A Co Armagh primary school has been awarded almost £10,000 in lottery funding to build an outdoor learning area.
Darkley Primary School is one of 86 Big Lottery Fund ‘winners’ across Northern Ireland.
They are sharing in a pot of over £730,000 under the Awards for All programme.
Darkley Primary has been awarded £9,985 to build the outdoor learning area for local children to encourage physical activity and learning about nature.
The area includes a storytelling chair, a sand and water table, and a canopy shelter so the area can be used in all weathers.
Also receiving funding is St Michael’s Primary School at Clady.
It was awarded £9,818 to buy IT equipment, a portable PA system and new playgroup equipment.
The money also goes towards the costing of building an ‘eco-garden’ to encourage outdoor activity and learning about nature.
Killylea Silver Band – which recently opened its new hall in the village – has been granted £9,993 to buy tables and chairs, a chair trolley, a vacuum cleaner and other cleaning equipment, as well as kitchen accessories and tableware.
These will allow the band to offer its facilities for community use.
Links Counselling Service in Lurgan receives £10,000 to run free counselling sessions and mental health specific workshops to children, young people and adults.
And St Patrick’s College, based in Banbridge, is using a £9,600 grant to deliver healthy minds and resilience programmes to staff members, parents and youth workers.
Meanwhile, Banbridge Visually Impaired Club is using a £9,400 grant to run a trip to Scotland and a trip to Castlewellan for members, to cover costs of their annual dinner, and to pay for volunteer expenses and training to better support their work with blind and partially sighted people in the area.
Julie Harrison, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said she was delighted to make the latest cash awards announcement.
“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,” she said.
“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 www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at enquiries.ni@biglotteryfund.org.uk
