A prestigious youth project is applying for a �450,000 lottery grant to ensure its work continues.Holt Youth Project, which has won awards and accolades for its work with isolated and deprived young people, has applied for the money to help with its healthy living programme over the next five years.

A prestigious youth project is applying for a �450,000 lottery grant to ensure its work continues.

Holt Youth Project, which has won awards and accolades for its work with isolated and deprived young people, has applied for the money to help with its healthy living programme over the next five years.

The healthy living programme is aimed at giving young people aged up to their mid-twenties access to health equipment and guidance on nutritious diet, and educating them in sourcing and growing their own food.

Project manager Julie Alford said: 'It's all about getting alongside young people, giving them boundaries, values and a place where they can turn their energies into positive action.'

A �25,000 chunk of the cash would pay for a new sprung floor in the sports hall, which is already in use by young people.

Some of the lottery money would go towards training and paying youth workers and an administrator who were hired last April with the help of a �56,000 grant from the Norfolk Community Partnership.

Their wages are paid up to October this year, and the lottery money would enable the project to continue paying them until 2014, as well as continuing their training.

Mrs Alford said: 'I don't even want to think about what we'd do if we didn't get the grant. We would pursue other options and other sources of funding.'

The Holt Youth Project was set up in 1998 and has had its work recognised by the Prince of Wales at Sandringham.

It won a �10,000 grant in 2007 as part of the EDP's Project Butterfly, which awarded grants to projects aimed at tackling antisocial behaviour.

The project has recently begun intergenerational work, working to help elderly people feel safer around youngsters and forging stronger community bonds.

The Reaching Out Project to the Elderly group has organised cream tea and bingo events for the 1960s club, with the young people providing home-made scones.

The project facilities include a beauty salon called Blush, which doubles as a quiet space, an IT suite and a workshop.

Work is continuing on the Health Hut, an annexe funded by a �46,000 grant from the Norfolk Youth Fund after a successful bid from the young people who use the service.

A wide variety of groups and activities use the project, including the Busy Bodies after-school club, a parent and toddler group and a youth band called Hyper.