Communities across England look ahead to the New Year with almost £65 million National Lottery cash boost

Almost £65 million of vital National Lottery funding has gone to communities across England this quarter* to support them as they recover from the pandemic, helping them to build back stronger into the New Year and beyond.

The life-enhancing sum, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, has been awarded to over 2,000 community groups and will support communities as they continue rebuilding after two incredibly challenging years.

Over half of the £65 million cash boost has reached the most deprived areas in England according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation, including Birkenhead, Hartlepool and Leeds, with such areas receiving a 72% share (£45.7 million). The projects funded are important to communities and range from mental health support groups for farmers to help reduce isolation, a creative space to help young people learn new skills and get into employment, and the provision of mental health and wellbeing support for homeless people through a mobile consulting room.

John Mothersole, Chair of England Committee at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to award almost £65 million of life changing funding across England in the last three months alone, supporting communities to rebuild from the challenges of the last two years. This vital funding will have a huge impact on people’s lives, on the communities we live in and on the incredible volunteers and groups that will help our communities to build back stronger, prosper and thrive.

“Through almost 2,000 charities and community groups, we have funded urgent issues that affect us all and are at the heart of communities, including employability, mental health, supporting young people and helping people become better connected to tackle loneliness. We’re proud to be awarding this money and we know it will make a difference to people’s lives and communities.”

The announcement comes shortly after The National Lottery Community Fund released a new report, Putting Communities First, which sets out the impact National Lottery funding has had on communities across the UK over the last five years.

The report shows that on average 5.2 million people across the country a year were supported by National Lottery-funded projects, with 97% of grant holders reporting improvements in their participants’ mental health, self-esteem and social contact.

National Lottery players raise £30 million each week across the UK for good causes. The National Lottery Community Fund as a distributor ensures a share of this funding goes straight to communities, helping them to tackle important issues such as supporting young people into employment, mental health and climate action.

During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK.

Examples of projects funded this quarter:

Herefordshire based We are Farming Minds has received almost £140,000 in National Lottery funding to support its mental health work. The charity, which was set up by Farmer, Sam Stables and his wife, aims to break the stigma surrounding isolation, loneliness and mental health that is prevalent within the farming community.

The funding will be used by the charity to provide mental health training to Vets and Farming Sales Reps on how to spot the signs of mental illness when visiting farmers and how to offer support. We are Farming Minds will also develop one of the nation’s first farmer specific 24-hour helpline and counselling service and provide a social event, to reduce the isolation felt by many farmers living and working in rural areas.

Project lead and Farmer, Sam Stables said: “We launched We are Farming Minds after I reached crisis point with my own mental health. It was clear to me that farmers across the UK needed a group where they could talk about mental illness in a judgement free space. Thanks to National Lottery players, we are able to continue our charity and hope to reach more than 500 farmers to offer a helpline and counselling service, as well as signposting to professional services.”

In London, Healthy Living Healthy Lives, based in Redbridge, is using a £10,000 grant to create a mobile consulting room so they can deliver healthcare to people who are homeless in the community. The new mobile consulting room is a ground-breaking initiative which will help around 350 people in Redbridge who are currently homeless. The project will improve the health and wellbeing of people who are homeless by ensuring they receive appropriate support. This support covers all aspects of health needs including physical, mental, emotional and public health as well as signposting to other agencies if required.

Stephanie O’Leary, Founder and Homeless Healthcare Manager, said: “We support between 150-200 individuals and provide over 3000 individual consults per year so the mobile consulting room will be helping hundreds of people in the community. The service we provide is so incredibly important, if we weren’t there, people that are homeless wouldn’t be getting registered with GPs, wouldn’t be getting the healthcare they are currently getting because they don’t know how to access it.

“We wouldn’t be where are we are without National Lottery funding; it really is as simple as that. The funding allows us to operate, and this recent grant has been vital.”

Rising Stars North West CIC, based in Stockport, is a youth media organisation that delivers workshops in media, music and creative disciplines, as well as organising live events for young people aged 11 - 25. The group also run their own radio station called Pie Radio, Manchester’s biggest youth led radio station. Thanks to a £240,000 grant, the group will be able to continue to support young people in the area through their latest project, Reskill & Rise, which aims to teach them new skills around media, music and working in the creative industry. Through the various workshops, young people will be given the opportunity to gain work experience, supporting them on their paths into employment.

Solomon Onalapo, Director at Rising Stars North West, said: “Thank you to all National Lottery players, without you doing what you do we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing right now. All the money that we’ve received from The National Lottery Community Fund to fund this project allows us to support young people and enables us to change lives.”

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk