Residents in Ashton-under-Lyne could soon realise their dream of a brand new centre at the heart of their community after receiving a grant of £475,000 from the Big Lottery Fund, announced today.

The funding is for the 4 C Community Centre project, which has been spearheaded by local people to create a new sustainable modern accessible building in the grounds of Christ Church in Ashton.

Jonathan Hindle, Chair of The 4 C Community Centre project, said: "This is great news for our community-led project after much hard work by our team of volunteers. This is a chance to give Ashton a legacy that will last for generations and will be highly sustainable in its construction and use. We hope everyone will visit our website to see the plans and be involved in this fantastic community resource."

The new energy efficient centre will accommodate a host of activities benefiting all the community and features will include a large multi-use hall, a bar/café, flexible meeting rooms, offices and storage rooms. Services will be provided for local families, older people, youth and the unemployed, as well as hosting group activities and social events for the whole community.

Michelle McNamee, Big Lottery Fund Head of the North West region said: The new community centre will be a fantastic asset to the locals of Ashton-under-Lyne, particularly for fostering greater social interaction and participation in community life. We’re thrilled to be supporting this project.”

The grant comes from the Fund’s Community Buildings programme which is today making nine awards worth £2,714,416 for bricks and mortar investments in village halls and community centres across England.

More information on the project and building design can be found by visiting www.4ccommunitycentre.org.uk

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone:  0845 6021 659

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Community Buildings is dedicated to investing in buildings that give communities a chance to improve their quality of life and meet local needs, by offering a range of activities and services open to a broad range of people.
• £50 million will be distributed across England over three years with grants of £50,000 to £500,000 available.
• The programme opened for applications in June 2006. 200 applicants were invited to submit stage 2 applications and development funding was awarded to some projects.
• The programme is now closed for applications.  
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £22 billion has now been raised and more than 300,500 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.