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UK HEALTH ORGANISATIONS WIN BIG WITH NATIONAL LOTTERY

10th January 2014

Friday, January 10, 2014: The National Lottery has released an infograph to show how health-related projects in the UK have been boosted by its good cause funding.

The infograph is released on Day 10 of ‘Just Imagine’, a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the massive impact that £31 billion in project funding has had across the UK since the first National Lottery draw 20 years ago this year.

The statistics chosen reveal that over £1.4 billion of National Lottery funding has been awarded to health projects across the UK in the last five years alone, with a further £1 billion going to support people with disabilities over the same period.

A large number of health related charities have benefitted from funding, with 683 grants given to cancer support charities, worth £136 million over the last twenty years. Over 1,000 grants worth £73 million have been given to projects helping people with hearing difficulties and over 3,100 grants worth £380 million have been given to help mental health charities.

Vicki Kennedy, Director of The National Lottery Promotions Unit, said: “The National Lottery has funded thousands of projects, venues and charities that support people's health and wellbeing - many of them are free or low cost. With an average of 135 Lottery-funded projects for each postcode, there are accessible opportunities for everyone out there. It could just be going for a walk in a local park, taking up exercise or an art class.”

Released on Twitter (@lottogoodcauses #JustImagine) and Facebook today, the infograph is the tenth in a series of 31 items to feature through January – one for each day of the month and each £1 billion of funding.

For anyone wanting to find out more about funded projects in their area, the National Lottery has launched a ‘Good Cause Finder’. To see projects in your area, or to find out more about Just Imagine January, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

Notes to editors

Contacts

For press enquiries relating to the Just Imagine campaign:
Alex Bake alex.bake@fasttrackagency.com 07552 289 290
Jim Williams jim.williams@fasttrackagency.com 07814 068 349

For press enquiries relating to the National Lottery:
Michael Thompson, Head of Media at the National Lottery Promotions Unit, on 07734 295745.

About National Lottery ‘Just Imagine’

A range of imagery, video and animation is being released on www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk for ‘Just Imagine’, an innovative digital and social media campaign that is using a range of techniques to encourage the public to consider an alternative reality of what might have been if the National Lottery had not funded £31 billion across more than 420,000 arts, sport, heritage and voluntary projects across the UK. The first phase of the campaign sees 31 items released daily through January – one for each day of the month and each £1 billion of funding.

The campaign will run through the first four months of the year, with further phases including an original animation movie telling the story of funding, and other “positively disruptive” digital techniques, according to a National Lottery spokesperson.

To enable people to learn more about National Lottery funded projects in their area, the National Lottery has launched a ‘Good Cause Finder’. To see projects in your area, or to find out more about Just Imagine January, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

About the National Lottery Promotions Unit
The National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU) is responsible for raising awareness of Lottery funding to Good Causes. Amongst other initiatives, NLPU manages the National Lottery Awards.
National Lottery funding is awarded through 12 distributing bodies: Big Lottery Fund, UK Sport, Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport NI, Sport Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Arts Council Wales, Arts Council NI, Creative Scotland and the British Film Institute.
Over £31 billion has been awarded to good cause projects across the UK since the launch of the National Lottery back in 1994. Currently, £33 million of good cause funding is raised every week by National Lottery players.