National Lottery reveals top fundraising independent retailer in Yorkshire
17th December 2013
• £2.6 million raised for life-changing projects by Brighouse newsagent and its
customers
• To say thank you, the world-renowned Brighouse & Rastrick Band makes
retailer, David Kitson, guest of honour at its Christmas concert and presents
him with a commemorative plaque
A Brighouse retailer was today celebrating being named The National Lottery’s top
fundraising independent retailer in the Yorkshire.
To date, customers of The Paper Shop in Commercial Street have helped raise a
staggering £2.6 million for life-changing National Lottery projects.
To mark the outstanding achievement, David Kitson, owner of The Paper Shop, and
his wife, Claire, were guests of honour at the annual Christmas Concert of the worldrenowned,
National Lottery supported Brighouse & Rastrick Band, with David being
presented a commemorative plaque on-stage.
David Kitson said: ‘We were amazed to be told we are the top fundraising independent
retailer in Yorkshire. It’s great to get recognition for the hard work we put in to
promoting and selling The National Lottery, and it’s wonderful to know that it really
benefits local projects. It was a fantastic honour to be on-stage with the Brighouse &
Rastrick Band and presented with the plaque. It will take pride of place in the store, so
that our customers can see what a truly life-changing difference they make.”
The National Lottery supports a wide range of arts, sport, heritage, charity and
voluntary projects. To date, National Lottery players have raised over £30 billion for
National Lottery projects, with more than 420,000 individual awards made across the
UK – an average of 135 lottery grants for every postcode district.
In total, over £1.8 billion has been invested into nearly 30,000 National Lottery projects
throughout the Yorkshire & Humber region.
The Brighouse & Rastrick Band recently received £48,000 in funding from Arts Council
England, one of the National Lottery distributing bodies, to help the band continue to
develop and perform.
The band was formed almost 130 years ago through public donations given by
residents of the villages of Brighouse and Rastrick, which face each other across the
River Calder in West Yorkshire.
The band members remain amateur and it is regarded by many as the finest public
subscription band in the world. It came to full national attention in 1977 when it reached
No1 in the music charts with its version of ‘The Floral Dance’. The band continues to
play throughout the UK – thanks to public donations and support funding, such as that
from The National Lottery.
Band Manager, Stuart Lingard, said: “National Lottery funding has been crucial for us
at the Brighouse & Rastrick Band. We are all amateurs and it really helps us bring our
music to people throughout the UK. We were delighted to have David Kitson as guest
of honour at our Christmas concert, right here in Brighouse. He and his customers
should be very proud that they’re making a real difference in their area.”
Jackie O’Sullivan, Director of the National Lottery Good Causes, said: “The National
Lottery supports projects people really care about, such as the Brighouse & Rastrick
Band. We couldn’t do it though without the efforts and support of independent retailers,
such as the team at The Paper Shop and their customers who play The National
Lottery.”
For more information on projects that have received National Lottery funding, go to:
www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
- ends -
Nodiadau i olygyddion
For more information on this story, contact:
Jonathon Deacon | jd@jdbrightly.com | 07831 746 725
For more information on National Lottery Good Causes, contact:
Michael Thompson, Head of Media, National Lottery Promotions Unit
Michael.Thompson@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk | 0207 211 3894 | 07734 295 745
• The operator of The National Lottery, Camelot, delivers on average over £35 million each week to
National Lottery Good Causes.
• To date, over £30 billion has been raised and more than 420,000 individual awards made across
the UK since 1994 – the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th
Century.
• The National Lottery has so far given away over £49 billion in prizes and created more than 3,400
millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.
• Accounting for 83% of total sales, retail is the largest National Lottery sales channel. Camelot
works with over 36,700 retailers across the UK, with independents making up the majority.
• Camelot is committed to raising money for the Good Causes designated by Parliament. Camelot
is not responsible for distributing or awarding these funds.
• For further information on Camelot, The National Lottery and its games, please visit:
www.camelotgroup.co.uk and www.national-lottery.co.uk.