THE future of a Prudhoe cafe looks bright after it received two significant financial boosts.

The Miners Lamp Cafe and Community Hub in West Wylam has been awarded £48,000 from the National Lottery and £45,000 from Ponteland-based Ballinger Charitable Trust, with both grants to be split over the next three years.

The lottery grant will be used to employ a project development manager, which will help the Friends of Eastwoods Park – the community organisation which founded and run the cafe – to work on more projects within the community.

Friends of Eastwoods Park trustee Russ Greig said: “We already operate our food bank and school uniform scheme and have a community room.

“We want the development worker to develop and implement more projects such as lunch clubs, holiday hunger programs, as well as activities within Eastwoods Park for children around sport.

“Our major priority for 2020 will be to secure funding for our own youth worker to work with children and young people in and around the park in West Wylam.”

The grant from Ballinger Charitable Trust will be used to cover salary costs to ensure the hub will remain up and running.

Russ added: “This funding means that we can ensure that our hub will remain open without a major reliance on volunteer time.

“It also enables us to be able to develop more projects and deliver more for park users and our community in 2020 and beyond.

“An investment of £93,000 over three years in our small charity, which only became a charity in December 2018, is a really big deal for us.

“It’s a major investment in being able to support our community both young and old in West Wylam.”