The National Lottery celebrates its 20th anniversary today. PM David Cameron has spoken about its impact in Manchester. The Lowry, the Greater Manchester Arts Centre, the Royal Exchange Theatre – everyone in Manchester knows these great local facilities. But not everyone realises that they owe a large part of their success to funding from the National Lottery – which, over the last two decades, has funded 13,700 local projects in this city. As we celebrate 20 years since the National Lottery began, we are given cause to look back at the impact it has had here. As well as creating 168 millionaires here, it has raised £1.2 billion for local good causes and, through the creation of the National Cycling Centre at Sportcity, has made Manchester the home of British cycling and helped the UK to become the dominant world force in the sport. Not all those helped have been big projects; many are small, grassroots schemes, like the Community Football Club in Prestwick which used £1,992 to purchase equipment and organise specialist coaching to increase opportunities for girls to play football. The money helped to pay for training, coach fees, footballs and football kits. So, most importantly, the National Lottery is changing lives, and this is thanks to the vision of one of my predecessors at Downing Street, Sir John Major. He gave the lottery the green light – despite much opposition – and his reasoning was clear: to “fund a rebirth of cultural and sporting life in Britain”. And it has done just that; in fact, a large proportion of our hugely successful Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the training of virtually all of our athletes, were funded by the lottery. These are athletes who made 2012 a golden summer of sport, who continue to delight and amaze us with their skills and will inspire the next generation of kids to play sport. I’ve spent years explaining the Big Society to people; but the National Lottery has been demonstrating it week in, week out for two decades. Whether they go to the local shop or play online, when they pick their numbers and buy their tickets, people in Manchester are not just in with a shot at scooping a big prize – they’re also making a massive difference to their local environment, helping arts bodies thrive and attract tourists, ensuring we can protect Britain’s heritage sites to teach kids about history, and, of course, supporting the amazing work of countless charities. The National Lottery has achieved an incredible amount in 20 years – and I’ll be crossing my fingers for another 20 years of changing lives.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 17:53:49 +0000