West Midlands Big Briefing
Funding programmes open to your constituents
You can use our Funding Finder to search for funding programmes that are available for your constituents, while our grants search will allow you to find projects that have been funded in your constituency.
BIG Lottery funding in the West Midlands
In the last year Big Lottery Fund awarded 1029 grants totalling £57,184,459 to communities across the West Midlands. This includes 724 grants totalling £6,004,258 from our flagship programme Awards for All.
Heard it on the grapevine
A Coseley woman is celebrating after winning a competition to name a new community newsletter, produced as part of the first project undertaken by people in the Big Local Trust area of Dudley.
Margaret Duffield spotted the contest in the first newsletter produced by new group the East Coseley Community Forum. The new group came together earlier this year in response to their area being granted £1 million from the Big Lottery Fund under its Big Local Trust. Until now residents of East Coseley have very much felt like the ‘forgotten’ part of the borough, and didn’t receive any kind of free local paper which made community activity very difficult. Through the early days of consultation a community newsletter came up time and time again as something really needed in the area, and through their initial Getting People Involved grant of £4,745 they were able to produce the first two editions. This has given an opportunity to advertise local community activity as well as raise awareness of the Big Local Trust investment and encourage more people to come along and get involved.
Coseley Grapevine has been delivered to more than 3000 homes and community venues across East Coseley and received fantastic feedback from local people. So much so that the East Coseley Community Forum are already planning the next 2 editions. In addition to seeing her winning name in print Margaret was presented with a prize of £50 by local MP Pat McFadden.
On receiving her prize Margaret said, “It was great to see the first newsletter drop through our letterbox, it’s just what our area needs. I was even more delighted when my name was chosen for future editions. I would like to wish everyone involved with the Coseley Grapevine lots of success!”
Find out more information on Big Local Trust
Creating friendship in the Black Country
The Black Country may be famous for its industrial heritage, but don’t let that fool you. Artistic creativity can be found in equal measure, as one group of ladies in Sandwell prove.
Following the withdrawal of funding for classes at their local college, Pat Wilding, Janet Banks and Margaret Wilkes saw what a hole this would leave and decided to organise their own classes. Together they applied to Awards for All and were successful, receiving a grant of £7,980 to do just that.
The group hold their weekly sessions on a Wednesday, giving older people a chance to participate in IT based arts and crafts workshops. Many of the people who come along suffer mental health issues and are isolated from the rest of the community, and these classes give them vital support and friendship in an environment where they can relax.
Janet Banks is a 24 hour carer for her adult son with a disability. She suffers depression and her visit to these classes is the only break she gets from her responsibilities. She said “It’s a long day on my own. That’s why it’s nice to get out and meet other people. These days give me chance to get away from my problems and forget about it for a while.”
Also suffering depression and severe panic attacks, Gurbinder Kaur said “I live on my own and coming here brings me out of the house and into the community, otherwise I’d be stuck there. These ladies are more like family, they look after me and I wouldn’t have coped without them.”
Barbara Bright, a professional teacher who runs the classes for the group reflects on the time she spends with the ladies, saying “these sessions give the ladies a chance to learn new skills and be creative, but it’s more than that. This creativity can be a kind of therapy for depression. They come here because they feel safe, it is their friendship, their support and quite often their respite, and it makes a huge difference to their lives.”
Find out more about Awards for All
How can we help you?
BIG can facilitate introductions with Lottery funded groups, and deliver bespoke sessions to work with constituents to improve the amount and the quality of funding applications.
Also, every month we email all West Midland’s MPs with the details of awards that have been made in their constituencies.
To arrange a constituency tour or to find out how we can help support your constituents please contact us.
Llinell Gynghori Fawr 0300 123 0735
