£500,000 National Lottery boost for communities in Scotland to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Today (Monday 21 March), £500,000 of National Lottery funding has been awarded to communities in Scotland so they can come together to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Eleven Scottish groups are amongst the 92 impactful community projects across the country to receiving a share of £4.5m from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

Thanks to an award of £49,603, Berwickshire Lobster Hatchery will launch a new community lobster hatchery in Eyemouth to raise awareness of marine life. To celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a special community weekend will be organised with a breeding hen lobster, ‘Queen Lizzie’ named in honour of the Queen.

Welcoming the funding, Alice Fisher, Manager, Berwickshire Lobster Hatchery, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded funding to enable us to facilitate a Lobster Hatchery and Marine Education Centre in Eyemouth. This will open the eyes of hundreds of children and adults to the wonders of the marine environment, it's delicate nature and how we can all help to protect it. We very much hope you will all come and visit us this summer.”

An award of £50,000 means that Volunteering Hebrides will be able to create a new community garden on the Island of Stornoway.

Tina MacLeod, Chief Officer, Volunteering Hebrides, said: “We can now create a beautiful, easily accessible Hebridean Jubilee Community Garden and growing space and help us offer opportunities for a range of horticultural activities over the next two years that can be enjoyed by everyone in our remote island community. The project will be launched with a special Queen’s Jubilee Community Garden Party on Saturday 4^th June, where everyone will be welcome to join us.”

In Glasgow, Fuse Youth Café will use their award of £43,420 to set up a new multimedia platform which will be run by local young people who will develop content on issues that matter to them and communicate what they want the area to be like for future generations. The Jubilee will provide a great focus for the launch of the platform and themed content will include what the Jubilee means to local people and looking back at Shettleston at the time of the coronation in 1952.

Sharon Baldwin, Chief Operating Officer, FUSE Youth Cafe, said: “We will now be able to develop our 'Fuse News', a ground-breaking youth-led multi-media platform where young people set the agenda, discuss issues and other matters important to them. This will support young people to develop critical thinking and research skills, engaging with local agencies to have a say in what goes on in their own communities.”

This funding has been awarded from The Platinum Jubilee Fund, which was launched in November last year as a £3.5 million programme with grants of up to £50,000 available to 70 organisations, celebrating Her Majesty’s 70 years of public service.

As the Platinum Jubilee forms part of #Celebrate2022, a significant year of celebration and national pride, The National Lottery Community Fund has committed an additional £1 million to a further 22 community groups to ensure as many people as possible can come together to mark this momentous occasion.

Blondel Cluff CBE, Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund and Chair of the UK Funding Committee, said: “We are proud to play a key role in this momentous year of celebration across the United Kingdom. Thanks to National Lottery players, we are supporting organisations up and down the country that are making a great difference and bringing purpose and pride to their communities. It is these community groups that perfectly encapsulate the spirit of this Platinum Jubilee year, by creating a legacy of positive change that allows people to prosper and thrive.”

Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, said: “Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is a wonderful opportunity to bring people together and this funding will play an important part helping more than 90 community groups get involved to celebrate 70 years of dedicated service.”

The Platinum Jubilee weekend will also be celebrated with The Big Jubilee Lunch from Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 June 2022. Part of a two-year programme of activities supported by £2.3 million of National Lottery funding, this Jubilee-focused version of the annual Big Lunch event will bring thousands of communities together and help people celebrate the Platinum Jubilee while getting to know their neighbours.

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players, who raise more than £30 million* each week for good causes across the UK.

Grants of up to £10,000 from The National Lottery Awards for All programme – which gives out almost £80 million of National Lottery funding in all parts of the UK each year - are still available for community-led events throughout 2022 to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee year.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Date published: 21 March, 2022
Region: Scotland

Notes to Editors

*Based on 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest funder of community activity in the UK – we support people and communities to prosper and thrive.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.

Our funding has a positive impact and makes a difference to people’s lives. We support projects focussed on things that matter, including economic prosperity, employment, young people, mental health, loneliness and helping the UK reach net zero by 2050.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £43 billion has been raised for good causes. National Lottery funding has been used to support over 635,000 projects - 255 projects per postcode area.

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The Platinum Jubilee Fund

The Platinum Jubilee celebrates 70 years of The Queen’s reign and to mark this occasion, The National Lottery Community Fund will fund 70 projects across the UK.