A CHARITY has had its future assured by a £330,000 lottery fund boost. The cash injection gives Northumberland’s Natural Ability five years of funding to enable them to develop ambitious plans.
The charity, based in Allenheads, was set up in 2009 and gives adults and children with learning difficulties outdoor experience and life skills, particularly in an agricultural environment.
It operates largely in the rural Allen Valley, giving people horticultural and farming work aimed at developing new skills. It is also planned to establish a residential farm where disabled and non-disabled people work together.
Until now, Natural Ability has operated on a limited budget funded by voluntary donations from groups such as the Northern Rock Foundation, the Social Enterprise Investment Fund and Allendale Parish Council.
But the six-figure windfall from the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund opens up all sorts of opportunities, according to business development manager Annie Sanders.
She said: “At its most basic level, the lottery funding keeps us going and we are absolutely delighted.
“We were more optimistic than expectant after submitting our bid. We could hardly believe it when we heard we had been successful.
“The £330,000 is spread over five years and it will give us the chance to help more people.
“We run two days a week at the moment, so we would like to do more. This helps us to take up more jobs in the community and it will help us focus the training that we offer and get the people a lot more experience.
“We are delighted and grateful. In difficult times, when a lot of organisations are not getting funding, we are lucky to have this.”
Natural Ability, a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, had stalled its plans for supported tenancies and respite accommodation due to reductions in social care budgets.
Since September 2010 it has run only two days a week, five hours a day. The monthly newsletter for December 2011 said there had been “both ups and downs”.
But now Annie says: “The lottery funding gives us a chance to get going. We have been providing services for the last 18 months and now we can carry on and develop.
“It gives us more stability, so that we can reach more people, working on farms and giving people a chance to learn new skills.
“And in the future we want to be able to offer working holidays and short breaks.”
Natural Ability has a seven-strong board of directors, four managers and five volunteers.
It works with the county council and a number of local partnerships including Sustainable Allendale, Transition Tynedale, Northumberland Care Trust and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership.
