An Enniskillen-based community radio station is one of the latest projects to receive a helping hand from the Lottery's Big Deal Small Grants Programme.

Vibe FM Studios received £2,500 towards its work training young people in radio presenting and production skills.

The funding is to be used to bring in a professional consultant to help the station formulate a three-year plan looking at training and the structure of the organisation.

The community radio station, a registered charity, is based in the Clinton Centre and broadcasts live shows 17 hours a day, manned entirely by volunteers.

The Big Deal Small Grants Programme, administered by Youthnet, was set up in 2006 and funded to the tune of £1 million by the Big Lottery Fund. The programme has now handed out over £750,000 to more than 340 projects working with 3,500 children and young people across Northern Ireland.

The programme allows those up to 25 years of age to apply for an award between £500 and £2,500 towards a project where they get to decide what it is they want to do, when, where and how!

Neil Wylie, one of the station's founders commented: "We saw there was a gap for something like this for young people – there was nowhere they could get professional, hands-on training and, with four children myself, I know how important it is to give young people the best possible opportunities."

Now, the station is able to work in conjunction with the local college to offer work experience to its media students, fulfilling an important educational role.

"This station crosses every divide – we all have music in common. Once you come over that door, there's no politics, no religion," said Neil.

"We have a lot of people involved in the station, but this award has enabled us to pull all the strands together and put a proper structure in place.

"We're developing new placements, for instance, so people can come in and take part in the shows whether it's in broadcasting or production."

Edel Carson (22), a student from Enniskillen, believes her placement at Vibe was instrumental in securing her a place on a broadcasting and journalism course.

"I had very few of the other criteria for getting onto the course, and it's very difficult to break into the media, but because of my time with Vibe, I was given a place almost right away. Vibe has just been amazing for me."

Edel has even had the chance to work with presenter, Dermot O'Leary as a result.

"Because of my experience with Vibe, I was able to take part in a project run by Cinemagic and Dermot was involved in that. I ended up actually winning two awards and it was all down to the skills I'd learned at Vibe."

The Big Deal Project Officer, Niamh O'Carolan, said: "On the face of it £500 to £2,500 doesn't sound like a huge amount of money but we know from previous experience that small grants like these going to directly to young people will make a big difference.

"The big bonus is that once children and young people become engaged in activities like these, they tend to stay interested and get involved more in what's going on around them in their local area."

She explained that the programme will be available to individuals and groups of children and young people over the next two years.