Who are we?
The Big Local programme is a national programme, funded through the National Lottery Community Fund, that invests in local communities that have often been overlooked by outside funders. The idea is that local residents are able to come together to use the funding that has been allocated to their area. 150 areas in England were chosen to receive Big Lottery funding.
We are Rastrick Big Local HD63, a a resident led voluntary organisation responsible for helping the Community invest £1 million National Lottery funding over a 10 year period.
In February 2012 it was announced that Rastrick was to be allocated £1m and a group of residents formed to take on this exciting opportunity of how to spend the money we had been so fortunate to receive.
In March 2013 the Rastrick Big Local partnership was formed with residents and representatives from supporting agencies working together. We are passionate about our area and our aim is to enable local change. We hope to bring together local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make Rastrick an event better place to live.
After consultation with our Community we drew up an initial plan for the period of 2014-2016. This was implemented and we have distributed nearly half of the £1 million to many different groups and organisations in the Community. These have been on a larger scale through our Voice your Choice scheme and also via smaller grants to different groups such as the local scouting groups, brownies, mother and toddler groups and churches.
In 2018 we launched our “Big Impact” funding stream. Primarily this was intended to fund projects which needed a larger amount of funding and which would leave a legacy. The major project funded via this stream was to fund the Space@Field Lane Community Centre at the side of the local school on the Field Lane Estate. This was open many years ago and fell into disrepair. A group of local residents worked tirelessly to get this up and running again for the locals. We pledged £150,000 to this project and in September 2019 the doors opened with fabulous results.
Our second plan was for the period of 2016-2019 and we are now in the stages of implementing our final plan from 2020 to the end of the funding period.