A PRUDHOE charity will continue its community work thanks to a bumper funding boost.

The Friends of Eastwoods Park, which owns and manages the Miner's Lamp Community Cafe and Hub, has secured over £200,000 in funding to safeguard the charity and improve its base.

It comes after the National Lottery Community Fund has agreed funding over five years totalling £213,256 alongside an additional £13,476 awarded by Northern Powergrid Foundation to the West-Wylam organisation.

The Miner's Lamp, which has a base in Eastwoods Park, runs a food bank, school uniform scheme and hosts community-based activities. It is also a warm hub working with Community Action Northumberland and operates a free Thursday lunch club and community cafe.

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Project manager Russ Greig said: “This is a fantastic boost to our charity and investment into our town.

"Both organisations have seen how important our work is to our community and the benefit that we have brought to West Wylam and Prudhoe.

"To invest so much into our charity shows that both these organisations value the work we do and are committed to supporting us for a number of years to deliver even more”. 

The funding will see refurbishment work carried out to improve accessibility and a changing places toilet will be installed, as well as solar panels and battery storage.

Russ added: “The funding from the National Lottery Community Fund will ensure that our building is fully accessible and the facilities we will be installing means that we hope to work with many more groups and organisations supporting people with disabilities to access our open green spaces. This is just one of our priorities to make Eastwoods Park more accessible. We are delighted that the National Lottery have faith in what we do.

"The funding has also secured the future of my role as project manager to continue to support our community for a further five years. Previous funding for my post ran out in January and we were facing an uncertain future for the Miners Lamp and Friends of Eastwoods Park,; at one point, trustees were having to consider closure of the Miners Lamp”.