A CHARITY running a community building in Chagford and a primary school are two of the organisations to profit from £335,000 of festive funding from the BIG Lottery Fund.

The Chagford Combined Charity has been offered £10,000 to construct new walls for the garden of Endecott House, the community building managed day to day by the charity for the benefit of parishioners of Chagford.

The walls, which will make the garden safe to use by the community, replace the old walls, which have subsided.

The donation raises the total for the project to around £20,000, which means the new walls can be built in January.

The rest of the money has been raised from other grants, including a donation from West Devon Borough Council, and fundraisers have raised £4,000 for the project.

Rosemary Bleakman from Chagford Combined Charity said: 'It's wonderful news. Filling in forms and applying for all these grants is hard work, so to receive this money is wonderful.

'Endecott House has a wonderful ambiance, thanks to all the community groups that use the building, like the luncheon club, the Brownies and Guides, and the WI.

'The garden is a walled one, as it is surrounded by other buildings, including Whiddons Eatery and houses. The walls were built in the mid 1980s. They are now dangerous.

'Having these new walls will mean young people and elderly alike can use the garden. It will be wonderful for things like the luncheon club — it means we can set up outside on a nice sunny day with tables and umbrellas, and enjoy the rare sun that we see in Chagford. It will offer us a lot here at Endecott House.'

Beaford Community Primary School has received a donation of £6,692. The money will provide the school with an extended outside all-weather facility for new outdoor play and learning opportunities for children, as well as for community use.

The funding comes from BIG's Awards for All programme, which offers grants between £300 and £10,000 to social and environmental projects that will benefit local communities and make a difference to the lives of those most in need.

Mark Cotton, BIG's head of the South West region, said: 'These organisations receiving grants from the lottery's good causes cash today will help to make their communities stronger and reach people in need, especially over the festive period when volunteers work tirelessly to keep them going.

'More good news —organisations throughout England with an income of £30,000 or less now have the opportunity to apply for repeat and ongoing activities under Awards For All until the end of March 2013.

'Through this, BIG aims to respond to the many pressures small organisations face with cuts to funding and rising running costs.'

For more information, visit the website http://www.awardsforall.org.uk">www.awardsforall.org.uk