Teams and Bensham Community Care celebrates after receiving £20k of National Lottery funding to prevent isolation for older people in Gateshead

Local community group, Teams and Bensham Community Care is today celebrating after being awarded £20,000 in National Lottery funding to support its work with people aged 65 years and over. The charity, based in Gateshead, will use the money to deliver it’s social groups, hot meals, activities and transport for local older people.

Teams and Bensham Community Care has been running since 1990 and it’s small team is supported by six volunteers. It was founded by local people after noticing increasing numbers of older people affected by isolation and loneliness, and the impact this was having on health and wellbeing. With few local services and amenities, and even fewer that were accessible, they created groups and activities where older people could connect with others and feel part of the community again.

The group now runs three lunch clubs and two men’s groups every week at their centre on Bolam Street in Teams, Gateshead. Around 85 people attend each year, with most coming along two to three times per week. With a freshly cooked, two course meal, a range of wellbeing enhancing activities, and minibus transport from home and back again, the groups are a safe, welcoming space to help people to feel included. The groups bring people together to make lasting friendships and improve quality of life. Not only are the groups enjoyable, they are also combating isolation and helping people with challenges such as grief.  

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will see the groups, activities, meals and transport continue for a further 12 months.

At the same time, the group will be able to press on with their move to a new venue, The Holy Rosary Parish House, in early 2026. The new home for the charity is currently being refurbished to make it accessible for everyone who attends the groups, so they can continue to benefit from the social and support networks the charity makes possible.  

Michelle Scott, Project Development Officer of Teams and Bensham Communiy Care says: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to deliver our much loved groups from our centre on Bolam Street, with a seamless move into the Holy Rosary when it is ready. This is important because people who attend often tell us how much relief and positivity they gain from meeting others who are facing similar challenges, therefore keeping the groups open is vital.”

One gentlemen attendee told us: “Since my wife died, I’ve not spoken about it much. I know I can talk about it here when I want to, with other men my age who know what I’m going through.”

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030. 

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700  projects to turn their great ideas into reality. 

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk   

If you or someone you know would like to come along to one of our friendly lunch clubs, enjoy a hot meal, good company, and plenty of fun, get in touch to find out more or to book your place! Our wheelchair-accessible minibus transport makes it easy for everyone to join in, with pick-ups and drop-offs to people's doorsteps across Teams, Bensham, Lobley Hill, Saltwell, Dunston, and Central Gateshead.