EIGHTEEN community groups in County Durham are sharing £57,239 distributed by the National Lottery Awards for All scheme.

The scheme gives funding of between £500 and £5,000 to smaller groups that work to improve life in their communities.

Wingate and District Community Association, which serves Wingate, Station Town and Hutton Henry, in East Durham, is getting £5,000 to provide a snooker and pool table for the youth club it runs.

It is one of three groups in the Easington district that are sharing pay-outs totalling £11,406.

A total of £10,845 is being given to groups in the Chester-le-Street area, including a £4,915 grant to South Pelaw Old Age Pensioners.

The group will spend the money on a bingo machine and a trip for its members.

The Consett South Enterprise Association, set up to assist social and economic development in the area, is receiving £4,850 for materials for its resource centre.

It is one three awards, totalling £9,820, going to Derwentside groups.

Four awards, totalling £10,942, are going to Sedgefield, including £1,400 for dance classes with a professional dancer at Timothy Hackworth Primary School, Shildon, and £4,061 to enable Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club to equip two new teams.

In Teesdale, an award of £2,950 is being made to Artworks, which will run a ten-week art project for adults with learning disabilities in the Barnard Castle area.

Three groups in Wear Valley are sharing £11,276, including the St Helen Auckland Playzone, which will use its £4,840 for a summer programme of art, music and drama for youngsters.

The scheme's senior regional awards officer, Pat Lowes, said the grants were small but the difference they could make to the activities of the groups was enormous.

"Many of the payouts will run beyond 2001 and will provide a lasting benefit for the groups and their communities," she said.