National Lottery funding in the script for Barrow filmmaking charity inspiring local young people

A Barrow-based film charity helping local disengaged young people build skills in media and ICT has received almost £10,000 in National Lottery funding.

Over the school holidays, which began last Thursday, Signal Film & Media Ltd are engaging around 40 young people aged 11-15 years old from the Barrow area to work alongside professional filmmakers to get hands-on experience in filmmaking.

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, the Cooke’s Crew programme will deliver sessions that will include learning about the production process (in front of and behind the camera), production roles and responsibilities, storyboarding and scriptwriting, directing actors, animation and coding, film analysis and sound recording.

The aim of the programme is to upskill the young people taking part, while broadening horizons and igniting curiosity about potential careers in film and media.

Joanne Hewitt, Youth Programme Manager said: “It's wonderful to see how the young people light up with confidence and ideas - they are really proud of their film. The skills they've learnt and the friendships they have made are so important. Thanks to National Lottery players for supporting our local young people to experience new things and learn so much.”

Signal Film & Media Ltd is one of over 400 organisations in North East & Cumbria, doing vital work with communities, to receive a share of £11.5 million in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund.*

Duncan Nicholson, Head of Funding for North East & Cumbria at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players and the hard work and dedication of local groups and projects, such as Signal Film & Media, this funding will make a big difference to people’s lives.  The quality of applications we receive speaks volumes of the care and ingenuity of local people - we’re delighted that our grants are being used to support great projects that strengthen communities and improve lives in our region in many ways.”

The National Lottery Community Fund awards grants to strengthen society and improve lives across the UK. Thanks to National Lottery players, it will distribute at least £4 billion by 2030, supporting activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable.

This award falls under one of The National Lottery Community Fund’s four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

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

Date published: 25 July, 2023
Region: England (North East)

Notes to Editors

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.

We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key government programmes and initiatives.

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

1. Come together

2. Be environmentally sustainable

3. Help children and young people thrive

4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.

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