Worksop-based community centre secures £168K Lottery cash boost

Just days after scooping £70,000 through the 'People's Projects' competition with the Lottery and Calendar News – something the centre was not originally in the running for - staff received an unexpected surprise that they would also be receiving a £98,000 Lottery grant.

The centre had successfully applied for the Lottery grant three years ago but due to delays and funding issues surrounding COVID had assumed it had been scrapped.

Steve Williams, OASIS Community Centre & Project Manager said it was nothing short of a “miracle” that the community centre had received the life changing news about both grants within days of each other.

He added: “It does feel like fate and a bit of a miracle to say the least.

"With the £70,000 we were originally seventh in line and they only needed five projects so we were on the reserve list. I remember thinking what a shame we just missed out and then I had a call to say we were unexpectedly in the top five and people could vote for us.

"The team came down and we were told they were going to do some filming about how the voting had gone and then they presented us with the £70,000. People were crying and so excited, we couldn’t believe it.

"Then I had a phone call to say a lady would be coming on Thursday to present us with our £98,000 grant. This was something we secured three years ago but after delays due to COVID we assumed it had been shelved so to get the call out of the blue was amazing.

"This funding really is quite something for a little community centre like ours and will make such a difference.”

The centre in Longfellow Drive, uses gardening and floristry to improve the life chances of those who are unemployed or suffering from a disability or mental health issues. The £98,000 grant will secure the future of the gardening and floristry therapeutic skills programme for the next three years.

The £70,000 will be spent on arts and crafts festivals, workshops, groups and arts-based events, bringing the community together with educational and therapeutic arts activities and community events.

Steve added: “20,000 people visit us each year and we have 35 projects so we are becoming a lot bigger so the 'People's Projects' money will allow us to add in creative performing arts opportunities for these groups and allow more therapeutic arts and crafts to take place, It will also enable us to do more creative work in the whole community of Bassetlaw. We are planning craft fairs in lots of villages, kids theatre programmes and a whole year of heightened creative opportunities in the wider community, some of which we hope to continue in the future so it’s such an exciting opportunity for us and something that wouldn’t have been possible on this scale without the funding.

"We want to thank everyone that voted for us.”

To find out more visit https://www.oasiscommunitycentre.org/