An innovative mobile play project, which enables youngsters to choose, design and build their own play receives close to £244,000 today from the Big Lottery Fund.

The money comes from BIG’s Playful Ideas programme, which funds new projects that provide free access to good quality play.

Promising a feast of new and creative play opportunities Withernsea and Holderness Play Action (WHPA) - Portable Play for All will certainly be rising to the challenge to create a vital resource for the youngsters of the Holderness area

The project will provide a range of Snug mobile play equipment which uses modular play elements that can be manipulated and used in any number of combinations. The mobile equipment will go on tour around the area to offer plenty of fun opportunities for healthy, creative activities, allowing youngsters to choose and control their play environment, using their own ideas.  The project will also open up easy access to new and stimulating play experiences for youngsters who are disabled or have special needs.

Andy Steele WHPA Volunteer said, “"Everyone at Withernsea and Holderness Play Action is delighted at the news that our Portable Play for All project is to receive funding. We are confident that the project will improve the lives of thousands of children living in rurally isolated towns and villages throughout Holderness who currently struggle to access innovative play equipment, and we are very grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for making this possible."

Caroline James, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for Yorks and Humber, said: “I am delighted that Withernsea and Holderness Play Action has been awarded a grant. The project is an excellent example of how Playful Ideas funding is providing challenging and stimulating activities, increasing well-being and positively contributing to the physical, emotional and social development of the region’s children.”

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 at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

1. The Big Lottery Fund will support children’s play with £155 million through:

1. the £124 million Children’s Play programme, with funds available to every local authority area in England;
2. a separate £16 million Playful Ideas programme focussing on innovation;
3. and a £15 million grant to the Children’s Play Council, part of the National Children’s Bureau, to fund England-wide development and support.

• Under the Children’s Play programme, in deciding how best to allocate the available funds to each authority the Big Lottery Fund have allocated: 50 per cent of the funding on the basis of child population, and 50 per cent of the regional population living in the most deprived 20% of Super Output Areas included in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004. The minimum amount allocated to any local authority is £200,000.
• Under Playful Ideas registered charities; voluntary or community groups; charitable or not-for-profit companies; social enterprises; and town and parish councils can apply. However, other organisations, such as schools, can work in partnership on Playful Ideas projects.
• The Big Lottery Fund awarded a grant to the Children’s Play Council a strategic alliance of organisations working to promote the importance of play and to stimulate better play opportunities. Play England - a project of the Children’s Play Council - lead on this work by helping agencies to develop play strategies and apply for Children's Play funding. For further information please visit www.ncb.org.uk
• 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, more than £22 billion has now been raised and more than 290,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment