£226k Awarded To Gateway Members To Run Outdoor Wellbeing Activities Across Wakefield District

This summer, 15 community organisations across Wakefield District have received a total of £225,637 to fund projects that help people feel happier and healthier by being outdoors.

The Community Investment Gateway and Nova Wakefield District opened the funding in April 2026 and invited applications for nature-based activities and projects in the wonderful blue and green spaces in our district.

This latest round of Live Well Wakefield Small Grants aimed to support more opportunities for green social prescribing – where social prescribers at Live Well Wakefield can link people to nature-based activities happening locally that could improve their mental and physical health. There is strong and growing evidence for ‘prescribing nature’, and intelligence from Live Well Wakefield and Public Health was used to identify a gap in the nature-based activities available in the area.

Helen Betts, Grants and Gateway Manager at Nova, said “we’re excited to be supporting such a range of fantastic activities, and being able to fund projects for two years means continuity both for residents and our wonderful delivery organisations.”

The 15 organisations funded are running a wide variety of free activities, including:

• Creative nature walks for women, led by a local photographer

• Social weekly walk suited to older residents, in Wrenthorpe Park

• Shelter making, whittling and knot skills in the woods

• Theatre games and creating a performance piece outdoors

• Introduction to water-based paddlesports in Normanton

• Allotment and maintenance group for men

Browse what’s on >

You can download a directory of Blue & Green Activities in Wakefield District funded by the Community Investment Gateway, for professionals to use when signposting.

The funding is for voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations who are members of the Community Investment Gateway. Congratulations to members who were awarded funding.

• Bless Community Support

• Blossom Training and Development

• Empath Theatre CIC

• Evergreen Active CIC

• Footprints Forward with Hkers & Locals CIC

• Frontside

• Grow Wakefield

• Knottingley Canoe Club

• MHA Communities Wakefield

• Mindful Movers

• National Coal Mining Museum

• Open Country

• Open Roam

• St George’s Lupset

• The Crafty Creatives – Wellbeing Support CIC

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The Live Well Wakefield Small Grants Fund is funded by Wakefield Council and administered by Nova Wakefield District using the Community Investment Gateway, a partnership approach developed locally to channel funding and other capacity building support to the VCSE sector. Read more about what's been funded.