WIREDGOV

A sailing project for visually impaired young people in Wales has secured a £50,000 Big Lottery Fund grant following a nail-biting head-to-head in The People’s Millions on ITV Wales last night.

It is fantastic news for Challenge Wales’ Turning the Tide project based in Cardiff. Challenge Wales will now develop the self-esteem and life-skills of young people through sailing opportunities. It will run a host of pre-voyage sensory visits and sailing voyages for around 140 visually impaired young people and their buddies throughout Wales.

This is the eighth year that the Big Lottery Fund and ITV have given the public the chance to choose where the Lottery good cause cash goes in their region. The People’s Millions public vote determines which deserving cause will win the contest and take the funding back to their community.

This week (November 25-27), projects will be going head-to-head on ITV Wales evening news pitching for a life changing grant. There are three £50,000 awards up for grabs in the region – one award for each night, as well as a bonus award announced on Thursday for the runner up with the most phone votes across the week.

As well as capturing hearts and minds with their TV bid, the projects will also have to mobilise as many phone votes as they can on the day, with lines opening on the morning they are due to appear on ITV Anglia.

Voting numbers* will be available on the day the projects are due to appear on ITV from the People's Millions website as well as in the Daily Mirror. Telephone voting lines will open at 9am on each day and close at midnight with winners announced the following day.

Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “This is a brilliant result for the people of Wales and shows what groups can achieve when they have the support of their community behind them. There are some excellent projects still to be showcased, so tune in to ITV Wales, pick up the phone and vote for your favourite project.”

Adam Crozier, Chief Executive of ITV plc, said: “This is a great opportunity for ITV viewers to have their say in how thousands of pounds of Lottery money, set aside for good causes, can benefit their area. Their support has been terrific so far, and I would encourage people to continue backing their local projects.”

The contest continues tonight Tuesday, November 26, when homeless charity GISDA  Cyfyngedig’ project Caffi Ni in North Wales will battle it out with Carmarthen Youth Project’s ‘Growing Green Teens’ in South Wales.

Finally Wednesday 27th November’s head to head will see Balanced Lives’ Action for Elders Trust take on Design Factor’s Pinkspiration CIC.

Since The People’s Millions began in 2005 the competition has funded over 520 diverse community projects UK-wide with an incredible £27.8 million in Big Lottery Fund good cause money.

This year across the UK up to £3.8 million will be awarded by the public through The People’s Millions.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888    Out of Hours contact: 07867 500 572

Full details of Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to editors

ITV broadcast regions in The People’s Millions: ITV Anglia East; ITV Anglia West; ITV Central East; ITV Central West; ITV Granada; ITV London; ITV Meridian East; ITV Meridian West; ITV Tyne Tees; ITV Westcountry East; ITV Westcountry West, ITV Yorkshire North; ITV Yorkshire South; STV West; STV East; STV North; STV Borders ; UTV; and ITV Wales.

• *Text Relay users should dial 18001 before the number they want to vote for. Calls cost no more than 11p per call from BT landlines. Calls from other networks may be higher and from mobiles will be considerably more. Calls made after closing time won’t be counted. Terms & conditions at itv.com/terms
• The People’s Millions is a partnership between Big Lottery Fund and ITV which gives the public the chance to have a say in how Lottery funding is spent in their community through a telephone vote.
• The competition funds projects that improve the lives of people and communities across the UK. 
• This year 76 awards of up to £50,000 are up for grabs across the UK – four awards in each ITV region (including a bonus award for the runner-up with the highest number of votes).
• To date 523 good causes across the UK have been awarded grants through the contest, sharing in £27.8 million of Lottery funding. Close to three million votes have been cast by the public.
• For more information on shortlisted groups, visit The People’s Millions website www.peoplesmillions.org.uk
• As in previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost premium rate telephone number. ITV and Big do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in June 2004 the Fund has awarded close to £6 bn.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £30 billion has now been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.