Inform, inspire and celebrate
To coincide with The National Lottery’s 18th Birthday, BIG recently held nine regional events across England to inform, inspire and celebrate the difference our funding makes to people and communities most in need.
The events helped raise awareness of BIG’s plans to distribute £1.5 billion of Lottery money in England between now and 2015. It was also a chance to bring people together, to network, share stories and make connections.
The series of events showcased a tiny selection of the many BIG-funded projects working up and down the country and provided an opportunity for us to hear what they have been achieving with Lottery money.
Organisations came together to learn new skills and network
This included a speech from Gee Walker from the Anthony Walker Foundation in Manchester and representatives from the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust speaking at the London event.
In Sunderland Paul Callaghan CBE gave a speech about charities in the North East region and why funding matters now more than ever, while in Bristol, George-Oliver Poole talked about being part of the Young People Investment team.
In Birmingham, Balsall Heath described how they had transformed their local area from the bottom up. In Eastbourne, we heard from Rother TV, a station run by young people and at the Norwich event there was a performance from Red Rose Chain, a theatre group working with vulnerable people in Suffolk.
Peace Mix winners Georgie Rose and Ricky Flemming performed in Leicester and Leeds and in Manchester there was a special appearance from Dee-Sign Dynamics – a British sign language choir. All these projects demonstrated how Big Lottery Fund grants are making a real and lasting difference to peoples live and communities throughout England.
A highlight from the events came with surprise cheque presentations, after a lot of hard work applying, we were able to surprise projects recently awarded with Reaching Communities grants. Take a look at these pictures of the cheques being presented.
The National Lottery Community Fund Blog 