Good Causes

The stars are aligned for Katie and Tom

Valentine’s Day is here and we’re celebrating with a love story that started at a National Lottery funded venue...

Our “star-crossed” lovers, Katie Jowett and Tom Stone, are both space fans. Katie’s been a keen astronomer from an early age and Tom is a self-confessed sci-fi enthusiast. So for them, a first date at the National Space Centre seemed like the perfect choice.

Katie said, “Sitting in the cinema can be a bit passive and having dinner can be a bit too formal. We wandered around [the Space Centre] and there was constantly stuff to look at and constant conversation. It was a great place to find out that we got on really well.”

And while space is famously devoid of atmosphere, the Space Centre has it in supermassive quantities. Tom and Katie think the selection of engaging exhibits, including rockets, spacecraft and space rocks made it the ideal location for an all-important first date.

And it must have worked, because the couple who met online in 2017 are planning their wedding for October 2020 – and guess where they’re hoping to have their big day...

The National Space Centre is one of the hundreds of thousands of amazing things funded by National Lottery players. In 1998, the centre was given a grant of £26 million to realise the ambitions of the University of Leicester’s Space Research Centre. That grant, combined with additional funding from the private sector, allowed the Space Centre to open in 2001.

Chas Bishop, Chief Executive at the National Space Centre, said: “The creation of the National Space Centre was a complex project that turned the University of Leicester’s vision for a world class visitor centre into a reality. The funds required meant that it simply wasn’t possible without National Lottery support.”

Kate and Tom visit every year to celebrate their anniversary and they love how often the exhibits are updated.

Katie said, “It’s been great to see how the place has changed and grown”.

10th February 2020

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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