Oldham groups celebrate huge Lottery pay-out

Celebrating Oldham’s £767,185 Lottery windfall are (front, from the left) Tariq Rafique Oldham Race Equality Partnership director, Bev Taylor, from the Key to the Door project, and Aminul Hoque, Vision Youth and Community project manager, with some of the workers who will make sure the money benefits local people

THREE Oldham projects have netted a whopping £767,185 from the national Big Lottery Fund.

Members of each were celebrating the news they will get a share in a £3.8 million handout to 12 organisations across the region.

The grants are part of the Lottery’s “reaching communities” programme.

Oldham’s Key to the Door project, which supports young parents aged 13-25, will get £275,949.

Project manager Bev Taylor said the news was “absolutely fantastic”. The organisation was due to close in April when its usual funding runs out, but will now be secure for three years.

Oldham Race Equality Partnership will receive £288,163 to help it strengthen community relations.

Partnership director Tariq Rafique said it brought a welcome boost: “Oldham has communities in transition. This project is helping to bring communities together, resolving possible issues from the start.”

The final £203,073 will go to the Vision Youth and Community Project, which improves the work skills of 13 to 19-year-olds based in Coldhurst, St Mary’s and Chadderton who are not in education, employment or training.

Project manager Aminul Hoque said the windfall would help young people across Oldham for the next three years: “This money will secure our project to make young people in Oldham more employable and trainable, especially in this difficult economic climate.”