TV fund-raiser aid for young carers' group

Carers Trust Fylde Coast is just one of the good causes to benefit from £2.7m.

The group has been handed £9,963 to provide respite support, training, day trips and peer support to young people with caring responsibilities.

The resort based carers’ charity is one of four Lancashire projects working with disadvantaged children and young people to receive a share of £40k.

The 10-year-old charity which helps nearly 4,000 carers of all ages across Blackpool has many specific projects assisting young carers and young adult carers.

Carers charity chief executive Michelle Smith said she was thrilled and delighted with the news. “It’s very easy for children and young adults to feel defined and even trapped by their circumstances as carers whether for siblings or parents or other loved ones. It’s important they get time to be themselves among others who understand what it’s like. They draw a lot of strength from peer support - just as carers do at any age.”

Young carers were among those who attend the annual BBC Children in Need event at Blackpool Tower broadcast live across the country and have also discussed their unpaid caring roles with visiting broadcasters and researchers.

Specialist charity worker Faye Atherton said “We work with children from the age of five to 18 and have quite a lot of young children. It’s something people are generally quite shocked about when you talk about the reality of what these children do. The respite we offer would have been severely impacted without Children in Need – and that’s the bit that has the most impact for children, just taking them out from the daily grind, showing them what life can be like. “

Carers Trust Fylde Coast is currently raising funds to transform a large detached property on Newton Drive, previously owned by the NHS but given to the charity by Beaverbrooks, into a stand alone carers’ centre.

It is also appealing for business and community groups to join the charity’s annual cash quest for carers starting in June, to generate enough funds to appoint a young carers’ champion to fight the corner of other young carers in Blackpool.

A mass sky dive in aid of the charity is also organised for June.

For details of how to get involved call (01253) 393748 or follow @BlackpoolCarers on Twitter.

Other Lancashire projects set to benefit include a cancer bereavement support group for young people based in Preston and a project to help youngsters at risk of homelessness in South Ribble.

Leyland-based KEY South Ribble has been granted £10,000 to help fund the drop-in service it runs at the youth and community centre in West Paddock.

Cancer Help (Preston) Ltd, which runs a day care centre at Vine House in Cromwell Road, Ribbleton, has also been awarded £10,000.

The organisation provides a service to support five to 18-year-olds who struggle to come to terms with a bereavement of someone close to them. The funding will enable the young people to explore their feelings through art and creative therapy.

Rainbow House in Mawdesley receives £10,000 to help children with conditions that impact upon their development. Staff say the funding will enable them to strengthen hands-on, early intervention work. And in Blackpool the Carers Trust