'Community Fund - National Lottery'

Think of the National Lottery, or Lotto as it's now called, and you probably think of million pound jackpot wins, rollover weeks, bonus balls and lucky dips.

Everyone dreams that their pink ticket has the six lucky numbers that will win them a million and allow them to retire in style.

However, did you know that there is a different side to the lottery?

Did you know that 4.7p of every pound that we spend on lottery tickets goes to organisations like the Community Fund, who make lottery funded grants to community organizations not just across the country, but here in South Tyneside?

South Tyneside does very well in winning smaller Lottery Grants, such as the £90,000 recently awarded to the Alzheimer's Disease Society. We have won grants of all sizes, from the £500 given to the Derby Terrance Community Centre to the £336,000 awarded to Women's Health in South Tyneside.

Our community and voluntary groups should take confidence from their successes in winning smaller grants, and aspire to bigger projects and bigger grants. We have proved that we can produce successful projects and win lottery grants, now we should raise our game and strive to win more funding for even more ambitious projects. South Tyneside needs to punch its weight at both regional and national level to win grants of the size that we deserve.

But why are lottery grants so important to our communities? I recently spoke at conference, held in our own Customs House, where the key players in administering and making use of lottery funds, not just from South Tyneside, but from the rest of the region and beyond, were gathered to answer this question.

What makes these grants so important is the sheer range of projects which are eligible for funding. Community and voluntary groups can apply for funding for all sorts of reasons; to pay for dedicated staff, special purpose buildings and equipment, and equipment such as computers. Age Concern has received £180,000 towards health promotion schemes in South Tyneside, South Shields Shopmobility has been granted £190,000 to allow it to continue to provide wheelchair and scooter hire to disabled South Shields residents.

South Shields is taking great strides in becoming once more a place we can be proud of, where we all want to live and work, with strong, thriving communities. But there is work still to be done.

Turning the corner is not just a matter for Council officials or local politicians. We all have a role to play. The Government must play its part - through investment in people as well as new facilities, but the community and voluntary sectors are the real key to achieving the long-term success and prosperity of our communities.

This is why lottery grants are so important, to help our entrepreneurs and
voluntary groups to achieve their vision and make South Shields a place we can all be proud of.

The lottery application can seem daunting, but there is now advice and help available for those who want to make a start. You should ring Community Fund on 0191 255 1133 if you think your group - whether in sports, arts or community work - can benefit.

The key is that the lottery is the people's money. So let's use it for the benefit of all the people. A bit of work means that it could be you - and it could be the rest of us at the same time.