The Bestwood Black Diamonds Welfare Band is using its award of £9,941 to provide more young people from local secondary schools with music lessons in the training band. New instruments will be bought for the main band, while the old ones will be passed to the training band.
Richard Greenwood, Band Manager, said:
“We formed in 1947 and were originally known as the Bestwood Black Diamonds Colliery Band. We want to encourage new members and keep the band going for at least another 60 years, and to do that we need more instruments.
“We have nearly 30 members in the main band and 20 in the junior section, which has been going for three years now and has youngsters aged from seven to around 14. This grant means we can buy new instruments for the main band and therefore pass the old ones on to the junior band, enabling more young people to join us. It will speed up the process of developing young players into the players of tomorrow.
“We can also go out to more schools in the area and do workshops, too. We’re already partners with the local comprehensive in Hucknall so most junior players come from there. We hope we can now push out further so even more children benefit.”
Also benefiting from the latest round of awards is Manor Park Infant and Nursery School with a grant of £7,500. The school of 150 children will use funding to provide extra-curricular sports and arts clubs, allowing pupils to join in physical and creative activities.
Carol Litowczuk, Head Teacher, said:
“We enjoy being at the centre of our thriving community in Calverton and want to build on these existing links. This is a good opportunity to support the range of local provision in the village including local clubs, Calverton Leisure Centre and the Miner’s Welfare Club. We also want to draw on the range of local expertise and skills that we are lucky to have in Calverton.
“Our plans include providing a variety of clubs which will help the children develop skills important for successful futures. With the funds now available we will be able to provide coaches and tutors to share their expertise with staff and parents so they can carry on the good work when the funding stops.”
Some of the areas funded included a new after-school Explorers’ Club, which will look at new technologies with the possibility of making their own films and DVDs, and a multi-skills sports programme linked to the Calverton Miner’s Welfare and Football in the Community.
Awards for All is the small grants scheme administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of Lottery good cause funders, Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England. The scheme is now closed and each of the lottery good cause distributors who supported the scheme now run their own individual small grants programmes. For further information, visit www.awardsforall.org.uk.
Mick McGrath, Big Lottery Fund Head of the East Midlands Region, said on behalf of the Awards for All funders:
“A relatively small amount of funding can go a long way, which can clearly be seen here in Gedling with so many opportunities for young people being provided. We are pleased to be able to support the Bestwood Black Diamonds Colliery Band and Manor Park Infant and Nursery School, just two of 21 projects in the East Midlands sharing more than £150,000 of Lottery grants this month alone.”
For a full list of award recipients visit the Awards for All website
