DARWEN and Rural Neighbourhood Board has approved grants totalling nearly £20,000 to five community groups.

The board has a budget of £50,000 for the year to spend on community projects, provided by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The town's football team AFC Darwen has been granted £6,817.

The money will be spent on football kits for all of the 9 teams that play at the volunteer-run club.

It will also pay for the installation of CCTV to improve safety and protect the premises from vandalism, and for IT and horticultural equipment.

£6,500 has been granted to set up a cafe in a disused part of the Barlow Institute, Edgworth.

Heather Dowle, chair of the Barlow Trust, requested the funds to regenerate a dilapidated part of the building and reinstate a café-style environment after an absence of many years.

The café will be run by volunteers for local people, ramblers and visitors.

The project will provide structured volunteering opportunities with accredited training, increasing employment possibilities for those who take part.

Depending on its success, two part-time positions may be created.

The intention is to open the café during the daytime so it will not conflict with pubs in the evenings.

A £2,440 grant has also been approved to pay for British Sign Language courses to children at three primary schools.

Kathryn Edwards, coordinator for the Darwen and Rural Extended Schools Cluster, requested the funding to start a 10-week course as an after-schools activity at Turton and Edgworth, St Pauls C.E. in Hoddlesden and Belmont Primary.

80 children are expected to take part in the course, which will enable them to communicate confidently at a basic level with a deaf person.

Darwen Subscription Bowling Club will receive £2,000 towards the total £3315 cost of electrical work on their clubhouse.

The Anyon Street club has already raised £500 towards the electrical work in the last four months and has pledged to raise the rest of the money.

An electric certificate will save the club, which has 234 members, approximately £4,000 in insurance payments per year.

A free family fun day will be held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Hoddlesden's Millennium Green after a request for £758 was approved.

Hoddlesden Millennium Green Trust treasurer Herbert Clark applied for funding for a grand picnic, jazz band and children's storyteller on Sunday 11th July 2010 from 2-5pm.

Over 200 people are expected to attend the event at the six-acre site, which incorporates a village green, woodland walk and wildflower meadow. The total cost is £895, with the difference being made up by other fundraising activities.

The trust will be looking for volunteers to join the committee or to help out with maintenance.