Lotto cash boost for kids’ sport, dance and music

Dec 31 2008 by Shona Mitchell, East Kilbride News

OLYMPIC sports, dance lessons and music workshops are on the cards for local children thanks to a fantastic £40,000 worth of Big Lottery Fund grants.

Four schools and a theatre group from the town have all benefited from the most recent round of grants, with Calderglen High, Greenburn, Mount Cameron and Greenhills Primary Schools and Rapture Theatre Group all being successful in securing cash help.

The biggest grant to be given out in the town was for £10,000 and went to Greenhills Primary School.

Their bid was called ‘Olympics 2020’ and the cash will be used to allow pupils in primaries four to seven to try out an Olympic sport.

On offer will be judo, trampolining and watersports and it is hoped the grant will allow some of the children to pursue becoming an Olympian.

Calderglen High School received £6524 which they will spend on a primary seven transition project.

This will involve offering musical tuition to hundreds of primary seven pupils in order to develop an orchestra. Originally using instructors and staff to teach the pupils to play instruments, the learning will then be reinforced by setting up a mentoring system between senior pupils at Calderglen and the primary sevens.

The school hopes to eventually roll this out to primary six pupils.

Greenburn Primary School is also planning to use its grant for a music-related project.

The special needs school will use the £9921 to bring in Drake Music Scotland who provide opportunities for people of all ages and with a wide range of disabilities to play, learn and compose music independently.

Every pupil at Greenburn will get the chance to take part in one of the workshops, which use sound beam technology and allow people to make music by using switches rather than playing instruments.

The workshop will culminate with a performance next June which all the pupils are excited about.

Rapture Theatre Company was delighted to receive a grant for £4000.

Michael Emans from Rapture told the News they would use the cash to employ dance tutors.

He said: “We want to encourage people to be fit and generally take better care of themselves due to the high rates of obesity in this country.

“We’ll be spending the money on employing dance tutors who will work with both members of the group as well as our audiences.

“We are glad the Big Lottery Fund are backing us.”

Other schools in the area to benefit included Mount Cameron Primary who were awarded £9250 and St Patrick’s Primary in Strathaven who received £6334.

Local MP Adam Ingram has warmly welcomed the news of grants for the area.

He said: “The awards, which range from £4000 to £10,000, will fund a range of diverse initiatives. The money will be put to good use and I would commend the groups that put their time and effort into sourcing these funds which will help our local communities.”