WORCESTERSHIRE'S Green Fingers Project, which is run in association with the county council's children's services, is celebrating a further five years of Lottery funding.

Green Fingers, a countywide project to help looked after children and carers engage in artistic, horticultural and healthy lifestyle activities have been awarded £329,876 from the Big Lottery to continue delivering their Healthy Care in Action Project in Worcestershire.

The funding for the current project expired at the end of June and the team who sit within the ISL Health and Well-being Service at the council, are very pleased to have gained another grant enabling them to continue and expand their successful project for children even further.

Joanne Frost, ISL Community and Leisure development worker, said: "This has been a fantastic project that has run for the last five years. It has made a real difference to the lives of looked after children and carers in Worcestershire. Securing the additional funding means that the project can continue and expand to include exciting new developments like apprenticeships for looked after children and care leavers and opening up the project to kinship young people and carers."

The focus of the project will be to improve the health and well-being of both young people and carers through 'green' activities so people can gain a better understanding of healthy lifestyles. The project also aims to increase social skills and confidence of the young people through access to activities, education and training.

Working with the Heart of Worcestershire College, the Green Fingers team is also looking to employ two apprentices to work within the service, one for administration and the other gardening and horticulture. Developments will also be made to the educational one-to-one mentoring to offer nationally recognised accreditations and qualifications, such as AQA awards, to improve the life skills and life chances of young people.

The project also offers local volunteering opportunities for people wishing to gain experiences of working with young people or give something back to their community.