Health & Wellbeing News South Somerset News

Somerset charities handed lottery cash to fund scheme tackling health inequalities

Paul JonesJanuary 20, 20260 Comment0

SOMERSET charities are celebrating after being granted National Lottery funding.

The cash will be shared among the groups for the Bridges to Wellbeing project, which aims to address mental and physical health inequalities.

Charities Watch CIO, Open Doors Crewkerne, Ark at Egwood and Chard Community Hub will share the money over three years, providing five new positions across the four organisations.

Around 1,000 people each year are set to benefit from the scheme, which will provide a “varied range of activities and support”.

Chard-based Watch CIO, will lead the project and CEO, Julie Matthews, said: “I am particularly excited about having three other partners that all have skills in different areas and with whom we can collaborate closely with.”

“This will help beneficiaries in our community to help them connect back into society with work or volunteering,” she added.

“In addition, the aim is for us to collaborate closely with many other organisations. We really thank Amanda at Gillingham Grange in Chard for providing wonderful facilities for our meetings.”

Nigel Bell, CEO of Ark at Egwood, said: “The funding for Ark is all about building the partnerships and collaboration with local organisations that share the same ethos. It will enable us to support many people for years to come.”

Michael Fox, of Open Doors Crewkerne, said: “The funding for us for the first time means we can run a community space in Crewkerne that people can use. We want people to come and use our services. It’s amazing to be working with the other three partners and to work together across south Somerset.”

And Serena Wootton, CEO of Chard Community Hub, added: “Being part of this project will plug the gap we currently have. It’s an opportunity for us to focus on our beneficiaries and our volunteers that maybe do want to get back into the workplace or want to have a more active role volunteering; this is the piece of the puzzle that’s missing really.”

She went on: “There’s two part-time coordinator roles available, so they will be focussing particularly on Chard Community Hub, and we are looking at who in our set up might want to be involved.”