Northern Rock Foundation

Northern Rock Foundation has announced funding of £1.9 million for new or improved arts, theatre, heritage and architecture projects in the North East. The awards for cultural buildings are part of investments worth £6 million agreed by the Foundation’s Trustees this month, which includes over £4 million to help tackle social and economic disadvantage.

The Foundation seeks to tackle disadvantage and improve quality of life in the North East and Cumbria. So far in 2005 the Foundation has made grants and loans totalling £17 million. As part of its continued contribution to the region’s culture, the Foundation supports new or refurbished buildings for arts, heritage, sport or environment organisations. Those receiving support in this round include:

• The University of Northumbria: £500,000 towards a new public bridge to link its Newcastle city centre site with the campus development at Manors;
• Darlington Borough Council: £400,000 towards redeveloping Darlington Railway Centre and Museum;
• Bruvvers Theatre Company: £100,000 towards building a theatre in the round in Newcastle.

The Foundation’s Trustees have also announced awards worth £4.3 million to 38 organisations seeking to tackle social and economic disadvantage. Among those receiving support are:

• The North East Enterprise Bond: a £1,000,000 investment to support the development of enterprise across the North East;
• Money Answers South Tyneside: £200,000 towards a loan consolidation fund to help people in disadvantaged areas reduce their debt and increase their household income;
• A Way Out: £75,000 for drug prevention work with children and young people in Stockton-on-Tees;
• Berwick Youth Project: £75,000 to continue its work with young people in Berwick-upon-Tweed and the surrounding areas in Northumberland;
• Newcastle Falcons Community Foundation: £70,500 towards an education centre;
• The Coalfield Forum: £61,875 to use innovative electronic communications to develop and link communities in the former coal mining areas of Sunderland;
• The Environment Agency: £55,000 towards commissioning a sculptor to design an eye-catching flood alleviation scheme in Hexham, Northumberland.

Leo Finn, Chairman of Northern Rock Foundation, said:

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‘Powerful creative visions, and the belief that our region is worth celebrating, have resulted in inspiring gallery, theatre, museum and architecture developments across the North East. The Foundation has played a notable part in this renaissance, and the grants announced today show our continued support for new or refurbished cultural buildings. But just as important as these investments, which help make the region a better place to live in and visit for everyone, is our unstinting support for voluntary organisations that are working tirelessly to improve the lives of disadvantaged people.’

Northumbria University is creating a new campus on the site of the old Warner’s cinema in Manors. It intends to link the new site with its existing city centre campus by building a new bridge/boulevard across the central motorway. The bridge will be a masterpiece of design and the boulevard will also include new public art. The bridge will also prove a new public access route for pedestrians and cyclists. The university is investing £100 million in the development overall, which it estimates will create over 400 jobs and add over £30 million a year to the local economy. The Foundation’s grant will contribute to the costs of the bridge and boulevard.

Darlington Railway Centre and Museum is run by Darlington Borough Council. It includes some of the oldest railway buildings in the UK. The station, which boasts its original ticket office and platforms, houses George Stephenson’s Locomotion and Derwent, alongside other locomotives and carriages from the 1800s. The Foundation’s grant is towards the first phase of a major redevelopment that will see repairs to buildings and public areas, and improved education and exhibition facilities. The transformed Museum will work alongside the region’s other rail heritage sites.

Bruvvers Theatre Company has toured small-scale productions to schools and community venues in the North East for 35 years, and performs 250 shows a year to around 50,000 people. For many years it has had plans to build a theatre to perform its own work and that of visiting companies. The new theatre – to be built in a grade II listed courtyard next to the Company’s existing home in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley – will be the region’s only theatre in the round, seating up to 170 people. Once complete, a new board will be established to run the theatre. Other funders include Tyne and Wear Partnership and Arts Council England, North East.

North East Enterprise Bond has evolved from the Newcastle Employment Bond. Its original investors, including Northern Rock Foundation, lent money over five years at nil interest. The profits generated were used for various projects with disadvantaged and unemployed people. The new bond will help encourage enterprise in the region. Buses acting as mobile classrooms and information points, staffed by enterprise organisations, will tour venues including schools. The Foundation’s investment will be used to encourage others to contribute.

Money Answers South Tyneside (MAST) is a new organisation set up to tackle the problem of financial exclusion in the borough. It has arisen from work done by South Tyneside Credit Union, TEDCO, South Tyneside Council, the Citizens Advice Bureau and STRIDE. Many people living in disadvantaged areas do not have bank accounts, savings or insurance. They often turn to doorstep lenders who make credit conveniently available in cash, but at high cost – between 100 to 200 per cent APR. South Tyneside Credit Union has been very successful, but as with all credit unions, its members must save before they become eligible for a loan. Households already in debt to doorstep lenders are often unable to join as they have insufficient cash to save. With funding from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, the Credit Union has piloted a scheme with 57 households offering consolidation loans. These have replaced people’s existing high-interest debt with a much more manageable loan, resulting in weekly savings totalling £2,000. It is now intended to roll out the scheme through MAST, managed by South Tyneside Credit Union, which will allow it to work more flexibly. The Foundation’s grant will provide the funds to lend, and support the scheme’s running costs. The work is still highly innovative, and its results should inform Government policy on financial exclusion, so there will also be an independent study by a leading expert from Liverpool John Moores University.

A Way Out works with women, children and young people affected by drug misuse in Stockton-on-Tees. Its drugs education and effective prevention project – DEEP 7 – targets 11-19 year olds who are at risk of becoming addicted to drugs. They take part in group sessions where they develop self-confidence and learn about the dangers of drug addiction.

Berwick Youth Project provides information and support to young people in Berwick-upon-Tweed and the surrounding area. Its premises include an advice shop, a youth café, and supported accommodation for 11 young people. Each year over 400 young people use its services.

Newcastle Falcons Community Newcastle Falcons Community Foundation is a registered charity running a community programme of rugby development, health, fitness and education. The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has asked the Falcons Community Foundation to develop a ‘playing for success’ centre at Kingston Park, using rugby to motivate children to take part in after-school learning. Children will be collected after school and taken to the stadium, where they will take part in courses on literacy, numeracy, information communication technology (ICT), drugs awareness, citizenship and team work, as well as playing rugby. The Falcons Community Foundation will refurbish two rooms in the club house and fit them with 30 state-of-the-art computers. DfES and Newcastle Local Education Authority are both making contributions towards the project’s running costs. Northern Rock Foundation’s grant is towards the costs of setting up the education facility.

The Coalfield Forum works with communities in the Copt Hill, Houghton, Shiney Row and Hetton areas of Sunderland. It works with new and developing community groups, with local residents, and with public bodies, providing advice and support and helping to co-ordinate their activities. The area suffers from poor transport links, high unemployment and poor health. The Foundation’s grant will allow it to develop a new project, in partnership with Sunderland City Council, exploring how information and communications technology (ICT) could provide better ways of connecting communities in the area and providing services to them. The European Urban II programme will also support the work.

The Environment Agency is a government body whose responsibilities include wildlife habitats, inland and coastal waters, regulating and encouraging ‘greener’ business practice and reducing flood risk. Following last year’s floods in Tynedale, Northumberland, the Agency has started work on a major flood alleviation scheme in Hexham. It will commission original artwork as part of the scheme. Two sculptors – David Jacobson and Matthew Fedden – have been chosen to contribute. The Foundation’s grant will mainly support Matthew Fedden’s work, which will centre on structures designed to catch river debris. David Jacobson’s work will concentrate on work in the bed of the stream. Both parts of the artwork are due to commence this autumn, and follow a public display of ideas where the work received enthusiastic support from local residents. Arts Council England, North East, has also supported the scheme.