Craigavon Awards Over £250,000

• Craigavon Borough Council
• Community Support Programme

63 community and voluntary groups and three advice service providers from Craigavon received a total of over £250,000 from Craigavon Borough Council - one of the highest amount awarded by Council in recent years.

The grants to community and voluntary groups which could mean up to a maximum of £4,000 depending on meeting set criteria are funded through the Community Development Grant-Aid Scheme and can make a big difference to not only the work but the very existence of a group.

Invitations to apply for grants were advertised locally in the Autumn with a closing date of 14th December with the presentation of the cheques last night 13th May at Craigavon Civic Centre.

From those applications 4 were generic, 16 were from rural groups, 9 from Lurgan, 13 from Brownlow and 20 from the Portadown areas.

"It's important that we recognise the hard work of our community, voluntary and advice service providers," says the Mayor of Craigavon Councillor Robert Smith, who hosted the event presented the cheques, "and one way of doing this is through our community development grant aid scheme.

"Some give information and advice to clients, some tackle issues in their local area be it training, education or environmental improvements. Other groups use the grant for administration purposes.

" For all the work and voluntary hours that you and your organisations put in to making Craigavon a safer, better and inclusive place for all to both live and work in, can I once again say a big thank you to you all and please continue to keep up your good work.