Member Article

Northern Rock charity awards grants

The charitable arm of crisis-hit bank Northern Rock has awarded grants worth more than £55,000 to organisations in the North East and Cumbria. The Northern Rock Foundation cash will aid groups dealing with disadvantaged youngsters and people with mental health problems.

The biggest grant of £20,000 goes to Northumbria Youth Action to develop a new training programme in welding. Voluntary Action Cumbria gets £19,596 to support its rural advice network. The Community Work Assessment Consortium for North East, which provides training and support for community workers, receives £13,000. A further £2,952 has been given to Mind in West Cumbria to support people with mental health problems who live in the Allerdale and Copeland areas.

Alastair Balls, Chairman of Northern Rock Foundation, said: “I’m delighted to announce these latest grants from the Foundation. So often attention is drawn to the big awards we make, but these smaller grants are equally important, helping to support local activities and services in some of the region’s most disadvantaged communities. In recent weeks we have received a huge amount of support from the voluntary sector in our area, and I’m happy to say that it’s business as usual at the Foundation as we carry on our grant-making, while waiting to see what the longer-term future holds.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .