be entitled “Music For Health”. Through the therapeutic effects of music, the project will promote independence, improve well being and enhance quality of life. The Grant Money will be used to provide a salary for a project co-ordinator, Professional musician workshop rates and their travel expenses.

The 130 intended beneficiaries have been specifically targeted from rurally isolated communities/wards within Cumbria in the North West Region, namely, Haverigg, Millom and Broughton, Seascale and Bootle, Dearham, Eaglesfield, Keswick, Cotehill, Windermere.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £7, 500

Lazonby Swimming Pool are set up to provide and maintain a seasonal, public, open-air swimming pool. They aim to provide a safe, caring and stimulating environment which can be used by all local residents and visitors to the area.

Their Youth Participation Project will provide opportunities for local 14 – 19 year-olds to achieve qualifications and voluntary work experience in a supportive, creative and trusting environment. It will also offer training to local young people for Lifeguard qualification, first-aid, food handling, swimming teaching, playwork, health and safety and child protection and give support with web-site development and producing publicity plus other needs identified by the participants.

Money will be used to employ a full time member of staff, from April, responsible for organising training with volunteers and providers together with organising the actual work at the pool including rotas, supervision and support, maintaining health and safety and on-site financial control. It will also support the of essential health and safety training, certificates, equipment and the website.

Beneficiaries include the local community with an emphasis on the younger population.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

The Village Hall is the main public facility available for activities in Bolton le Sands and is a vital part of the community.

The kitchen and bar area are restricted potential usage of the hall and facilities. The application was to remodel the kitchen and bar area to provide a new catering style kitchen that meets Health and Safety standards and to improve the facilities for catering events and potential new user groups. Training courses for all interested residents on healthy eating lifestyles will be organised through education courses.

The beneficiaries will be the population of the Parish and the surrounding communities. The main beneficiaries will be the elderly through the creation of the Luncheon Club and the other present and potential new users of the hall.

County: Cheshire
Grant Awarded: £9901

Website: www.valeroyalcvs.org.uk

Voluntary Action Vale Royal seeks to support and develop local voluntary and community activity and to deliver services which combat social exclusion.

The project aims to offer adult learning opportunities, including accredited learning, in a community centre in Lowstock Gralam. The funding enables VAVR to offer two half day sessions per week or one half day and one evening session. The project aims to build confidence so that learners would feel encouraged to progress to local colleges or other providers. Salary costs, travel, registration fees, teaching materials, software, and maintenance/repair will all be covered by the grant.

Beneficiaries will be parents, families and anyone requiring further learning opportunities in the area of Lowstock.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

The Parbold Community Association (PCA) was formed in May 1976 with the purpose to promote the benefit of the people resident in Parbold, Hilldale, Newburgh, Bispham and Dalton.

The PCA highlighted that the village hall though intended as a multi purpose space for community use was dominated by the needs of sports. The result was that the hall had excessive reverberation which created echo and made any speech or meeting unintelligible. The PCA sough the help of experts who offered advice on how the hall could be made into a community facility with improved acoustics. The solution was provision of curtain panels around as much of the Hall as possible which would deaden the acoustic considerably, this solution also allowed for flexibility for different activities. For example, a chamber music concert might require almost full curtaining of the walls, a brass band needing a livelier acoustic might want one long wall uncovered and sports activities might need all the walls uncovered.

The Community Imitative Grant will be used to enable Parbold Community Initiative to purchase the necessary perimeter track, curtaining and the installation. As a result of the new acoustics the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra will perform annually; the Parbold School of Dance will use the Hall weekly; the Parbold Douglas Drama Group will operate seasonally; and the Parbold Musical Society will also rehearse and perform seasonally. With the exception of the School of Dance who are located outside of Parbold, all these activities take place at smaller venues within the village. With the new materials, these activities will be able to be retained in the village and performed to greater numbers. The committee is dedicated to providing cultural facilities at the Village Hall and is responding to wider community needs (in addition to those that are sport related).

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £9,935.96

Eccleston Scout Group provides opportunities for youngsters to learn new skills, develop confidence and self esteem. Current groups include Rainbows, Brownies and Guides for girls, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts for boys.

The building that the scouts use is a solid brick built structure now that was in need of refurbishment, particularly as many additional groups were looking for a base from which to operate. Refurbishment would allow these groups to keep using the building and give additional capacity to accommodate new groups, such as a new child care service to operate within the village during the day, and a children’s holiday club will be set up providing an essential service to parents and children. Other existing activities such as Karate will benefit from improved facilities and will be able to attract new members.

Beneficiaries include parents needing childcare, disabled people needing accessible facilities, people seeking training opportunities both educational and non vocational , people on low incomes, specifically agricultural workers and people who are unemployed.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Croston Sports Club was established to provide sporting facilities and opportunities for the local community in Croston and the surrounding villages in the isolated rural area of Chorley in Lancashire. These facilities include football, five a side, tennis and cricket for people of all ages.

The club has a great deal of land available and they intend to utilise this land to provide extra facilities in to increase their capacity in order to meet the increased demand. There is also a need for more equipment to enable youngsters to play and train. The club has a dedicated team of volunteers who willingly give up their time to care for the pitches and maintain the facilities generally and they are happy to give up their time to work on establishing new facilities. Grant money will provide fencing for tennis courts, a training area for football, floodlights to enable areas to be used at night, a bowling machine for cricket training, Cricket equipment and project co-ordination.

This project will benefit the entire local community and surrounding villages.

County: Cheshire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Culceth Chapel is a Methodist Church in the centre of a small rural village. They hold pre-school, mums and tots, Scouts, Cubs, Rainbows, Brownies and Guides clubs. There is also a drama group, painting group, badminton club, disabled group and a newly formed youth group. They hold social events for the local community, and hire the building out to the blood donors team and the premises are open for polling.

The group will use the Community Initiative fund award to help fund a part time youth worker and purchase all the necessary office required to allow that person to fulfill the role there will be a pilot project for a full time youth worker in the wider community by 03/2010. This will be funded through the existing groups, a nominal charge of £1-£2 per child. It is planned for further funding to be raised through advertising and organising suitable events for disaffected young people.

It is hoped that as the project develops into a full time position it will be able to provide links with local businesses and young people who need directing into jobs. This will be established through personal links with businesses, schools and colleges in the local area.

The Methodist Church is incredibly well used by the wider community and serves as a community building. A youth group already operates within the chapel, but relies on volunteers. Having a part time project manager in post will give stability to this voluntary organisation, and also encourage more youth to participate.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

BlueJam is a music and arts project based in the Eden Valley, Cumbria. The aim of the group is to promote, non-formal music and arts activity in an inclusive and socially constructive way. Bluejam encourage the creation of new music through songwriting and recording sessions to allow new and varied voices to be heard. Links are forged between different ages, groups, abilities and art forms. The project is open to all young people to attend and l provides learning and social opportunities for young people in an isolated area.

The need for something to do for young people was highlighted through the parish plans and a request for music sessions at the local village halls and youth groups had been made directly to BlueJam. BlueJam had also liaised with Young Cumbria and Eden Youth Work Partnership who are supportive of this project.

The community initiative fund will be used to fund four paid musicians and support four volunteers who will provide 20 music workshops for young people from the Eden district. The workshops will take place in Alston, Appleby & Skirwith/Lazonby. The project leader will liaise with Young Cumbria, Eden Youth Work Partnership, Eden schools & clubs to support isolated young people from the area to attend. The project leader will also keep families informed and develop a sustainable plan for continued activity beyond the end of this scheme. The workshops are open to any young person between 8 & 19 and parents and carers will be encouraged to join in where appropriate and will be invited to watch end of session showings.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £9,950

The 29^th Ormskirk Burscough St Johns Scout Group is governed by an Executive Committee who consists of senior scouters, leaders and parents. The group is responsible for the scout building and maintenance of the property, its fixtures and fittings and all equipment used. Although the building is not owned by the community itself, the management and maintenance of it is. The group is attempting to be more inclusive to disabled persons needs, and is responding to calls from the market town initiative which identified a need for a community building.

The 29^th Ormskirk Burscough St Johns Scout Group applied for the Community Imitative fund to enable them to upgrade the facilities at the Scout Hut. In particular they will now be able to install disabled access and disabled toilet facilities. The group had raised £4750 to go towards the costs by various events such as bag packing at the local supermarket, sponsored events, raffle and bingo. The Community Initiative fund will allow them to complete the works needed.

The installation of the new access and accessible toilets to the scout hall will facilitate greater community use. The obvious beneficiaries will include disabled and less able members of the community who will be able to take part in new activities being held at the scout hall. The provision of this facility will give greater confidence to the applicant group in promoting their building for other activities and events; 2 of which have already been identified.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Duddon Parish Council is the parish council for Broughton in Furness. As the lowest tier in local government it looks after the interests of Broughton in Furness and the two smaller parishes of Angerton, and Seathwaite in Dunnerdale.

Duddon Parish Council applied for the Community Initiative grant to help finance a car park for Broughton-In-Furness. Broughton in Furness has no car-park at present and a new car park will increase the usage of the Village Hall, both from within and outside the community. The need for this was confirmed by a town business plan supported and endorsed by the National Park Authority.

The Community Initiative grant will be used to employ a Landscape Architect and the landscaping of the proposed car-park. These costs will include preparing the site boundary and dividing fences and the planting of suitable hedgerow plants to merge with the surrounding landscape.

The car park will have a long term effect on the community, enabling more people to use the village hall from outside the parish and increase their hiring potential. The car park will also encourage more visitors to visit the town and use the local facilities.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Cycling Projects is a trustee governed charity with a focus on health improvement, disability access and social inclusion. The charity is increasingly involved in cycling related projects, promotion and training; bringing cycling to disabled people; encouraging people with poor health to take up cycling and working with communities to help them make cycling part of their lives.

Hyndburn's Wheels for all aim is to offer cycling to all members of the community who are disengaged, isolated and excluded by providing free sessions and free to hire bicycles including hand peddled bikes, tricycles, tandems and the everyday two-wheelers.

The Community Imitative Grant will be used to provide 16 bikes, bike storage unit and transport costs along with helmets, high vis jackets and cycle maintenance kits. The grant will also cover the cost of hiring athletic tracks for bike sessions, cycle leader training and first aid training for volunteers.

This is an interesting project which will deliver sound social and health benefits. The beneficiaries of this project will receive a programme of activity over a period of weeks and will also benefit from being able to move on to additional rides as their riding ability improves. Most individuals will be able to stay with the project for its duration as they simply move on to the rides that better suit their needs and skill level.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £10,000

Within the Wetheral Parish, there are seven active Village Halls, but all in need of extensive refurbishment, and all acutely aware that they need new and regular rental income in order to achieve long term sustainability.

During the past two years consultation through the parish plan and by individual committees established that there is a need for a wider range of facilities and activities in the halls, particularly for youths and the elderly. The Community Initiative grant was awarded to employ a Development Officer for one year to help facilitate this new income generating activity.

The employment of a Development Officer will provide an impetus for all of the halls to work together to achieve shared objectives.

County: Cumbria
Grant Awarded: £9910.40

This group came together in 1995 with the aim to advance the social welfare, recreation and health of the local community. It maintains a Community Centre as a resource from which it can promote their aim working in partnership with voluntary organisations and social care services to try to reach the more marginalised groups in the community. Many facilities are based at least 10 miles away, with the attendant problems of a lack of public transport and cost, especially in surrounding villages. The Association aims to address some of these issues providing access to advice and information, running courses and activities and providing a base for local community groups.

This project is the first year of a longer - term initiative to address the group aim: prioritising engagement with local groups (working with lone parents, low income groups and men 25+ in particular) and creating accessible, supportive conditions in which people can share experiences, reduce risk, gather relevant information and make it easier to institute the changes that will benefit themselves and their wider community.

The Community Initiative Grant will be used to appoint a part time co-ordinator who will support the volunteers in the local community to address health issues, assist emerging peer group support clubs and develop an information hub at the community centre. Additionally, a volunteer group will be established to work with local groups, developing appropriate resources and strategies with them to deliver positive and relevant lifestyle messages.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £8,920.00

The Wrightington Parish Plan revealed the need for more community based facilities which could be shared by young and old to address social and economic needs, including IT provision.

The Community Initiative Grant will allow the project to establish an IT suite at the village hall in response to this need. The fund will be used to buy 10 laptop computers, a printer, broadband connection and relevant software.

As a result, the IT suite will hold:

• A Computer Club for children.
• Computer Classes for mixed age/mixed ability adult residents.
• Computer Classes for Elderly Residents who may not have access to a Computer, who otherwise may not be able to travel to similar facilities outside the Parish.
• The Council provide a facility whereby residents of the community who do not have access to computers can access District Council or County Council websites or other online local government consultations or facilities.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £10,000

This project set out to provide affordable, appropriate childcare during school holidays, a facility which is currently not available within the village. It aims to meet the needs of working parents to maintain their work-life balance, and those of all parents by providing them with an affordable option for childcare provision. It would also provide a safe environment in which the children can socialise while their developmental opportunities continue to be met.

The 1^st Staining Scout Hut was identified as the only practical location in which to locate the Holiday Club. Some maintenance and cosmetic internal/external work had already been carried out, but the Community Initiative Grant was required to undertake more significant upgrades including installation of a hot water/heating system, electrical rewiring, repairs to the roof, improvements to the kitchen and toilet facilities and redecoration.

Consultation was carried out with the local school, who supported the initiative as it addressed Governments agenda of ‘putting children first’. Consultation with the Staining Village Hall Association and Scout Hut was also positive owing to the enhanced community facilities and rental capacity the project creates for the village, reducing the pressure on the village hall and increasing the rental capacity for the scouts.

County: Lancashire
Grant Awarded: £5793.00

The Autumn Club is an organisation for the elderly residents of Hoghton and the surrounding communities and takes place in the Village Hall. The Club currently have approximately 50 members that undertake activities including dancing, presentations & exercise classes. Owing to limited equipment and the poor condition of tables and chairs, the Autumn Club run was restricted in terms of activities it could hold and members which could attend.

The Community Initiative grant has enabled the club to purchase new equipment, including tables, chairs and a fridge and has funded minor improvements to the kitchen which will facilitate new activities such as a luncheon club, craft groups and cooking demonstrations and classes.

These improvements will also have wider added benefit for the Village Hall Committee to be able to offer improved facilities to other users and also new user groups who are currently not using the hall.