Bolton outdoor adventure charity thrives with support from The Health Lottery in the North West.
Bolton’s WAVE Adventure, a community group providing access to adventure activities to those with mental health problems, is celebrating a £49,910 grant from People’s Health Trust using money raised through The Health Lottery in the North West. Launched this year, the grant has funded staff and supported volunteers who are passionate about the outdoors. This crucial support network has empowered project members to participate in outdoor pursuits in a fun and supportive environment.
The support of People's Health Trust and The Health Lottery has seen WAVE Adventure’s Peak Connections project flourish over recent months – they have even been nominated for an award in Bolton Council’s Active Sports Awards 2018 in the Initiative of the Year category. The impact of the grant has given Peak Connections the chance to share their project with the wider Bolton community, promoting health and wellbeing.
Peak Connections runs weekly activities supporting members experiencing mental health problems to improve their physical and emotional wellbeing, build confidence, self-esteem and motivation. As a community, Peak Connections is open about their experiences offering empathy and understanding to one another.
Project Founder, Graham Wood, said: “With money raised through The Health Lottery, we have been able to organise various activities including rock climbing in the Yorkshire Dales, kayaking across Lancashire’s landscape and coast to coast cycling. These opportunities wouldn’t be possible without the excellent support made possible by money raised through The Health Lottery in the North West. The project has had an incredible impact on project members who have grown in confidence and are even organising other activities outside of the project.”
This support has offered long term security and has seen members leading their own sessions. One member, Lewis, who has cerebral palsy and has experienced low self-esteem, has made huge strides – he has organised his own walking tour and he documents his travels on Instagram: “I have grown massively in confidence and overcome lots of challenges and fears which has meant I am now able to lead walks with a group of people. I have also designed a Peak Connections logo and set up a Peak Connections Facebook page uploading photos that have been taken. I would never have had the confidence to do something like this independently without the on-going support and encouragement of the WAVE staff and volunteers and the Peak Connections group." Money raised through The Health Lottery has helped this change, funding supportive staff and overseeing a strong and uplifting community spirit.
Chris Lunn, The Health Lottery in the North West spokesperson said: “The funds raised through the Health Lottery in the North West are changing and improving lives. To date, over £100 million has been raised through The Health Lottery for good causes across Great Britain, of which over £9 million has been raised for the North West of England. We hope to make even more for good causes when Health Lottery North West opens on 1st September 2018.”
Health Lottery North West is benefitting from Health Lottery tickets sold from 1 September 2018. You can buy Health Lottery tickets in advance online www.healthlottery.co.uk or from more than 32,000 local retailers including the Post Office, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons and WH Smith. For every £1 entry into a weekly lottery draw the player automatically gets an entry into one of our monthly mega raffles with a guaranteed prize of £250,000.
