Big Lottery hands out biggest awards

Big Lottery Fund - 11/07/2007

In total 88 local authorities received a share of the £34m handed out in the latest round of Children's Play Awards. The biggest awards went to: Leeds City Council; Liverpool City Council; Manchester City Council; Bradford Metropolitan District Council; and Sheffield City Council.

Leeds, which got the largest award of £1.6m, will be using its grant to refurbish eight playgrounds, as well as provide outreach services. Frank O'Malley, business coordinator at Leeds Council, said play teams will be working in public spaces with little play provision with a focus on old-fashioned activities such as den-building and supervised campfires. He said: "We want to demonstrate that play doesn't have to all be about swings and roundabouts."

Bradford Council will be using £30,000 of its £1.4m to provide play opportunities to children in three district hospitals: Airedale; Royal Bradford Infirmary; and St Luke's. Christophe Hamard, Bradford's strategic manager for special projects, said: "We identified that these hospitals presented clear opportunities to reach a wide range of children."

Find out more about the Big Lottery Fund at their website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.