THE South West’s community organisations are celebrating after being awarded £3.2-million in National Lottery funding.

Among those benefitting from the money being distributed by the Big Lottery Fund are St Petroc’s School in Bude, Callington Community Arts — the team behind the town’s MayFest, Young People Cornwall, and Work Skills South West CIC, who have all been awarded more than £9,000.

The Post recently reported on the charity Young People Cornwall, as Pat Orridge from North Petherwin has set up its new Award Centre in North Cornwall, which will help youngsters aged 14 to 25 access and complete their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards.

Young People Cornwall will use the £9,280 it has been awarded by the Big Lottery Fund to expand its Duke of Edinburgh’s Award activities, training its volunteers to meet increased demand and providing walking and camping courses for young people.

The funding is not there to cover the North Cornwall Award Centre’s running costs or volunteer expenses, but will allow Young People Cornwall to provide set up equipment costs of tents, compasses and essential training for walk leaders as well as first aid training.

Karin Saunders of Young People Cornwall said: “We are trying to target young people who cannot access DofE through normal school routes so anyone with SEN needs, home schooled, in alternative education or unemployed are welcome! As well as anyone who has left school or not been able to do DofE where they attend college, etc.

“Young People Cornwall hold the license to cover this activity and I oversee provision and the volunteers who deliver it as well as helping various groups around the county with expedition training and treks.”

The North Cornwall Award Centre has its first few participants, but there is space for more.

Pat said: “Our aim is to take those who currently have no route into DofE as well as mainstream youngsters who may have missed out due to high numbers applying or lack of opportunity in some other way.”

For more information, visit the Facebook page North Cornwall Duke of Edinburgh’s Open Award Centre, phone Pat on 07484703702, or email [email protected]

The sixth Callington MayFest will be held on May 19 and the charity behind it, Callington Community Arts, has been awarded a grant of £9,400. One of the small committee of organisers, Peter Watson, said: “We couldn’t do it without funding from the lottery and also FEAST,” adding the day would be ‘a shadow of itself’ without the Big Lottery boost.

The funding will ensure the festival is free to the community, and there are a series of free workshops in the run up to MayFest, including flamenco, samba drumming and music making with Cornish musician and performer Hilary Coleman.

They are expecting about 260 performers from bands and choirs to take part on the day.

There is also the chance for local groups to create a giant to take part in the parade on festival day at noon.

The centre of Callington will be closed on May 19, to enable performances to take place, with a craft market and two stages. For more information on MayFest, visit https://callingtonmayfest.weebly.com/ or their Facebook page.

Work Skills South West (WSSW) is a Community Interest Company, which was established to support vulnerable individuals within the community. WSSW, which has been awarded £9,900 from the Big Lottery, has gained a reputation for providing creative solutions to complex social problems and has been involved in a number of award winning programmes. The funding will be used to challenge issues surrounding rural isolation by running a range of workshops and art outreach activities.

In 2017 WSSW supported Cornwall Community Foundation in gathering evidence for the Vital Signs report, a document that looked at the levels of deprivation within Cornwall. Evidence was gathered through open door consultation events one of which was hosted by WSSW at its Care Farm Merryhue situated between Callington and Liskeard.

The Vital Signs report highlighted that East Cornwall is one of the poorest wards within Cornwall with transport poverty causing huge issues for many who either can’t drive or can’t afford to drive, there is also a dearth of services due to the sparsely populated nature of this part of the county. To tackle this issue WSSW developed The Creative Aging Project, which aimed to help reduce the rural isolation of the elderly within East Cornwall. The project is designed to bring the elderly together whilst undertake a range of creative workshops which are designed to stimulate cognitive and physical functioning, building relationships whilst undertaking activities that are designed to help other disadvantaged individuals.

Participants on the project are given the opportunity to undertake activities that create a wide range of artistic products that will be sold at the local farmers markets and at an end-of-year exhibition event. Profits from the sale of the art and raft products will be split between a local charity of the participants’ choice and funding further materials for the Creative Aging Project to ensure it remains sustainable.

Founding director of WSSW, Nikki Markham, said: “Everyone can contribute to improving society no matter what stage of life they are at. The Creative Aging Project provides an ideal opportunity for the elderly within our community to share their skills and learn new ones whilst supporting other local community projects or charities. It also helps reduce social isolation and builds community cohesion it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Being based on a Care Farm WSSW has access to a wide variety of natural materials such as wool from its Swiss Valais sheep and alpacas and these are turned into imaginative craft projects, such as felt alpacas made from its alpaca wool. Wooden animals are created out of natural timber sourced on the farm.

If you would like to know more about WSSW and the projects it runs visit www.wssw.org.uk

St Petroc’s School in Bude will use the £9,850 it has been awarded to install a variety of play equipment, improving the space to increase local play and outdoor learning opportunities.

All of the money has been raised by players for good causes and is being distributed by the Big Lottery Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK. In total, 214 community projects across the region are receiving a share.

James Harcourt, England grant-making director at the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Great community projects like these are what National Lottery funding is all about. We can see how the money raised by players for good causes helps to bring ideas to life and gives local people the opportunity to work together for the good of their community.

“Whether from a village, town or city, we’re proud that our funding supports people who have identified what matters to them and their community and who want to make a positive change.”

The Big Lottery Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. Every week, it gives out over £13-million to fund bright ideas, big or small. Today’s announcement sees £54-million being made available to community groups and organisations across England this quarter.

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