Brightwayz celebrates after receiving National Lottery funding
Photo Credit: Alison Bagley
Brightwayz celebrates at Kettering Fun Day after receiving £10,000 of National Lottery funding to bring cycling and other active travel opportunities to more people across North Northamptonshire.
We're celebrating! Here at Brightwayz we have just been awarded £10,000 in National Lottery funding to support our work promoting active travel to all ages and abilities over the next year. The funds will help to run a range of cycling, scooting and walking activities and training sessions at events across the county. The ‘Out and About Active Travel North Northants’ project was launched recently at a local event - Kettering North Park Fun Day.
We've been running active travel projects in the area for over 20 years and now have nine staff members as well as a support team including volunteers. We launched it after setting up a ‘walking bus’ scheme at the local primary school and realising there was a need for support for schemes that help people travel in active ways such as walking or cycling.
Although we have customers across the UK for our products and who benefit from the information support, all our face to face activities take place in our home county of North Northamptonshire. We run active travel events and initiatives with schools, workplaces and community partners in nearby Kettering and beyond. Activities include ‘have a go’ fun bikes for all ages , balance bikes for younger children, ‘pedal a smoothie’ static rides, themed walk to school events, scooter discos, cargo bike rides, learn to ride sessions and tips for parents on how to help their children ‘ditch the stabilisers'. As well as being incredibly fun, the activities inspire and enable more people to cycle or travel in active ways. This helps give people a low-cost, healthy, eco-friendly way to get around.
The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will see the events and activities expanded to reach across the whole of North Northamptonshire. In practice this means our team will be collaborating with a wide range of partners to provide activities at 20 events over the next year reaching thousands of local people.
At the same time, we will be able to use the events to promote the many other opportunities we provide local people such as adult cycle confidence lessons, learn to ride and children’s cycle lessons too.
We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised the work we do and decided to support us in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we can bring the magic of cycling and other active travel to more people across the county. This is important because it helps boost health and mental wellbeing, gives people better options for getting around and keeps our communities cleaner, safer and greener.
We are now asking anyone involved in planning public events over the next year in the county to get in touch if they would like to talk to us about us bringing along our funded activities. We are keen to reach as many people across the whole of North Northants as we can - not just in the main towns such as Wellingborough, Kettering and Corby but in the smaller towns and villages too. Email projects@brightwayz.co.uk if interested.
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700 projects to turn their great ideas into reality.
To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
Here at Brightwayz social enterprise we love to provide information and tips to help you, your colleagues, friends and family travel in safe, active, sustainable ways for everyday journeys.
Our unique range of products is here to help support your active travel campaigns and 100% of profits from sales is ploughed back to support the work we do. Take a look at our range here and find something to help you inspire others to travel in good ways.
Reflector Shop pack
High Vis Child Waistcoat
Brightwayz Bike Bell