20 June 2009

Third time snappy with Postcards from the Park

This week, the UK-wide photography competition, ‘Postcards from the Park’, is being launched to celebrate parks and the 15th Anniversary of the National Lottery. Now in its third year, this competition is being organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Big Lottery Fund (BIG), in partnership with parks charity GreenSpace.

This unique competition is set to encourage hundreds of people to capture what they love most about parks in an imaginative and eye-catching photo. Special categories include people at play, wildlife and heritage.

£1,000 of Jessops vouchers are up for grabs for the lucky winner and all finalists and category winners will have their photos professionally exhibited at the Cafe Gallery in London’s Southwark Park. Photos will also be made into postcards and distributed at Lottery-funded venues across the UK.

Anyone of any age can enter and the closing date is 3 August 2009.

Visit http://www.postcardsfromthepark.org.uk/ for tips on taking great shots and how to enter.

Carole Souter, speaking on behalf of HLF and BIG, said “Parks are treasured by the public, providing much-needed breathing spaces for rest and recreation. That’s why we continue to invest Lottery-players’ money in regenerating and revitalising them. The Postcards from the Park competition is great as it challenges people to think about and appreciate their park in a creative way.”

Paul Bramhill, CEO of GreenSpace, said “This competition is an excellent way for everyone to get out and about in their local park and it has now become one of the highlights of the parks’ calendar.”

A long-standing commitment to all things green.

HLF has already awarded more than £500 million to over 500 public parks and BIG has invested upwards of £700million in environmental projects. Both Good Cause distributors continue to spend* Lottery players’ money on regenerating and improving people’s enjoyment of parks, putting them firmly back at the heart of community life.

Celebrating 15 years of making a difference to people and communities across the UK 
This year marks The National Lottery’s 15th Anniversary. Since 1994 over £23billion - that’s £25million each week - has been raised by Lottery players for the arts, sport, heritage, environment, education, health, charity and voluntary sectors.

Notes to Editors:

The two Lottery Funds have been working together in partnership on Parks for People, a joint £150million grants programme over three years to 2009 for public parks. The initiative aims to improve the local environment and put parks firmly back at the heart of community life. The Big Lottery Fund is investing £80 million (in England only) and £70million is coming from HLF (across the UK). This joint programme continues to support projects currently underway, but is closed to new applications. HLF continues to fund new parks projects to the tune of £20million a year.

Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage.  HLF has supported more than 28,800 projects, allocating over £4.3billion across the UK.  Website: www.hlf.org.uk

HLF has already invested more than £500million in 500 historic public parks, gardens, squares and promenades right across the UK.

Big Lottery Fund
BIG has invested more than £700million on environmental initiatives to date. For more information, visit http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/

BIG rolls out close to £2million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project. The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.

Good Causes
Out of every pound spent on a National Lottery ticket, 28p goes directly to good causes. BIG is responsible for distributing half of the money to improve communities and the lives of people most in need. HLF distributes 16.67% of the money to heritage projects across the UK. There are 12 other organisations responsible for distributing lottery money to good causes. http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/