Disadvantaged city residents, children with autism and elderly people at risk of loneliness will all benefit from a Big Lottery Fund windfall.

Community groups in the region will receive more than £400,000 for their projects, all of which are designed to help the community in some way.

The largest grant in this area will go to Norwich's King's Community Church, which is receiving £175,817 funding for a project called The King's Venue to combat the effects of poverty in the Mile Cross estate.

The project is designed to tackle the estate's high levels of deprivation and poor education, as well as employment, parenting and long-term health problems.

Toby Skipper, the church's lead elder, said the grant would help support 900 people over five years through activities including drop-in computer support sessions, debt advice sessions and a youth theatre group.

Mr Skipper said: 'We will continue to work with other groups who are active in the Mile Cross community to ensure we maximise the benefit of the grant and would love to hear from people in the community with their ideas, so we can make sure this grant funding has the best chance of making a positive difference to as many people as possible.'

Another recipient is Norwich's Grapes Hill Community Garden Group, which will receive £10,000 to expand its activities at the garden and help engage people facing social isolation.

And Norwich's Magdalen Street Celebration, which runs a music and cultural festival in October, will receive a £10,000 grant to go towards nutritionist-led cookery sessions, community meal events, a food fair, and fortnightly historian-led outdoor walks including volunteering opportunities and training.

The Norwich and Norfolk OCD Voluntary Support Group will receive £10,000 to help fund its clinic, which helps people with obsessive compulsive disorder across East Anglia.

And Forncett Parish Council is to receive £2,146 so it can buy and install a community-access defibrillator.

The life-saving piece of equipment will be located at an adapted phone box for anyone to use in case somebody is suffering a cardiac arrest.

Village residents will also be trained on how to use the equipment.

Projects to receive funding

-£175,817 to King's Community Church for project 'The King's Venue';

-£2,146 to Forncett Parish Council for the provision of a community access defibrillator in the village;

-£10,000 to Norwich's Grapes Hill Community Garden Group to expand the work of Grapes Hill Community Garden;

-£10,000 to Norwich's Magdalen Street Celebration for its and Magdalen EATS Food and Cookery and Magdalen WALKS events;

-£10,000 to the The Norwich and Norfolk OCD Voluntary Support Group for its OCD Clinic covering East Anglia;

-£9,954 to Unit Twenty Three Limited in Diss for its Freefall - A Young Carers Project;

-£10,000 to Palgrave Community Centre in Diss to develop the Palgrave Play Area;

-£153,755 to Lowestoft's I Made This - Education Through the Arts for its Adventures in Animation project to support children with autism;

-£10,000 to Bungay High School so it can adapt an under-used classroom and provide a music performance area;

-£9,600 to Great Yarmouth Community Trust for its Ageless Opportunities Directory of Social Activities project;

-£9,985 to Great Yarmouth's Sing Your Heart Out East for its Sing Your Heart Out and About project.