Funding for community hub allows 'an open door'

Lottery funding awarded to a community group in Coventry will allow it to provide an "open door" to those in need.

Destination Ball Hill has been awarded more than £19,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to support the continued growth of services.

The group runs a job club, offers mental health support and provides children and family activities from the 2 Tone Cafe and All Saints St Margaret's Church.

The money was "a win for the whole community", the organisation said, and a "major step forward" in allowing it to grow.

The funding, the group added, would allow the expansion of weekly activities and introduce new ones "shaped by local need".

Rev Beks Rothnie from the church said support was available to the community "right on their doorstep when they need it".

Additional services were available for "anyone who's having a particularly tough time, particularly at the moment with the current economic crisis, it gives them somewhere to come to talk," she said.

"It gives them a chance to build community, make friends, not be isolated.

"There is fantastic support out there, but it's sometimes a question of getting to it."