CHILDREN at a village school are about to embark on a community arts project after winning a lottery grant.

The Friends of Arkengarthdale CE School, near Richmond, have been handed £3,500 from the Awards for All scheme, which gives grants of between £500 and £5,000 to charities and community groups.

The school will now be able to start its arts project, which will focus on the building of a mosaic pathway from the school gate to its main entrance.

Adele Sparrow, from the Friends of Arkengarthdale CE School, said: "It is a project that we wanted to do with the local community and with the parents and the children.

"It will create a prominent piece of art work that is unique to the dale.

"It will be about three metres long. It is not a huge distance, but I think it will certainly have an impact."

The mosaic's design will be decided at a workshop that will be attended by children, parents and local people.

A grant of £1,950 was awarded to Bilsdale Midcable Chopgate Primary School to start an after-school table tennis club.

One of the other groups to benefit from the grants was Catterick Village Junior Football Club. It was handed £4,498 to provide football education courses for adults and coaching for children. They will also buy more kit and equipment to enable more people to take part.

Burton Leonard Bowling Club, near Harrogate, was awarded the maximum £5,000 grant to buy an irrigation system for the bowling green, which is on the village sports field.

Club chairman, Dr Thomas Booth said: "Nobody was more surprised than I when we got the full amount.

"It is a lovely green in a very rural setting. It is nicely kept but we are getting older and aren't able to put in the effort that we used to.

"This equipment cuts down the effort involved."

Age Concern, in Knaresborough, was given £3,425 to set up a friendship group for elderly isolated people.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, in York, was awarded £4,790 to buy photography equipment to enable children to monitor their work and produce promotional material.