Heritage Lottery across Thanet and Big Lottery in Newington

The National Lottery's good works and money have been popping up all over Thanet. And there's more for us to get our hands on! From the opening of another delightfully restored promenade shelter in Ramsgate a fortnight ago to the announcement just last week that both Margate and Cliftonville Bowls Clubs were to receive almost 50 thousand pounds each to upgrade their sports facilities, Lottery funding is literally all around us. Hot on the news that Newington has just been allocated one million pounds from Big Local to transform their local area, I asked to catch up with some of the residents and the rep supporting them in achieving their goals. It's a particularly exciting scheme as it is firmly resident-led so anything is possible and I'd urge everyone in Newington to get involved at this early stage to have their say. There's a substantial amount of money that has the potential to transform th! e lives of those in the community already in a bank account. Residents just have to decide how to best spend it! An impressive 30 million pounds is generated for good causes every single week of the year and whilst yes, we are seeing some of the benefits in Thanet, I say let us reap more! To help local charities, organisations and enterprises through the application process and inspire them to give it a go, I organised for the Head of the South East Heritage Lottery Fund to come to Thanet. The meeting was really engaging with over 80 people coming along to find out more. The event followed on from another I held last year when in a drive to boost applications for funding across a wide spectrum, I invited the Head of Big Lottery Funding in the South East to the constituency to share her tips on making successful applications. The feedback I've had is that these events are very helpful in making the funding more accessible and inspiring groups to give i! t a go. Both Funds have quite clearly said that they want to s! ee more applications from Thanet and I think we are all keen to see more money coming our way, so let's make it happen! For more information including the presentations made by the Big Lottery Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund, contact: laura.sandys.mp@parliament.uk