My name is Vivienne Bailey, the Chief Executive of a charity called Darlington & District Youth & Community Association. We own an outdoor centre at Forest in Teesdale, in Forest-in-Teesdale which accomodates up to 28 people. We are in the process of needing to do some refurbishement and are looking at finding some funding that will help us with various needs. We have been operating as an Outdoor Activity Centre, which has struggled finacialy, but wish to open our centre to accomodate a wider variety of groups. I am seeking funding for three particular important things that the charity would need to make the centre more sustainable. The Items on my wish list are 1- Water treatment plant as the sceptic tank is too small. 2. Water to the centre, not just relying on a well. 3 It equipment and hope that we can open it as a learn direct site, with internet access that the local community can use. I realise this seems a big wish list, however are allimportant to the charity, I would appreciate any assitance in finding out where I could possibly seek some funding for any of the items above. I also understand that this area was awarded an outstanding area of beauty award and apparantley there will be money coming into the area for tourism, but I am not sure when and what the eligibility will be yet. Kind Regards Viv Bailey

Many thanks for your recent answer to my question on funding a volunteer mangement post. I am also looking into capital funding to build a community centre in Erdington. Again it's Birmingham YMCA and the initial plans are to build a multi purpose community facility that can be used by a diverse range of community groups, as well as a small prayer area for members of the Christian faith. The total amount of funding is considerable around 1.7 million. We have an existing benefactor that we are hoping will contribute 20-33% of the project and we are setting up a fund raising program to secure 10% of capital and then ongoing running costs from ongoing community donations. So we are looking for 50-60% around 850k from a series of grants. Could you suggest some starting points please. Many thanks Simon