Lottery for Coleraine, Portrush and Garvagh

Community groups in Coleraine, Portrush and Garvagh are celebrating after being awarded National Lottery funding.

St Patrick’s & St Joseph’s Primary School is amongst the 86 groups across Northern Ireland who are sharing £736,023 from Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.

The school, based in Garvagh, is using a grant of £10,000 to build a sensory room for pupils

with emotional or psychological issues.

Carnalridge Primary School PTA, in Portrush, is using the £9,999 grant to build an adventure trail and a sensory garden with an outdoor learning hut to encourage physical activity and learning about nature.

Also receiving funding is Loreto College. The Coleraine school is using the grant of £10,000 to create a wellbeing room in the school to improve the mental health and resilience of pupils. The room will include soft seating, mood lighting, a music system, information boards with leaflets and support materials, and a PC for pupils to access online support.

Julie Harrison, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said: “I am delighted to announce these grants

under the Awards for All programme and I want to say thanks to all the National Lottery

players who have helped make this possible.

“Awards for All funds health, education, environment and community projects that help

people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and well-being, develop

skills and create safer communities. The application process is simple and accessible and shall remain so, making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.”

Awards for All Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at