Rushmoor Community Lottery celebrates seven successful years

The Rushmoor Community Lottery recently celebrated seven years of fundraising for worthy causes across Aldershot and Farnborough with a special event at Farnborough Bowling Club.

The Rushmoor Community Lottery recently celebrated seven years of fundraising for worthy causes across Aldershot and Farnborough with a special event at Farnborough Bowling Club. 

Rushmoor Borough Council set up the weekly online lottery seven years ago as a way for local community groups, sports clubs, good causes and charities to raise funds for their work. During that time an amazing £234,843 has been raised and more than 391,000 lottery tickets have been sold. 

A weekly lottery ticket costs £1, with half of the money going straight to a local good cause chosen by the supporter, and a further 10p to the Rushmoor Community Fund. The supporter has the chance to win up to £25,000 with every ticket. In the last seven years there have been 816 cash prize winners and prizes awarded to supporters valuing more than £56,000. 

During the evening, more than £14,000 in grants were also awarded to 17 good causes part of the lottery family who had successfully applied to the Rushmoor Community Fund earlier this year. The successful grant recipients were: 

• The Friends of Guillemont Junior School - £1,000, Guillemont Adventure Pirate Ship
• Blackwater Valley Canoe Club - £750, equipment renewal
• The Vine Centre - £638, washing machine and tumble dryer
• Eclipse Allstars Cheerleading - £1,000, Total Eclipse Showcase
• Home-Start Hampshire - £1,000, celebration event
• Parkside - £915.60, sensory and communication resources
• Farnborough Bowling Club - £620, inclusive bowls project
• Mustard Seed Autism Trust - £542.40, team uniform
• Aldershot Underwood Bowling Club - £1,000, picnic tables project
• Hart and Rushmoor Young Carers - £1,000, Young Carers Board
• Rushmoor Healthy Living - £1,088, portable external defibrillator
• Cactus Brass Brand - £814.39, equipment purchase
• South Farnborough Infant School - £910.70, Cloud Sensory Room
• Brickfields Nature Reserve (Brickfields Volunteers) - £981, family table and bench set
• Mayfield Community Partnership (Hawley Community Garden) - £1000, ESOL Arts and Crafts project
• Blackwater Valley Scouts: Spitfire ESU - £470.60, camping equipment
• Aldershot Cricket club - £750 - artificial pitch project

The successful good causes were announced by Councillor Sophie Porter, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community and Residents at Rushmoor Borough Council and presented with their grant awards by the Mayor of Rushmoor, Councillor Mara Makunura. 

During the celebratory evening, attendees also heard about some of the successful projects made possible by lottery funding last year and the difference that the money had made to them.   

First to share their story were Hart and Rushmoor Young carers, who received £998 to enable young carers from Rushmoor to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. The grant from the Rushmoor Community Lottery meant that they could cover the costs of registration fees, venue hire and equipment for the scheme and give local young people the opportunity to take part in this valuable experience. 

Sharing their story next were The Vine Centre who received £450 to help them purchase a new oven for the centre’s community cookery classes. The Vine Centre in Aldershot runs around 50 cookery sessions a year, bringing people together to enjoy using the kitchen, learning to cook healthy meals, building relationships and reducing isolation. 

Last to share the positive work that a lottery grant has helped them to achieve was The Mustard Seed Autism Trust who were awarded £750 for their Curiosity Programme project, which enabled a member of staff to attend specialist training. Mustard Seed is a registered charity providing support providing support to autistic children, their parents and siblings and thanks to the lottery funding, they can now help more local families.

Councillor Sophie Porter, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community and Residents at Rushmoor Borough Council said: “What a pleasure it has been to celebrate seven years of the Rushmoor Community Lottery and to hear firsthand from the good causes how the funds are making a difference. The stories that we heard this evening have been both powerful and inspiring and it’s wonderful to know that the funding is being put to such good use.” 

Councillor Porter added: “It is really important to also thank everyone who has been supporting the Rushmoor Community Lottery over the last seven years, every single ticket purchased makes a real difference to local projects and initiatives in our community.”