Big Lottery Funding Award
Waveney Community Forum, the area’s charity that helps and supports community and voluntary organisations has been awarded a £253,000 grant by the Big Lottery. This money will provide them with the resources over the next 3 years to improve their assistance to these groups, deliver better community development services in the Waveney area and improve projects that help local communities.
Christine Pinsent, who is the Forum’s Chair of the Trustees, says ”This is a great achievement for the Waveney Community Forum, the staff have worked very hard on this to ensure that the support of the voluntary and community sector in Waveney will continue. It will also give us the opportunity to diversify into other areas like health and education support. There will be lots of major changes in Waveney in the next few years so with this grant I feel confident that we can manage this and expand to meet the need”.
Margaret Oldham, from DIAL (Disability Information and Advice Line) says, “I’m so pleased that Waveney Community Forum has funding to carry on their excellent service. In the past they have provided us with funding support and information. It’s good to know that they are available to help us and lots of other community and voluntary organisations”.
Waveney Community Forum has established itself over the last 5 years as the champion of the charity, voluntary and community sector in Waveney, representing the sector at many levels and raising its profile. This project provides a good launching pad to build upon this success and will help them to:
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Better engage with groups and communities to develop projects that improve the quality of life for local people
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Deliver improved services such as funding and project development advice
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Improve the effectiveness of local partnerships where organisations work together
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Better support the Rural Community Partnership that brings Waveney’s Market Towns and Parishes together to improve communities in rural Waveney
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Add benefit to the regeneration work being carried out in communities in Lowestoft and rural Waveney.
The Forum will also consult the community and voluntary sector in Waveney over the next 3 years to ensure that they provide the support that groups need.
Other beneficiaries will include the statutory organisations such as Waveney District Council, as the Forum will be better able to assist them with their ambitions around community consultation and engagement, and support councillors and people who live in Waveney to be community champions.
Leah Douglas, Waveney District Council’s Community Cohesion, Partnerships and Well-Being Head of Service says that she is delighted that the Forum has been awarded this funding. “We have worked closely with Waveney Community Forum to develop community involvement partnerships such as ‘Lowestoft Together’ and the Rural Community Partnership. We are also pleased to offer funding to help them deliver their services”.
Funding for the project is also coming from Bungay, Halesworth and Southwold Town Councils and several Parish Councils plus the North Lowestoft Fairshare Trust, to help Waveney Community Forum deliver better services throughout Waveney District.
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Big Lottery Funding Award 
