PEOPLE on Teesside are slow in coming forward when it comes to asking for money, it is revealed.

They are the last in the North to apply for National Lottery funds - the conurbation left on the starting line by even the region's rural outposts.

Representatives from the Lottery visited Middlesbrough earlier this week to encourage more people to apply for cash.

Pat Lowes, senior awards officer with Awards for All, the Lottery grants scheme for community groups, said: "I have got a spending league table and Middlesbrough could definitely do better. Stockton is another one and Redcar and Cleveland does not do much better. They are missing out.''

The North-East Awards for All programme is targeting groups in areas suffering disadvantage or deprivation.

More than £62,500 was given in funding to community groups in Middlesbrough over the past year, but Mrs Lowes said that was not nearly enough. She wants to see more groups in the town receiving between £500 and £5,000 available through the programme.

What the Teesside towns claim in Lottery grants works out, on average, at a meagre £15 per person, while the average for Teesdale and County Durham, is £84.

"The grants are for small amounts, which really make a big difference to small groups,'' said Mrs Lowes.

Cash could be spent on a training programme to help a group's committee work better or enable a sports team to run an extra team.

Awards for All workers held a funding advice session in Middlesbrough to help community groups apply successfully for small grants.

"We are trying to generate a little more interest and drum up applications,'' said Mrs Lowes