National Memorial Arboretum is most popular National Lottery-funded venue in England
Howard Lake | 17 November 2014 | News
The National Memorial Arboretum, the UK’s centre of remembrance, has been voted the favourite ‘National Treasure’ in England which has received National Lottery Funding over the last 20 years.
The public vote, via Facebook, attracted over 66,000 votes in May 2014. The Eden Project in Cornwall came second, and The Beamish Museum in County Durham third. The public was asked to choose their favourite from a range of iconic venues, landmarks and facilities that have benefited from Lottery funding.
The Arboretum, part of The Royal British Legion family of charities, has received more than £8 million of National Lottery funding. Containing over 300 memorials, including the Armed Forces Memorial, it welcomes some 300,000 visitors a year.
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Sarah Montgomery, managing director of the National Memorial Arboretum, said:
“The National Lottery has played a significant role in our development and we’re now truly honoured that the public has chosen us as their favourite place. Our visitors come from all walks of life, and we now welcome over 10,000 school children every year”.
The online poll also invited the public to name an individual ‘National Treasure’ for their work for charity. Actor and author Stephen Fry topped the poll for his work as President of mental health charity, Mind, and Patron of Norwich Playhouse Theatre, which have both received Lottery funding.
The shortlisted individuals were Rizzle Kicks (trained at AudioActive), Esther Rantzen (founder of The Silver Line Helpline), Colin Firth (star of Lottery-funded film The King’s Speech) and Jess Ennis-Hill (Lottery-funded Olympian).
20 years of the National Lottery
The poll result was announced to mark the 20th anniversary of the first National Lottery draw, which took place on 19 November 1994. Since then players have raised over £32 billion for more than 430,000 projects across the UK.
Over £53 billion has been paid out in prizes and more than 3,600 millionaires created so far.
- PDSA & National Memorial Arboretum launch Paws for Remembrance event (4 February 2016)
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.