Two Stratford charities that serve the African/Caribbean community have won grants of nearly �10,000 each.

Hibiscus Caribbean Elderly Association aim to bring people out of isolation to lead independent, active lives and they won the grant from HealthLives through the Health Lottery.

The funding will enable them to extend their activities programme to include a further 100 Caribbean/African elders.

The second winners were IROKO Theatre Company who secured one of the first grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s All Our Stories programme for their project “Homage to Canning Town African Ancestors” - a musical piece exploring historical links from Canning Town to Africa since the 1920s.

Sonia Joseph, director of Hibiscus, said they were “delighted” to receive the funding “to support more vulnerable people in and around Newham.”

Paui Thomson, IROKO’s Chairperson, said the grant would “raise awareness of African people’s stories and contributions to the geo-political entity now known as Newham”.