A Lottery lifeline has been thrown to charities in the district struggling with the effects of public funding cuts and increased demand for their services.

Nearly £150,000 has been awarded by the Big Lottery Fund to its grant-holders in Bradford to provide an extra year’s worth of funding to enable them to continue their work.

The fund said each of the projects provided vital services to some of the most vulnerable groups in society and many faced an uncertain future as their Lottery funding came to an end, which had been compounded by increasing demand as other services closed or were scaled back and welfare reforms took effect.

The Attock Community Association, based at Melbourne Place, Little Horton, has received £59,020, while Shipley and Bingley Voluntary Services was awarded £50,357.

Bradford Disability Sports and Leisure has received £35,072 to carry on with its Disability Sports Academies project, which has been funded by the Lottery for the last four years, to allow it to provide a community sports coach and two sports academies in Bradford and Keighley.

Dean Carroll, sports development officer for the charity, said the money would allow the organisation to continue the project for another year.

He said: “It’s fantastic – it enables the good work that has happened in the previous four years to carry on.”

The sports coach has provided sports provision for people with disabilities in schools and in the community. The two sports academies offer people with disabilities the chance to take part in a different sport every six weeks.

Mr Carroll said: “When the academies came out four years ago they were the first specific disability sports academies in England.

“There’s less money out there and more organisations applying for it, so we have to be smarter in how we apply to organisations.”

The funding is part of a Big Lottery Fund initiative called Supporting Change & Impact, which totals more than £70m and is designed to help Lottery-funded causes cope with the impact of public funding cuts.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) estimates that voluntary and community groups will experience a reduction in public funding of up to £3.3 billion by 2015.

Vanessa White, Big Lottery Fund head of region for Yorkshire and Humber, said: “This funding package throws a lifeline to organisations as they strive to provide crucial services to some of the most vulnerable in our society. BIG is acutely aware of the pressures facing organisations as a result of public funding cuts.

“These grants give those groups showing significant successes an extra year’s support and also gives them time to plan for the future – to explore ways of making their projects more sustainable.”

e-mail: james.rush@telegraphandargus.co.uk Twitter: @jamesrushTandA