Totterdown Residents Environmental and Social Association based near Bristol are the toast of the town today after winning an £80,000 slice of good cause cash from the Big Lottery Fund’s regional People’s Millions contest.

ITV West viewers voted for the project to win the award after a nail biting head-to-head contest for community votes screened on Monday on ITV West regional news.

School Road Park Project won the hearts – and bigger slice of the public vote – after viewers tuned in to find out what Totterdown Residents Environmental and Social Association can do with the funding. The project is now all set to develop a park featuring new play equipment for children, new seating, picnic areas and benefits for wildlife. With the support of Avon Wildlife Trust and local schools, the park will be an area to encourage creativity and imagination.

Each night between November 26 and 29, two projects from the West region are being showcased on ITV regional news in a head-to-head battle to secure the most public votes and win a Big Lottery Fund award of up to £80,000.

Voting telephone numbers will be broadcast during the programme and will also be available on the Big Lottery Fund’s website from 9am each day, www.biglotteryfund.org.uk, along with a list of the nightly winners. Voting numbers will also be in the Daily Mirror on the day of voting.

At the end of the competition there is also an additional bonus award of up to £80,000 for the runner-up with the most votes with that winner confirmed on November 30.

Sir Clive Booth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “I am delighted this BIG Lottery Fund money is going to local projects for which the public have expressed their enthusiastic support. This is great news for the area and our good cause cash is already making its way to the winning projects. These projects can now become a reality and benefit their communities for years to come. Throughout this week many more groups will have cause for celebration in this exciting competition that puts Lottery spending in the hands of the voting public.”

Michael Grade, ITV Chief Executive said: “One of ITV’s greatest strengths is our ability as a broadcaster to connect with local people about community issues. This year our ground-breaking regional news programmes will again ask the public to decide which local community project most deserves Lottery support and with the biggest regional awards to date up for grabs, the People’s Millions is sure to have a lasting impact.”

The competition rolls on tonight, Wednesday, November 28, when the Newland Village Club’s Newland Counts project in Newland comes up against Wildlife on the Edge from Yeovil.

On the final night of voting, Thursday, November 29, the Preanes Green Community & Cycle Safety Centre project in Preanes Green will battle it out against the Coalpit Heath Cricket Club’s Community Involvement project in Coalpit Heath.

The People’s Millions competition, in its third year, is running across 18 ITV regions*, with a total of 90 awards UK wide and up to £7.8 million of Big Lottery funding in the hands of the voting public.

Over the last two years the People’s Millions regional awards contest has given  £7.2m to 139 UK good causes and 350,000 people have voted for their favourite project.

Telephone voting numbers – as with previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a non-premium national rate telephone number. ITV and BIG do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.

The week following the regional Peoples’ Millions TV contest, the BIG Lottery Fund and ITV1 plan to screen on consecutive nights the People’s £50 million Lottery Giveaway in which four projects of national importance will compete for the public vote to win an unprecedented  £50 million award from the Fund.

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of Hours contact: 07867 500 572
ITV Press Contact: Melissa Loughran on 0113 222 7117
Full details of Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors:

ITV broadcast regions in the People’s Millions:

ITV Anglia (East), ITV Anglia (West),ITV Border, ITV Central (East), ITV Central (West), ITV Granada, ITV London, ITV Meridian (South), ITV Meridian (South East), ITV Thames Valley, ITV Tyne Tees, ITV Wales, ITV West, ITV West Country, ITV Yorkshire, STV Central, STV North, UTV

• 90 awards are up for grabs across the UK – four winners plus one bonus award in each of the 18 ITV regions.
• The aim of the People’s Millions contest, which launched in 2005, has been to fund projects that improve the quality of life of local communities through transforming the local environment.
• Calls to the voting numbers will be charged at the standard national rate. Call charges from a BT landline will cost less than 10 pence, calls from other providers and from mobiles will vary, and could be higher. Callers are advised to check with their provider to be certain of the cost. No profit will be made from the phone-in by either ITV or Big Lottery Fund.
• Voting lines will open from 9.00am on the morning of broadcast until midnight the same day. The telephone numbers for each project will be placed on the Big Lottery Fund website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/peoplesmillions from 9.00 am on the day of broadcast when voting lines open.
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million 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.
• Telephone voting numbers – As with previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost non-premium rate telephone number. ITV and BIG do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.
• 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.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.