Life changing

Essex millionaires gift a giant playhouse to local charity

A team of National Lottery millionaires, with a combined wealth of £35 million, have given Santa and his elves a run for their money by working tirelessly to turn a simple wood cabin into a magical super-sized gingerbread playhouse for a charity.

The lottery winners from across the region worked tirelessly over 24 hours before handing the keys over to the Hamelin Trust’s Roots and Shoots project in Rochford, Essex. The Hamelin Trust movement has received over £650,000 in funding to support adults and young people with learning disabilities in Essex, thanks to National Lottery players.

24 hours before handing the keys over to the Hamelin Trust’s Roots and Shoots project in Rochford, Essex. The Hamelin Trust movement received over £650,000 in funding to support adults and young people with learning disabilities in Essex, thanks to National Lottery players.

The Trust plans to use the new Gingerbread playhouse at its Roots and Shoots project for public fundraising events, before turning it into an extension of their tearoom, due to open next year.

Ricky Cock, Project leader for Roots and Shoots said, “The timing of this amazing gift from local lottery winners couldn’t be better. We’ve just had approval to develop a new tearoom on-site which will be used to sell fresh produce from the gardens here. The tearoom will open in the summer and our new gingerbread house will be a real draw to the site.

“It’s so exciting. We just cannot believe that all these people, who could surely be sunning themselves on an exotic beach somewhere, have instead picked up paintbrushes and hammers to give us a fantastic Christmas present.”

One of four

Hamelin Trust is not the only project to benefit from the charitable multi-millionaire workforce. Three other unique Gingerbread playhouses have been created by National Lottery winners and given to projects on #GivingTuesday; Liverpool’s Zoe’s Place Children’s hospice, Cardiff’s Bobath Children's Therapy Centre for Cerebral Palsy and the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. More than 60 National Lottery winners were involved in the makeovers, donating thousands of pounds in materials and gifts for the four charities.

Roots & Shoots has previously benefitted from National Lottery funding, receiving a £283,591 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to turn the empty 5–acre field in Rochford into a productive market garden. The charity provides training and work experience in gardening and maintenance for approximately 40 adults and young people with learning disabilities, many of whom joined the National Lottery winners as they worked on the Gingerbread house.

Millionaire helpers

Winners helping to create the festive makeover magic in Essex included locals Lynne Groves from Chelmsford, £1million in March; Sue Richards and Barry Richards from Rochford, £3million in January; Julie Styles from Stanford Le Hope, £1.6 million in April 2012; Tracy Field from Benfleet, £2.8 million in August 2008 and Dean Allen, £13.8 million in 2000. They were joined by a team of hardworking lottery winners from across the region including Jean Swatman from Lowestoft who won £2 million in June 2013, Terry and Linda Vigus from Loughton, £1.2 million in May 2014; Richard and Cathy Brown from Ipswich, £6 million in June 2013 and Charmaine and Robbie Watson from Oxford, £2.3 million in 2005.

Essex carer, Susan Richards who celebrated a fine start to the year with a £3million win on a National Lottery scratchcard, was only too happy to help with the project and understands the significant challenges those with learning disabilities face on a day–to–day basis.

“I’ve been a carer for many years, helping clients with an array of disabilities so I’m already very familiar with the work of the Hamelin Trust however I didn’t realise that in total the organisation has received more than £650,000 National Lottery funding, including nearly £300,000 for the Roots and Shoots project, and all made possible by National Lottery players. While my life has been changed overnight with the win, it’s good to know that other incredibly important local projects just like this are also lottery winners.

“We’ve had a great time working with the project on the gingerbread house and I really hope this gift will help Roots and Shoots continue to grow and develop to help many more people in the future. The team here are an inspiration and deserve our support, I’m certainly going to be coming to the tea room next summer and stocking–up on freshly grown produce!”

The Roots and Shoots project is just one of thousands of projects in the East of England to benefit from National Lottery funding. Since the launch of The National Lottery, £1.6 billion has been shared with 28,000 projects in the East of England region, covering a diverse range of sectors from arts, heritage, sport, education, environment, health and charity.

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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