Good causes in £4.2m windfall

Good causes across the north-east of England and Cumbria are to benefit from more than £4.2m in grants from a building society-turned bank.

Some 47 organisations will get cash from the Northern Rock Foundation.

Among those to benefit are a Newcastle project for the homeless, a scheme for the unemployed in the Tees Valley and an Outward Bound centre in Cumbria.

In 2004 the Foundation gave £20.6m across the North East and Cumbria to more than 300 projects.

Awards made in this round include a £150,000 grant to the People's Kitchen in Newcastle to provide help for the homeless.

Vulnerable people

The Outward Bound Trust receives £225,000 towards a new, state-of-the-art outdoor activities centre for young people's personal development at Howtown in Cumbria.

The Wise Group gets £153,299 over two years to provide guidance, training and work placements for unemployed people throughout the Tees Valley.

Leo Finn, chairman of Northern Rock Foundation, said: "These grants mark the end of the foundation's eighth year of grant-making.

"It was one that saw us investing more than ever in the activities of hard-working voluntary organisations supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our region.

"Our aim, as always, is to back winning ideas alongside tried and tested activities."