Darlington groups celebrate National Lottery funding success

Community groups and organisations from Darlington are celebrating this week, after being presented with National Lottery grants of up to £10,000 each at an event held in Darlington Connect in the Cornmill Shopping Centre last Thursday.

This vital funding comes from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, and will enable projects to support the town’s communities with a range of local activities that will help to improve lives.

The seven successful groups and organisations include:

• Darlington Association on Disability which will use £9,000 to expand the number of places for children and adults with disabilities to join its range of activities
• St Herbert’s Church received £5,000 towards repairing the roof of the church hall which is used by a number of local community groups
• Breathe Easy Darlington was awarded almost £10,000 for its programme of activities for people living with respiratory health conditions
• Darlington Vineyard Church will be using its £10,000 grant to buy new toys and equipment and expand its work supporting families affected by the cost of living crisis
• Tracks Darlington CIC received almost £10,000 to put on musical performances for local sheltered housing and care home residents
• Darlington Wellbeing The Art of Survival will use its £2,400 grant to continue providing accessible therapeutic art sessions to improve people’s mental health and wellbeing
• The Clifton Centre Community Association received nearly £5,000 to improve its facilities for the local residents and community groups that use the centre.

Sarah Wilson, Director of Tracks Darlington CIC, said:

“We are really pleased to have been awarded the funding to run our ‘Music Makes Memories’ project in care homes in Darlington. A big thank you to all National Lottery players without whom this and other important community projects in Darlington and across the region wouldn’t go ahead.”

Ann Boyd, Secretary at Breathe Easy Darlington, said:

“This National Lottery funding will help us support more people across Darlington, Teesside, County Durham and North Yorkshire who live with respiratory ill health by continuing our weekly pulmonary rehabilitation classes. We’ve also been able to set up new singing and yoga activities, which enhance people’s health and wellbeing.

We’re looking forward to treating our members, many of whom experience loneliness and isolation, to social days out – such as the pantomime - thanks to the funding. We are so grateful to everyone who bought a National Lottery ticket and made this possible – it will make a huge difference to people’s lives.”

Duncan Nicholson, Head of Regional Funding for the North East at The National Lottery Community Fund presented the groups with giant cheques at the event. He said:

“I’m excited to award this funding to much-needed projects in Darlington, which will help to improve the lives of people in this town, thanks to National Lottery players.

It’s important that our money reaches communities that need it and we were a bit worried that we weren’t getting enough applications from groups in Darlington. Now, thanks to MP Peter Gibson, The Ballinger Trust, Healthwatch Darlington, and our local funding team’s efforts, we’ve been able to make these seven great awards that will make a real difference to local people’s lives.”

Peter Gibson, Conservative MP for Darlington said:

“Congratulations to the organisations that have secured funding through this process. There are so many fantastic organisations in Darlington, like those that have secured funding today, who do so much fantastic work in our community and make our town a stronger, better and brighter place to live. I’m also very grateful to the local National Lottery Fund Community Team for asking for my feedback on the successful winners. Thank you for all that you do.”

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.

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