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Actress Gemma Arterton has launched The National Lottery's Britain Has Balls tour, celebrating the great things ballsy Brits do with Lottery funding to support talent, charities and communities all over the UK.

The launch involved performances for the public by a variety of Lottery-funded projects at London's Southbank on the morning of Wednesday 24 February. Gemma joined dancers from English National Ballet, Kreative Culture Klub and young fencing stars from the London Youth Games to find out how Lottery funding has benefited them.

Over the next six weeks, the Britain Has Balls tour will visit many of the projects across the UK that have received Lottery funding over the past 15 years. Thousands of ballsy Brits across the UK have been using the £25 million a week raised by Lottery players for good causes projects, plus a huge amount of hard work and dedication, to make a big difference to people and places in their communities.

Gemma Arterton explains: "the people here today are truly inspirational - every day they get out there and use Lottery money to help make Britain a better place to live - whether it's a local community project or a big national initiative, their hard work and dedication is truly awesome. And, of course, loads of it is about supporting the arts - in fact, the film St Trinian's, which I starred in, received Lottery funding."

Bismark Anobah (24) from Waltham Forest is lead choreographer at Kreative Culture Klub: "I was inspired to help others by a previous dance teacher. Receiving lottery funding has meant the Kreative Culture Klub can meet on Friday nights and provide a really positive alternative to street and gang culture."

Over 330,000 Lottery grants have been given out to arts, sport, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary projects since the Lottery began in 1994, making a positive difference to communities, and people across the UK.

To find out more visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/britainhasballs

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For further information contact:

Emily Urban-Smith: emily.urbansmith@redconsultancy.com / 078436777739

Gabi Downer: gabi.downer@redconsultancy.com/ / 020 7025 6579

Jessica Cain: jessica.cain@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk / 020 7211 3898

Lottery funded projects participating in the Southbank event:

• The English National Ballet celebrates its 60^th Anniversary this year and is one of the world's greatest ballet companies. It has received over £3 million from Arts Council England
• The Kreative Culture Klub offers young people the opportunity to get involved in a wide variety of activities as a positive alternative to street and gang culture. It has received over £17,000 through grants from Awards for All
• The London Youth Games is the UK's largest annual multi-sport event, inspiring nearly 50,000 young Londoners to compete and volunteer in more than 30 sports. It has received over £700,000 from Sport England
• Spitalfields City Farm brings the countryside to the city, providing education and environmental opportunities to local communities. It has received over £60,000 from Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund.

 Lottery funding facts you might not know:

• Since the Lottery launched in 1994 more than £24 billion has been raised for Good Causes
• Lottery-funded films have generated over 64 million UK cinema visits 
• Over half of all Lottery grants are under £5,000, helping projects make a big difference
• Eight out of 10 of the UK's top free tourist attractions are Lottery-funded, including the British Museum, Tate Modern and the Natural History Museum
• Lottery funding has enabled over 42,000 WWII veterans to revisit sites around the world where they served during the war
• Over £10 billion of Lottery funding has gone to projects that benefit children and young people
• Thanks to Lottery funding, land equivalent to 100,000 football pitches has been dedicated for nature conservation
• Over £1 billion of Lottery funding has been invested into projects that improve people's health and wellbeing
• More than 500 historic public parks across the UK have been rejuvenated with over £500 million of Lottery money.