Ballymena groups get Awards for All windfall

THREE groups from the Ballymena borough are sharing in a grants windfall from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.

Portglenone Senior Citizens Thursday Bowling Club, which works top improve life for older people in the Portglenone area, will use their grant of 900 to run recreational activities for members.

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Harryville Partnership Initiative in Ballymena town, which works to improve the lives of people in the Harryville area, will use their windfall of 8,811 to buy equipment for their new premises on Larne Street.

While Dunclug Youth Forum in the town, which was set up provide a forum for young people to raise and deal with issues that concern them in the Dunclug area, will use their 9,494 grant to buy security equipment for the premises they use.

The small grants programme is awarding over 19,000 to the local groups as part of a grants roll-out of 604,974 to 75 groups across Northern Ireland.

Awards for All offers community, voluntary and statutory groups the chance to apply for small grants of between 500 and 10,000 that will have a big impact on local communities and the lives of people most in need.

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Harryville Partnership Initiative, for example, which is an umbrella organisation representing a number of community groups in the Harryville area, will use the funding to buy equipment including new desks and chairs, a lap top and a projector so they can continue to run offer support to the local community.

Harryville

Committee member Billy Miller, 45, has lived in the Harryville area all his life and says things are really beginning to improve thanks to the work of the organisation.

“Over the years Harryville has developed a bad name for sectarian issues and anti-social behaviour and we are working to change things for the people living here,” he said.

“Things are improving here and we are working hard to improve community spirit and make people proud of this area. But there are still high levels of unemployment and there’s an ageing population here who need our support.

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“The partnership initiative is an umbrella group which represents various community groups in the estate including an environmental group, an older people’s group, a women’s group and health and well-being groups.

“Our main purpose is to support these groups, offering them a place to hold meetings and bringing them together to tackle the issues affecting people in the estate.”

He continued: “We also offer counselling services for people who need advice on housing issues or benefits and we signpost people to the support services on offer. We run adult literacy courses, and we offer hands on support like cutting an older person’s grass or helping them with their shopping.

“This funding means we can buy the kit we so badly need for our new office so we continue to coordinate the local community groups we represent, and offer our support to the local community.

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“Groups can use the equipment for meetings and presentations, we can use it to showcase the work we’ve done here, and we can use it for the classes and activities we offer. We are so grateful for this funding.”

Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.awardsforall.org.uk.

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