Rebecca Harris MP is celebrating after hearing how £7.2million of National Lottery funding has been awarded to 208 projects in the constituency over the last 25 years.
Rebecca attended a special event in Parliament to celebrate 25 years of the National Lottery last week where she heard about some of the inspiring community projects that have received funding, as well as taking some time to pose for a ‘crossed finger selfie’ and giant cheque photo. The event was held by The National lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
Every single month, National Lottery players help raise £37.7 million towards UK charities that support communities, heritage, sport and the arts. Over 80 per cent of these grants have gone towards small charities (those with an annual income of £500,000 or less) doing vital work in their local communities.
Rebecca said:
“It’s fantastic to hear that £7.2million of National Lottery funding has gone to projects in the Borough in the last 25 years. But it’s still not enough!
When I was elected in as an MP I asked how much money had been awarded to local projects and felt we were not getting our fair share. Since then the lottery has held several surgeries in Castle Point to encourage more local groups to apply and gave £1 million pounds to Canvey for the “Big Local Partnership”.
Almost all the bids from Castle Point have been accepted by the funders so I absolutely encourage organisations in Castle Point to keep applying for lottery funding please!”
To celebrate 25 years of the National Lottery, people all over the UK are joining in with celebrations by posting ‘crossed finger selfies’ with the hashtag #NationalLottery25 to say thank you to players for contributing £40 billion to good causes over the last 25 years, including £10.3 billion investment in local charities.
Ben Harrison, Engagement Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“National Lottery players can feel proud of the difference they’ve made to communities across the UK.
We want to ask everyone, including charities that have benefited from our funding, to join us in our celebrations by posting crossed finger selfies on social media to highlight the fact that money from The National Lottery really changes lives.”
