HATHERLEIGH Children's Centre Parents' Forum has been awarded a £10,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund for its 2011 Families Project.

The project will offer stimulating and exciting activities that are accessible to all families in the area with children aged 0-5 years-old. This will enable young parents, lone parents, working families and vulnerable families to access-free, inclusive, safe and nurturing play.

The project will have several facets of emphasis, including social interaction,

fun physical activity, enhancing comm-unication skills and promoting play and learning in a creative environment.

Kate Burgess, acting chairperson for the Parents' Forum, said: 'Before we received the grant, we had a lot of pressure as a group on our budget much like everywhere else at the moment. With the pressure, things like physical play activities would have disappeared.

'There just wasn't the money in our budget to cover these things. But thanks to this grant, these things can be kept available.

'We can keep our focus on offering children a healthy lifestyle. We're absolutely delighted.'

The funding also allows for the centre to increase its boundary reach, to include families in North Tawton, Lydford, Lewtrenchard and Bridestowe on an outreach basis.

The Families Project will offer additional holiday time sessions specifically for families in some of these communities.

The project kicks off with a weekly 'bounce and rhyme' session at Hatherleigh Children's Centre, with further activities planned at Hatherleigh and the outreach centres through the school holidays. These will include swimming, soft play, creative craft and music and dance sessions.

For the upcoming Easter school holidays, the centre has two sessions planned. The first is a swimming session at the Waie Inn in Zeal Monachorum on Tuesday, April 12, from 10am. Help will be on hand for transport arrangements or those who need extra help.

The second session will be a soft play session at Hatherleigh Community Centre on Tuesday, April 19, from 10am. Again, assistance with car sharing and transport is available.

Booking is essential for both sessions - please call Hatherleigh Children's Centre on 01837 811190.