22 December 1998

Charities Board Finds its Feet and Spreads the Word

Since it was set up in 1995 the National Lottery Charities Board has awarded more than £68m to charitable organisations across the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

Grants already awarded by the National Lottery Charities Board in the region, range from the well-publicised amounts of hundreds of thousands of pounds to much smaller awards which can make all the difference to the organisations concerned. Over the last four years, the Charities Board has been instrumental in helping to improve and develop communities by supporting a broad range of innovative projects as well as assisting existing charities.

As the Charities Board plays an increasingly important role in community life it aims to foster a more day to day awareness of its responsibilities and the exciting opportunities it offers to all charitable organisations and community projects across the region.

As part of this 'opening up' process, two members of the public were appointed to the Regional Awards Committee for Yorkshire and the Humber late last year.

Mrs Amanda Richardson, a Mothercare Manager from Barnsley and Mr Ben Clarke a student from York were chosen by the random selection method used for juries. It is hoped that appointments such as these will make the committee and its work more publicly accessible.

Says Martin Wainwright, Chairman of the NLCB Regional Awards Committee:

"Encouraging applications from sectors of the community who may so far be unaware of their eligibility or who may feel overwhelmed by the application process, is now one of our chief priorities. There has never been a better time to apply. One in every two bids is getting through."

As a further step to increase public awareness of what it has achieved so far, how it works at a regional level, and how its role is evolving, the Regional Awards Committee of the National Lottery Charities Board will meeting in public every month. The first of these meetings took place on Tuesday 12 January. The next meeting will be taking place on Tuesday 16 February.

At these meetings there will be opportunities to listen to key players in the decision making about NLCB awards in the region as they debate questions or regional priority and other issues of importance.

For further information please contact:

Helen Wollaston, Regional Manager NLCB, Leeds on 0113 224 5303 Martin Wainwright, Chairman of the Regional Awards Committee on 0113 250 9422

Issued on behalf of NLCB by Tina Shingler, COI, Leeds Tel: 0113 283 6597