Post by Taxigirl on Nov 6, 2004 9:27:26 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3987777.stm
More than 150 venues funded by the National Lottery are staging events or opening for free on Saturday to mark its tenth anniversary.
The main celebrations will be at Tate Modern, the London art gallery set up with £53m of lottery money.
There will be live performances during the day at the ex-power station and in the evening a lighting show and a Lotto birthday draw with a £10m jackpot.
Events are also taking place in cities including Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast.
At the Tate Modern celebrations, the results of a public vote on the most popular lottery-funded projects will be unveiled.
Finalists in the National Hero category include athlete Kelly Holmes, who won gold in the 800m and the 1500m at this year's Olympic Games.
Holmes and 63 other athletes received, through the World Class Performance Programme, £11.4m for kit, travel expenses, medical equipment, physio back-up and coaching.
Elsewhere, Cornwall's environmental Eden Project will host a winter festival, featuring an ice-skating rink.
The hugely popular tourist attraction, which showcases flora and fauna from around the world, benefited from £55.4 million of funding from the National Lottery through the Millennium Commission.
The ancient monument of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, will also be open free to the public.
In Belfast, the Odyssey Arena, itself a lottery-funded project, is featuring a number of activities and an exhibition looking at some of the other lottery projects in Northern Ireland.
But amid the celebrations, the National Trust has warned some of Britain's most popular heritage sites could close if lottery financial support is taken away.
Fiona Reynolds, the National Trust's director general, said the government had been talking about the way lottery cash was distributed.
"We celebrate what the lottery has been able to achieve on the nation's behalf, but we do so with real concern about the extent of the government's commitment to the historic environment," she said.
"Now we face ongoing questions about the future of the lottery, which raises enormous issues for the future funding of the nation's heritage."
The Tate Modern received £53m of National Lottery funding
At its AGM in Newcastle on Saturday, the trust will showcase a number of lottery-funded projects, while 35 National Trust properties will be open free to the public as part of the UK-wide celebrations.
William Proby, National Trust chairman, said for specialist sectors such as culture and heritage there was no equivalent alternative funding to the lottery.
Lottery operator Camelot transfers 28% of money spent on lottery tickets and scratchcards to the National Lottery Distribution Fund.
The fund is then split among six bodies that have the responsibility for allocating the funds to "good causes", including heritage, sport, education and the arts.
Organisations must make an application to the relevant distribution body for lottery funds.
The National Lottery actually launched on 14 November, 1994.
Since then, the game has created more than 1,700 millionaires and raised over £16bn for worthy causes.
More than 150 venues funded by the National Lottery are staging events or opening for free on Saturday to mark its tenth anniversary.
The main celebrations will be at Tate Modern, the London art gallery set up with £53m of lottery money.
There will be live performances during the day at the ex-power station and in the evening a lighting show and a Lotto birthday draw with a £10m jackpot.
Events are also taking place in cities including Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast.
At the Tate Modern celebrations, the results of a public vote on the most popular lottery-funded projects will be unveiled.
Finalists in the National Hero category include athlete Kelly Holmes, who won gold in the 800m and the 1500m at this year's Olympic Games.
Holmes and 63 other athletes received, through the World Class Performance Programme, £11.4m for kit, travel expenses, medical equipment, physio back-up and coaching.
Elsewhere, Cornwall's environmental Eden Project will host a winter festival, featuring an ice-skating rink.
The hugely popular tourist attraction, which showcases flora and fauna from around the world, benefited from £55.4 million of funding from the National Lottery through the Millennium Commission.
The ancient monument of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, will also be open free to the public.
In Belfast, the Odyssey Arena, itself a lottery-funded project, is featuring a number of activities and an exhibition looking at some of the other lottery projects in Northern Ireland.
But amid the celebrations, the National Trust has warned some of Britain's most popular heritage sites could close if lottery financial support is taken away.
Fiona Reynolds, the National Trust's director general, said the government had been talking about the way lottery cash was distributed.
"We celebrate what the lottery has been able to achieve on the nation's behalf, but we do so with real concern about the extent of the government's commitment to the historic environment," she said.
"Now we face ongoing questions about the future of the lottery, which raises enormous issues for the future funding of the nation's heritage."
The Tate Modern received £53m of National Lottery funding
At its AGM in Newcastle on Saturday, the trust will showcase a number of lottery-funded projects, while 35 National Trust properties will be open free to the public as part of the UK-wide celebrations.
William Proby, National Trust chairman, said for specialist sectors such as culture and heritage there was no equivalent alternative funding to the lottery.
Lottery operator Camelot transfers 28% of money spent on lottery tickets and scratchcards to the National Lottery Distribution Fund.
The fund is then split among six bodies that have the responsibility for allocating the funds to "good causes", including heritage, sport, education and the arts.
Organisations must make an application to the relevant distribution body for lottery funds.
The National Lottery actually launched on 14 November, 1994.
Since then, the game has created more than 1,700 millionaires and raised over £16bn for worthy causes.