Aber Valley Water Play feature scoop Welsh public TV vote and Lottery cash

Area:

Wales

Programme:

The Peoples Millions

Release date:

30 11 2007

ITV Wales viewers voted for the project to win the award after a nail biting head-to-head contest for community votes screened on Thursday’s ITV Wales evening news.

The Aber Valley Water Play Feature project, run by Aber Valley Communities Partnership, won the hearts and minds – and a bigger slice of the public vote – after viewers tuned in to find out about the project.

The group will literally splash the cash on replacing the existing redundant paddling pool facility at Senghenydd Welfare Park, with a fully automated, interactive water play system that is designed to stimulate children of all abilities, including those with disabilities.

Celebrations are also underway for Gladstone Refurbishment/Regeneration, in Hawarden, Flintshire, which originally missed out on an award on Thursday night. However Gladstone Refurbishment/Regeneration received the fifth highest number of votes in the region, and as the best runner-up winner, pocketed a £64,860 Big Lottery Fund award.

The Gladstone Refurbishment/Regeneration project, run by the Clwyd Area Scout Council, will spend the money on upgrading a scouting centre for the benefit of the local community and visiting scout groups in North East Wales, allowing opportunities to enjoy outdoor pursuits in a safe, comfortable and controlled environment.

This year saw five grants awarded to community organisations in the region totalling £323,660 with over 30,000 ITV Wales viewers casting their vote.

The third year of the regional People’s Millions has now finished, and after an exciting week of head to head competition, 90 grants worth over £6.42 million have been awarded to projects UK-wide with over 550,000 votes registered by the public.

Each night this week two local projects have been showcased on ITV regional news in a head-to-head battle to secure public votes and a Big Lottery Fund award. This year awards were not only dished out to each night’s winning projects, but an additional bonus prize went to the runner up in each ITV region* that chalked up the most public votes.

Huw Vaughan Thomas, Big Lottery Fund Wales Chair, said: “So far this week, we’ve seen grants awarded to projects as diverse as a project to create a garden of remembrance for a local community to the upgrading of a community centre, showing the massive range of benefits People’s Millions brings to communities. With voting now over, I’d like to thank everyone who took the opportunity to pick up the phone to support their local projects. This week, 5 good cause groups and their respective communities across Wales are benefiting immensely from this exciting competition.”

Elis Owen, Managing Director and Controller of Programmes for ITV Wales said: “One of our greatest strengths is our ability as a broadcaster to connect with local people about community issues. This year our ground-breaking regional news programme is again asking the public to decide which local community projects most deserve Lottery support and with the biggest regional awards to date up for grabs, the People’s Millions is sure to have a lasting impact.”

Next week Monday 3 - 7 December will see the People’s £50 million Lottery Giveaway aired on ITV1 where four projects of national significance will compete for the public vote to win a massive £50 million award from BIG. This is the first time the public has voted on a grant of this size.  The four projects facing the public vote are: Eden Project: The Edge; Sustrans’ Connect2; Sherwood: The Living Legend and Black Country Urban Park

Phone voting lines will open on Friday 7th December at 9am.  People can vote online now at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Officer- Oswyn Hughes: 02920 678 207
Out of Hours contact: 07760 171 431
ITV Press Contact: Sally Holmes on 08448 810 202
Full details of Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• The aim of the People’s Millions contest, which launched in 2005, has been to fund projects that improve the quality of life of local communities through transforming the local environment.
• Calls to the voting numbers will be charged at the standard national rate. Call charges from a BT landline will cost less than 10 pence, calls from other providers and from mobiles will vary, and could be higher. Callers are advised to check with their provider to be certain of the cost. No profit will be made from the phone-in by either ITV or Big Lottery Fund.
• Voting lines will open from 9.00am on the morning of broadcast until midnight the same day. The telephone numbers for each project will be placed on the Big Lottery Fund website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/peoplesmillions from 9.00 am on the day of broadcast when voting lines open.
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• Telephone voting numbers – As with previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost non-premium rate telephone number. ITV and BIG do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.

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