£18k is a great help!
Cura-Care’s Community Interest Company are excited to tell you that we received £18780.00 of National Lottery funding to facilitate meet-up’s & support groups in Doncaster
Cura-Care CIC has been running since March 2023, and relies upon the team of volunteers and therapists to run the groups being provided. It was founded by Kathryn Bell after she realised the effects of loneliness and isolation for people in the community. Co-Directors Mary & Paige, now participate and give their time to running the groups and hosting meet-ups as part of their commitment to improving the lives of people living in Doncaster.
The group now hosts a weekly coffee club for older people, every Tuesday in Intake Library, this is attended regularly by at least 15 people, Sue and Jenny usually bring the cake & snacks and the group enjoy Quizzes, brought by their Quizmaster Volunteer, Ken. These meet-ups have helped people to foster new friendships, feel included and the group have planned outings together for more adventures outside of the coffee club. They took a lovely canal barge trip this Summer and some of the National Lottery funding is allocated for a couple of exciting day trips in Summer 2026.
The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will also see other support groups being sustained and new ones coming to fruition.
Currently in Kirk Sandall, Cura-Care hosts regular meet-ups with use of the National Lottery funding, every 4 weeks they host a Menopause Café, where women can relax and discuss their health & wellbeing, and gather advice and information to help them through the challenges that Menopause brings. SEND Parents are also able to attend a 4 weekly group, ‘’Minds & Mayhem’’ hosted by Becky & Paige, where support is offered particularly when parents may be struggling to manage behaviours and meltdowns with their children. 2 further support groups are in the making, and will start early in 2026 thanks to the National Lottery funding.
Kathryn Bell, founder of Cura-Care CIC says: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to get moving with our plans for weekly support groups, and provide some really good opportunities for people to connect with others who may be struggling. This is important because it helps people to create their own supportive circles of friends and peers.”
Sue, volunteer at the coffee club says: “I wouldn’t miss this weekly group now, I have made new friends and it’s part of my weekly routine, we are going for fish & chips together next week after the group so my social calendar is full!” The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700 projects to turn their great ideas into reality. To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
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