Almost £34,000 of National Lottery cash has been granted to community projects in Gwynedd.

Five groups in Gwynedd, out of 18 across Wales, have been announced as the latest recipients of lottery cash.

The Anne Mathews Trust in Gwynedd will use £10,000 to host Community Leadership Residentials for young adults from refugee and migrant backgrounds to examine, understand, and challenge oppression.

Tony Cordoba said: “In my time as an intern in The Anne Matthews Trust, I have gone through different stages of understanding myself; one of them is to appreciate my own identity, being proud of it and sharing it with others, because my point of view can also contribute to the life of others. I think that the Braich Goch Centre in Corris is a place where people from different backgrounds can belong and feel at home. One of the most important things that I have learnt is leading and facilitating work with groups of peers.”  

In Tywyn, Cylch Meithrin Tywyn Tŷ Mabon will use £8,500 to pay for resources and a minibus. This will enable them to set up a beach school for children in the community to teach water safety with the goals of reducing accidents on the beach and giving information on how to care for the local environment.

Gobaith Community Interest Company will use £9,590 to develop a community garden to improve the environment and wellbeing, Cwiltwyr Ardudwy Quilters will continue to run their community sewing group to alleviate isolation with a £1,750 grant, and Neuadd Talsarnau will use £4,000 to upgrade their hall by replacing old windows and doors and building a new wall to make the venue safer and more comfortable for the community.

Ruth Bates, Head of the north Wales region at The National Lottery Community Fund, celebrated the amazing work of these groups.

She said: “The Fund is dedicated to supporting projects that help communities to thrive. Grassroots groups and charities like these in north Wales are doing amazing things and are changing people’s lives every day. National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes. We are proud to be the largest funder of community activity in the UK.”

These are just some of the 85 projects across Wales who have received a total of over £1.1 million National Lottery funding over the last month.