EIGHT Glasgow groups are celebrating this week after landing a share of almost £1m from the National Lottery Community Fund.

From woodwork therapy activities for people in Maryhill to respite services for vulnerable families across the north east, the money will improve people’s lives and communities across the city

Thanks to an award of £385,903, Geeza Break will deliver a family support service for parents in the north east of the city.

Ed Inglis, project co-ordinator, said: “This money will make a huge difference and will allow us to provide unique, flexible, intense respite and family support services. These families are in crisis situations, they often have no other support in place and badly need a break."

Mental health charity Time and Space will use its award of £90,000 to provide a range of therapeutic services for people who hear voices and people who self-harm.

Lindsay Miller, co-founder and co-ordinator, said: “We are super excited to be awarded this funding which will enable us to hold four weekly and two monthly support groups, provide open-ended counselling and tailored one-to-one support for our members.

“Attending a group like ours allows men and women with similar experiences to come together and build support networks and find new ways to cope. When we started we were two women with an idea and didn’t know where it would take us and now we have been open for 11 years."

An award of £53,000 means that Free Wheel North will continue to run its woodworking therapy project in Maryhill for people experiencing loneliness and isolation.

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Volunteer Fiona Reid said: “This award allows us to reach out to many more people who need our help and, as a project user myself, I can’t overstate what this funding means to us.

“We will be able to recruit a second employee to help co-ordinate the work, better equip the woodwork shop and update our equipment. This money will transform the lives of hundreds of people.”

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The other Glasgow groups receiving cash are A Place for Change, which will use its £75,000 grant to run a project supporting people on their release from prison to help them integrate back into their local communities; the Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre, which received £99,000 to fund a programme of activities aimed at improving the quality of lives of people in Dennistoun; Common Wheel, who received £51,990 to deliver music-based workshops for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 who are being supported through their first episode of Psychosis (FEP); and the British Deaf Association, who will use its grant of £88,715 to deliver its Deaf Roots and Pride project supporting deaf children and young people aged between eight and 23 years old to help build confidence and support them through key transitions in their lives.