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People’s Postcode Lottery raises a million for Northumberland!

Northumberland Wildlife Trust is delighted to have attended the 2017 People’s Postcode Lottery annual Charity Gala where it was announced that £66.3 million was awarded to charities and good causes in 2016 - thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Northumberland Wildlife Trust is one of 69 charities that benefited from this incredible funding, with £225,000 received in 2016 alone. This takes the total the Trust has received since 2008 to £1,144,941.40

The annual celebratory gala took place recently, at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh. The evening celebrated the phenomenal achievements of charities working across Great Britain and internationally that are supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The event was attended by HRH Prince Charles, Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster Dermot Murnaghan and TV presenter Fiona Phillips. Entertainment on the night was provided by Mica Paris and Soul Nation.

The money received will boost the Trust’s conservation work, both large and small and in the past has been spent on projects – both large and small including repairing vandalized bird feeding stations on a number of reserves, installing special newt fencing to prevent the protected great crested newt population going ‘walkabout’ on its Hauxley nature reserve and taking school groups into the wilds of Northumberland.

The most recent funding is to be spent on a new workshop for the Trust’s hard working volunteers who, all too often end up working in cramped, cold conditions in the Trust’s existing small storage area or even worse, outside in the cold and rain. This new, dedicated area will be perfect for all kinds of activities such as making bird boxes to be used on all its reserves around the region or simply repairing tools which suffer from a large amount of wear and tear.

At a time when charity funding is becoming harder to find, Trust Chief Executive Mike Pratt is delighted with the amount received, he said: “This year, wildlife is set to face more challenges than ever before and certainly since the wildlife trust movement was founded over one hundred years ago - wildlife can’t stand up for itself, so if we don’t do it, who will?

“The support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery has been unstinting for almost a decade. It has been challenging over the last few years to raise money to continue the work of the Trust and each year funding from players has come as a great boost to us. I would like to personally thank the staff and players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their support - a million pounds has helped us do so much for Northumberland’s wildlife.”

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “Our Gala is such a special time in People’s Postcode Lottery’s calendar where we come together and celebrate the incredible amount of money raised by our players and the fantastic work carried out by the supported charities as a result of the support. We continue to be overwhelmed by the incredible support of our players and thank them for their funding.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Bishop .