These projects will see, for the first time, some of the largest charities working alongside smaller community groups and local public services, from schools and GPs to volunteers and peers, to explore new ways of improving the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

On the day, Big Lottery Fund Chief Executive, Peter Wanless, hosted an event for representatives from the 17 partnerships to come together to hear from two leading experts in the field of family and children’s services: Consultant and Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University, Naomi Eisenstadt and Chief Executive of 4Children, Anne Longfield.

Delegates also heard from two of the projects, Aberlour Child Care Trust and Sunderland Association Football Club Foundation, who gave an insight into their respective projects, as well as Ecorys, who will be leading a robust evaluation of the Improving Futures programme that will be a significant source of learning.

BIG chatted to Anne Longfield to hear about the social and economic importance of early intervention and the challenges of making an impact.
 

Derek Gray from Aberlour Child Care Trust talks to BIG about how the Dundee Early Intervention Teams hopes to help local families.

BIG talks to Ken Teears from Sunderland Association Football Club Foundation to hear how they plan to roll out their model across the city.

Nicola Smith from Ecorys tells BIG about the evaluation plans for the Improving Futures programme.

The ‘Camden Futures partnership’ led by Elfrida Rathbone Camden is just one project that will help families who don’t know where to turn to for help with their problems.

Here BIG talks to ‘Fleur’ who has been involved with Elfrida Rathbone for the past three months, and Alexis Keir, Director of Elfrida Rathbone Camden.

For a transcript of this podcast click here

For more information on Improving Futures click here

The 93 grants of up to £10,000 come from BIG’s £50m Supporting Change & Impact initiative – launched last year in response to concerns from the VCS about the effects of the public funding cuts and the future sustainability of existing projects and services.

The money announced today will give existing BIG projects in the last 18 months of their funding some vital time to review the way they work and explore ways of becoming more sustainable. Activities include developing more effective operating models, partnership working, or finding new ways to deliver activities in future.

Further announcements will be made before the end of March including an additional year’s worth of funding for some projects that can show they are having particularly significant impact to continue their project and carry out plans to make their projects more sustainable in the long term.

Receiving funding today, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood will use £10,000 to research data taken from the increasing number of calls they receive and document their expertise and learning through a survivor’s manual for their beneficiaries.

Chief Executive Peter Saunders, said: “We have such a success story here. This £10,000 will enable us to promote and consolidate our work to share with others and look towards the future. We receive thousands of calls and the data we gather from them will provide the basis for a research project, which will prove an invaluable resource to attract further funding and raise awareness.”

Manchester Care and Repair, which supports older people, has lost vital match funding and will use the £10,000 to develop a new strategic direction and identify new ways of working.

Chief Executive Maggie Walker said: “This grant buys us some time and is a welcome boost in our struggle to find new funders and to help older people in a very deprived area. We are coming to the end of four years funding from BIG, which helped local people to develop skills to be ‘champions’, getting accurate information to local older people. We will use the supporting change funding to retain some aspects of the project while we keep working on proving its value to get continuing income.”

Through the Supporting Change & Impact scheme, BIG is also making a total of £6.5million available to four Big Lottery Fund Award Partners – organisations that distribute funding on behalf of BIG – to enable them to offer further support to their grant holders.

MIND, RSWT, Natural England and Groundwork, all Award Partners from BIG’s Changing Spaces programme, will receive funding.

The full impact on the VCS of cutbacks is still to come according to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) which estimates that voluntary and community groups will face a reduction in public funding of over £900 million a year by 2016, losing a total of £2.8 billion in that period.

Nat Sloane, Chair of BIG’s England Committee, said: “The projects being funded today highlight the need for existing projects to be given the time and space to consider their future and how they need to adapt the way they are working to be more in tune with the fast changing environment. We have responded swiftly to the intelligence we have gathered to effectively get this funding to our projects when they need it most to help them make their projects future proof.”

We’re often out and about in the East of England but Friday 13^th brought a new kind of challenge as we opted to trial social reporting for the first time.

Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois had expressed concerns that organisations in his constituency weren’t being as successful as they might at accessing Lottery good causes cash. We decided that holding an free briefing event would give us an opportunity to show local people in South Essex that BIG is more than just a funder – we’re also keen to listen and learn, supporting people along the way.

We saw this as the perfect opportunity to reflect the work of the People Powered Change Working Group in England which has been busy exploring and recommending ways in which BIG can become more ‘social’ to realise the wider ambitions behind PPC and help projects and beneficiaries share their stories and build helpful networks.

So with no time to spare, we started planning for our event just before Christmas working  very closely with Rayleigh, Rochford and District Association of Voluntary Services and Basildon, Billericay and Wickford Council for Voluntary Services to make sure we invited the people who needed to be there.

Mark had also invited BIG Chief Peter Wanless and the other Lottery distributors Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England to come along and talk about funding opportunities from their own organisations.

So armed with my I-phone, video camera, tripod and laptop on a particularly cold, dark and frosty morning we pitched up at the office to make our way down the M11. Things got off to a bad start when I couldn’t remember how to drive an automatic …

Once we had set up the venue and made sure the IT was going to work, I was joined by my social reporting mentor for the day, David Wilcox. David has been working with BIG over the past few months on the social reporting site and he had kindly agreed to show me the ropes so, after a quick chat about who had the best equipment (definitely David) we got started.

With the help of the New Media team, we had set up a web page the day before with the intention of populating the space with photos, videos and presentations following the event. We were keen to ensure that people unable to attend could access all the support on offer.

Once we had tackled the rather large queue, our Sara (Betsworth) opened the event and reminded people about our social experiment. Together with my colleagues, Jamie Conway and Jonathan Clarke, we set about recording the opening speeches and started tweeting (using #wick112) to try and create a buzz. Here’s Jonathan and I hard at it…

Proceedings were kicked off by local MP Mark Francois who welcomed the opportunity for local people to hear from the Lottery distributors.

Watch Mark’s speech here

We halted proceedings there for a photo shoot with the local Basildon Echo: remind anyone of a recent and very public civil partnership?!

And then Peter took to the floor to bust a few myths about how and where Lottery money is distributed. Using examples such as BATIAS – a support project for people with learning disabilities in South Essex which was due to close its doors in January but has now had its future secured with a BIG grant of £296,000, Peter stressed how constituents of Rayleigh and Wickford benefit from awards made to organisations with main offices outside the constituency.

Watch Peter’s speech here

Our Ed then talked through what makes a good application and then it was all hands on deck as David and I set off to interview Mark and Peter. You can see the results here:

Watch Mark and Peter discussing their hopes for the future

Following coffee, the other funders set about explaining their own funding opportunities; the local CVSs outlined their support services and then it was off for lunch.

But not for me and David! Armed with the mike, we went forth into the crowd to talk to delegates about what the event meant to them. For intrepid reporter Catherine Kimberley, there was clearly no time to prepare the questions …

Watch Catherine’s efforts

Watching that back makes me a) cringe and b) realise how much I have to learn but there’s nothing like diving straight in. We’re in an amazing position to extend our reach beyond those who attend our events – we will of course have training needs and will need to keep experimenting with new media tools to increase our confidence, but there’s clearly an appetite for this to develop.

It was clear from our experiment that we need to make sure we build space into our events so that people can share their experiences, and provide us feedback so we can plan future outreach work.

Over the next few months, we’ll be following up with groups from the event to see how they want to communicate with us – whether they embrace the new media tools at their disposal, or want to stick to the traditional workshop format, we’ll be in a better position to support them.

Were we more social in Wickford?  Watch this space …

You can watch our other interviews from the day

Some 45 projects across the South West are sharing in £350k from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.

Routeways Centre Limited receives £10,000 for the All Ways Apples project in Plymouth. The group will use the funding to provide a range of food and gardening activities and workshops for the whole community. This will enable both older and younger members of the community to engage in outdoor activities that will encourage greater community cohesion and guidance on a healthier lifestyle.

Andrew Turnock, Project Manager, said: “Based in Devonport, All Ways Apples celebrates natural abundance by increasing the local harvesting of apples in the city. Health promoting apple-related workshops will include growing and pruning skills for fruit trees in small gardens. A lively creative apple festival in the autumn will showcase the project.”

St Hilary School in Penzance, Cornwall, secures £4,290 to create a sensory, vegetable and wildlife garden for pupils and the wider community. This will improve the outdoor space so people can access the natural environment and learn about sustainable living.

InterClimate Network receives £5,000 to run an environment event for young people in Bristol. This will raise awareness about the planet and environment and highlight green issues. It will also help improve communication, leadership and presentation skills and highlight employment opportunities.

Other projects receiving funding today include Music in Hospitals, awarded £9,600 to provide 75 live music concerts for sick and disabled older people in care homes in the South West to help alleviate isolation, improve moods and people’s spirits, including those with dementia. And Dance in Devon Limited is awarded £9,800 to run an intergenerational dance-based programme in Princetown, including interactive workshops, accredited leadership training for young adults, and community presentations.

Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the South West region, said: “A host of juicy projects receive BIG funding today. Many of these are aimed at improving the health and well-being of people of all ages across the South West while encouraging people to enjoy the natural environment. A great start to the year.”

BIG’s Awards for All programme offers grants of between £300 and £10,000 to social and environmental projects that will benefit local communities and make a difference to the lives of those most in need. Voluntary and community groups, schools, health organisations and parish and town councils can all apply.

See a full list of awards announced in the South West today

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

We’ve invited not-for-profit or community groups, schools, and parish/town councils to a free funding event in the Wickford Centre to make sure they know how to apply for Lottery funding.

And we’re delighted to be supported by local MP Mark Francois who is keen to see organisations based in his constituency of Rayleigh and Wickford access Lottery funding.

Our very own Peter Wanless will be addressing the audience to make sure they know all about the funding that’s available, how to make an application and where to go for further support and we’re covering all the options by inviting the other main Lottery distributors along to speak about funding available from their individual organisations.

Representatives from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England will all be joining us and the two local CCVS organisations – Rayleigh, Rochford and District Association of Voluntary Services (RRAVS) and Basildon, Billericay and Wickford Council for Voluntary Services (BBMCVS) will also be on hand to offer advice and support.

It’s going to be a busy day with over 120 organisations represented – we’ve had to close the doors to any other groups but will be making sure all the content of the day is available here. We’re also keen to continue conversations with interested groups, so please remember the Regional Team is here to help – contact us on 01223 449000.

We’ll also be tweeting from the event so follow us here: #wick112

Twitter (#wick112)

£35 million has been invested by the Big Lottery Fund to bring the Forces in Mind Trust into action today.  FIMT, a partnership of UK forces charities and mental health organisations, led by the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO), has been given partnership support from The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry which will back the Trust with its own grants over a three-year programme as well as helping raise awareness of the issues facing veterans.

Over the next 20 years, the Forces in Mind Trust will provide UK-wide long-term support and advocacy for Service personnel and Veterans to make a successful transition to civilian life.The focus will be on addressing a range of problems that some ex-service personnel and their families can experience back in civilian life, such as poor mental health, family breakdown and alcohol-related problems.

The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry was set up by the Princes in September 2009 to enable them to take forward their charitable ambitions. Supporting former forces personnel through the challenges of returning to civilian life and providing support for their families is a priority they share with the Forces in Mind Trust.

Peter Ainsworth, Big Lottery Fund UK Chair said: “I am delighted that The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry will be working in partnership with the Forces in Mind Trust as its vital work to support former forces and their families moves into action.”

He Added: “By investing this £35 million, the BIG Lottery Fund is enabling a ground-breaking programme of expertly-designed interventions and activities, offering essential assistance which will not only improve to the lives of ex-service people directly but inform national policy and practice more widely.

Some 20,000 people leave the forces each year.  There is so much more we can and should do to support their transition and the work of the Trust will pinpoint gaps and deliver improvements in evidenced fashion to the benefit of veterans and their families.”

Nick Booth, CEO of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry, said:

“We are incredibly excited about this partnership with Forces in Mind. Taking a direct lead from our Patrons, the Foundation is committed to ensuring those who have given so much serving their country in the Armed Forces are, in turn, given as much support as they and their families need to re-integrate into civilian society. We hope the Foundation’s involvement and resources will further allow the Forces in Mind Trust to become a major new source of support and leadership in this incredibly important sector.”

The Chairman of the Forces in Mind Trust, Air Vice-Marshal Tony Stables said:

“Our intention is to give those leaving the armed services, and their families, the best opportunity for a successful return to civilian life so that they can fully participate in society. As a first step, the Forces In Mind Trust will undertake a comprehensive review of the transition process from military service to civilian life for all service men and women, and their families.

“The aim is to ensure that we are able to provide the evidence needed to deliver projects, either directly or in partnership with other charities and organisations, so that those undergoing transition have a positive outcome.

“This is a unique opportunity and the support for this initiative and our partnerships with the Big Lottery Fund and the Foundation for Prince William and Prince Harry will enable us to make a positive difference to the transition process and to be able to fund projects like the Early Service Leavers trial starting this month in Catterick Garrison.”

The pilot at Catterick in Yorkshire will provide 12 months of enhanced support and guidance on employment, accommodation, educational needs, and mental health issues for approximately 1,000 early service leavers from across the UK.

The Trust’s work will also include commissioning research to improve knowledge of the issues affecting veterans and their families, which will help shape new services and inform national policy. The Trust will also undertake awareness raising campaigns, and provide peer advice and support particularly to those veterans who are most vulnerable.

The Forces in Mind Trust continues BIG’s long-standing legacy of support for veterans across the UK. Since 2004 the Fund has given more than £88 million to programmes supporting veterans. The Fund’s Heroes Return initiative has enabled over 51,000 Second World War veterans, widows, spouses and carers to journey back to the places where they served and fought or where their loved ones died.

Apart from COBSEO Members, key supporting charities are: The Mental Health Foundation, Centre for Mental Health and Shaw Trust. COBSEO represents, promotes and furthers the interests of Service and ex-Service men and women of all ranks, and of their spouses and dependants, by all practical, legal and proper means. COBSEO’s membership consists of about 167 Service and ex-Service organisations including 65 regimental associations.

Pictured are Pearl McKenna, 76, from Belfast’s Donegall Road area, and Bob Stoker, Development Manager for Southcity Resource & Development Centre

Pearl McKenna, 77, suffers from diabetes, has heart problems and has severe arthritis. Although she is fairly mobile she finds Christmas to be a difficult time and sad time.

She said: “My husband died almost eight years ago and, well, that makes it a little bit more sad each Christmas because just you feel that little bit more alone. Sometimes I can get a bit down, sometimes I feel a little bit sorry for myself and find myself having a little weep.”

However Pearl gets support from a project in Northern Ireland which secured a BIG grant of £200,000 for a drop in centre for elderly people like her to get out and meet people during the festive season.

Senior Moments in south Belfast is holding social activities like tea dances, shopping trips, computer classes and hope to offer confidential advice to people who need a friendly face to turn to. Fun festive events have already included the Christmas lights switch on in the Donegal Road, a Christmas dinner at a charity youth club where young children helped prepare and give out the dinner to the elderly, trips to St Georges Market, and a performance of the Wizard of Oz by a children’s drama group.

Since attending Pearl now has a much better social life and has gained new friends. She said: “Southcity is really, really good and they have arranged and put on so many things. Christmas is coming up and there’s so many activities being laid on for us I wonder if I’m going to have enough time to partake in all of them.

“You are mixing with friends, you are not isolated, you are not wondering what you are going to do from day to day.”

Adrienne McGill, project manager for Senior Moments, said: “You know there’s a lot of people out there who are probably feeling very lonely and as you get older in age your family does diminish so there’s a lot of them on their own, so it’s just making sure they know there’s someone out there who cares about them.”

Hear Pearl speak about her plans for the festive season below:

In the first audio slideshow we hear from Angela who was diagnosed with cancer but has found new strength since joining a Tenovus Sing for Life Choir funded by the Big Lottery Fund.