GROUPS in need of a funding boost have been urged to apply to the Lancashire Telegraph Community Cash Awards.

The Telegraph has teamed up with the Big Lottery Fund to offer £250,000 to community groups across East Lancashire.

Grants of between £10,000 and £30,000 are available, but applications must be in by Sunday, July 21.

Big Lottery Fund England director Dharmendra Kanani said: “Time is running out for you to fill in your application form and help make a difference to the lives of people and communities across East Lancashire.

“We hope this funding will help to bring people and communities together, particularly in difficult times, to feel empowered and access resources to turn lives around for the better.

“Through this partnership with the Lancashire Telegraph, there is £250,000 available to support the spirit, imagination and aspirations of local people and communities to do good in their neighbourhoods.

“In short, this is people-powered change.

“We really want to see a range of exciting applications come in to help people most in need.

“The form is straightforward to fill in but you have just two weeks to go.”

One group to have already benefited from Big Lottery funding is Bradley Early Years Centre, Nelson, which got £7,753.

Manager Joanne Burton said: “The money enabled us to have our kitchen refurbished, which we wouldn’t have been able to do without the grant.

“The idea behind it was so we could educate the children about healthy eating and it has been really successful. Other groups should definitely go for this opportunity as there just isn’t any funding out there at the moment.”

For application form and guidelines, visit www.lancsfoundation.org.uk or call 0151 2322444 to get a paper copy.

How the campaign works

The Lancashire Telegraph Community Cash Awards will be rolled out over the next few weeks.

The aim is to encourage communities to think about how funding could benefit their area. If your community has a great idea for how to spend a Lottery grant of between £10,000 and £30,000, the Awards could be for you.

Whether you are looking to run classes to get people more physically active, turn a derelict site into a community garden, set up afters-school cooking clubs, organise tea dances for isolated older people, train young people to become more emplyable or help your community get online, this funding can be the difference.

Who can apply?

To apply for a grant you will neet to be a community group, not-for-profit group, parish or town council, health body or school. You do not have to be a registered charity.Groups must have a bank account that requires at least two people to sign each cheque or withdrawal and you must be in a position to use the grant within a year.

Your project needs to be working within the readership area of the Lancashire Telegraph, East Lancashire.

Timescales

The application form is straightforward and needs to be submitted by Sunday, July 21.

From September 9, a shortlist of the best ideas will be revealed in the Lancashire Telegraph and every day for two weeks readers will have the chance to vote for the projects they would like to see get the cash. The projects with the highest votes will be awarded the funding until all £250,000 of the Big Lottery Fund money has been spent.

The winners will be announced week of 30 September 2013.