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30 March 2004
National Lottery to mark 10 years of giving to Good Causes with National Lottery Day
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Today it was announced that the 10th birthday of the National Lottery will be marked with a newly created National Lottery Day. To be held this year on 6th November, it will celebrate the special contribution that the National Lottery has made to the lives of people across the UK.
The plans were officially launched today with the help of children at the Temple Sutton Primary School in Southend-on-Sea, just one of the many beneficiaries of National Lottery funding. The Essex based school received funding of £5,000 from the National Lottery, enabling them to purchase musical instruments for their orchestra and develop the talents of their 750 pupils.
Commenting on the plans, Estelle Morris, Arts and Lottery Minister said: "It is thanks to the British public that over the past 10 years the National Lottery has raised so much money for the good causes. This money has made a tremendous impact on the lives of so many people. It is right that on its 10th birthday we take the opportunity to celebrate the Lottery's success and thank the players who have made these achievements possible." The birthday celebrations will include events at Lottery funded projects across the country. Full details of the programme will be unveiled regionally closer to the date. Camelot's Chief Executive, Dianne Thompson, said: "The National Lottery is a great British success story, and it's all thanks to our players. So the first National Lottery Day, coinciding with our 10th birthday celebrations, is a great opportunity to celebrate that success and gives us an opportunity to thank the playing public for having raised so many billions of pounds for so many good causes." The Minister also unveiled plans for a search for the nation’s favourite projects. Members of the public will have the opportunity to take part in a national vote across a variety of categories that reflect the impact National Lottery funds have made to national life. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on the 6th November, National Lottery Day for 2004. In the run-up to the birthday celebrations, there will be a host of activities at many of the projects that have benefitted from lottery funding. Throughout the summer behind the scenes tours and special promotions, including free tickets, will be offered many of the UK’s best new attractions, from The Deep in Hull and Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh through to the Eden Project in Cornwall. Elsewhere events will be held to highlight the new life that has been breathed into cycleways, walk ways and waterways, as well as parks, museums and visitor attractions, through fresh investment from lottery funds. It is also planned that the contribution made by the National Lottery to the UK’s film industry will be marked with free screenings of some of the most successful lottery funded British films. On a more local level, a raft of the very many smaller lottery backed good causes including the arts, sports and community facilities will be opening their doors to share their own success stories. NOTES TO EDITORS
High resolution images of the children of Temple Sutton Primary School officially launching the 10th birthday plans are available free of charge from: www.newscast.co.uk or James Parsons, Newscast, Tel:020 7608 1000 For more information please visit the National Lottery Good Causes website: http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk Since its launch in 1994, £15 billion has been raised for Good Causes through The National Lottery, benefiting over 160,000 projects across the UK - the largest programme of civic regeneration since the 19th century. Launches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland took place today at:
The National Lottery Promotions Unit has been set up in response to a public consultation exercise led by the Department for Culture Media and Sport. This identified the need for greater visibility of National Lottery projects at local, regional and national level. The Unit will focus on increasing public awareness of how National Lottery money is distributed and what it has funded. This will include making people more aware of local projects which have received National Lottery funding, but also on the benefits and opportunities which larger regional and National Lottery projects have brought to all communities. In particular the Unit will identify ways that Government, Camelot and Lottery distributors can work together to get these messages across. For more information on the Unit, please call 020 7211 3991. Camelot is operator of The National Lottery and is not responsible for distribution of funds to the Good Causes. For every pound spent on The National Lottery, 28p goes to Good Causes over the seven year licence period. Around 70 per cent of the adult population plays at least one National Lottery game on a regular basis (i.e. at least once a month). Average weekly National Lottery sales are £85 million - nearly £40 million higher than when The National Lottery was launched in 1994. The National Lottery creates over 2 million winners every week. Over 1,600 millionaires have been created since launch. Over £21.2 billion in prizes has been won since launch. | For more information please contact: Jay Dossetter / Sarah Harris / Natasha Behrouz Tel: 020 7022 4113/4010/4118
Malcolm Munro, Tel: 07850 775657
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