Residents use funding for 'life-changing' impact

Residents in an East Sussex village who benefited from £1m awarded by the Big Local programme more than 10 years ago have described the support over the last decade as "life-changing".

In 2014, volunteers from the Heart of Sidley group were given the funding and have been using the money since to help people in the village buy food.

The Big Local, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, gave 150 communities across England at least £1m to invest in their local area over 10-15 years.

Resident Michelle said: "It has been life-changing. I just wouldn't have been able to survive a month."

"With fresh food, you're back in the kitchen and it helps your mental wellbeing, " she told Politics South East.

"It kept me above the poverty line, feeling I wasn't slipping through the cracks."

The town greengrocer is one of three shops where customers can use Heart of Sidley food vouchers to redeem free quality ingredients.

Greengrocer Jay Carroll, chairman of Heart of Sidley, said the group was set up to improve life in one of England's most deprived wards.

He said: "I wanted Sidley to be better than it was, and I truly believe it's better now, 10 years on."

Rachel Rowney, CEO of Local Trust, said: "Thousands of individuals from some of England's most deprived areas have had their lives transformed by the programme.

"As the programme concludes, we are making its learning accessible to policymakers through a new evidence-led resource."

With the campaign now coming to a close, Heart of Sidley has become a registered charity.

The volunteers said they now had the skills, tools, and foundations in place to continue creating positive change for their community.

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