VOLUNTARY and community groups from throughout North Lincolnshire flocked to a session aimed at helping them to get Big Lottery funding.

The free event was organised by Voluntary Action North Lincolnshire and was aimed at voluntary and community groups who were interested in applying to the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund.

Gary Allen, funding and development worker with Voluntary Action, said: "We had a couple of officers from the Big Lottery come and give a general view of the lottery funds that are around at the moment.

"They gave groups from North Lincolnshire advice about what makes a good application and what to concentrate on when putting an application together."

One of the hopefuls was Julie Reed, from the Friends of Ealand Park, who are improving the play facilities at the park.

Julie said the charity had already completed one phase of their project and the second stage was also nearing completion.

They are now hoping to get funding for the final phase of the project, a £70,000 multi-use games area, which will be marked out for eight different sports.

Other projects seeking lottery funding are Gunness Village Hall and Barton Town Band, which wants to develop a new arts centre in the town.