A network of organisations providing vital help and advice to people across Cumbria has been given a major cash injection.

Cumbria Advice Network received £10,000 from the Big Lottery Fund to provide specialist training to staff and volunteers to continue to help others.

It will see them develop their knowledge of welfare benefits, legislation and people’s rights.

The network – made up of 156 advice and support organisations across the county – reaches thousands of people and provides more than 200 training places every year.

development champion Mandy Beinder said training is “vital” to ensure as many people as possible are given the correct practical advice and support, at a time when there is a growing need for it.

“We’re absolutely delighted,” she said. “It’s really, really important. If we weren’t able to buy that training into Cumbria, those organisations would have to travel and pay for training.”

She explained that, currently, there is a demand from member organisations for training on benefit advice and that there is likely to be a focus on delivering this.

Some of the funding will also be put towards networking events where organisations come together to promote their services.

The project was set up through initial partners Citizen Advice Bureaux, Shelter Cumbria and the Cumbria Law Centre in 2009 and was funded by the Big Lottery for five years, before becoming a charitable incorporated organisation in 2015.

It also received funding through Cumbria Community Foundation.

CAN is one of two organisations in Cumbria among a string of beneficiaries set to receive a share of more than £4m of lottery funding.

Cumbria Pride, which runs a successful festival in Carlisle to address equality, has been granted £8,980 towards developing a winter pride festival in Barrow.

The charity, which operates across Cumbria to strengthen the community by raising the profile of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, is developing the festival to extend its reach.