Northamptonshire charity awarded £314K lottery funding

The Green Patch is a community garden in Kettering

A charity supporting access to green spaces has been awarded three years worth of funding for a new project.

Groundwork Northamptonshire, based at the Green Patch community garden in Kettering, hosts clubs, volunteer days and a programme for children needing an alternative to education.

It will receive £314,000 of lottery funding for a new project called "Come Together @ Green Patch".

The charity plans to recruit new roles and support more people with the grant.

The three-year project is expected to support more than 300 young people and recruit an additional 300 volunteers to develop a trio of new community green spaces.

The charity also plans to recruit a new youth engagement officer and volunteer engagement officer.

It is hoped the funding will support projects that will make a difference for the whole community

Kate Williams, chief executive officer of Groundwork Northamptonshire, said the grant would "make a huge difference to the whole community".

She said: "Our new volunteer coordinator will support our current volunteers and reach out to new volunteers, while our youth engagement officer will support young people to be active in their communities.

"We will also continue to develop our much-loved Green Patch site and hope to replicate this model in up to three other Northamptonshire neighbourhoods."