A CHARITY has been awarded almost £35,000 in National Lottery cash to help play schemes in Darlington accommodate children of all abilities.

Darlington Association on Disability (Dad) received the money from the New Opportunities Fund.

Association manager Lauren Robinson said the money would be spent on making the association's Dash play schemes more inclusive and helping others do the same.

"We run four different schemes in the summer and one of the groups is open to disabled and non-disabled children, but the other three are just for disabled children," she said.

"We want to try and make all our groups open to everyone. We want to promote inclusion of everyone but we can't do that unless our schemes are all-inclusive."

The money will pay for a member of staff to give community groups and play providers advice on how to include disabled and able-bodied children in their schemes.

Volunteers, who must be aged over 16, are needed for the Dash play schemes.

Anyone interested can telephone Stacey Allan on (01325) 489999.