Wealden Community Lottery helps good cause to make change

Since launching in March 2023, Wealden’s Community Lottery has had 14 live draws, 449 lucky winners and more than 69 good causes sign up.

Wealden Community Lottery draws take place every Saturday night, and tickets cost just £1. Causes will receive 50p from every £1 ticket they sell, with a further 10p going into a Central Fund that will also be distributed to the community. Players can choose the local good cause they wish to support when they purchase their ticket(s). 

In just over three months, Wealden’s Community Lottery has raised a total of £13,516.80 for good causes and the central fund.    

One good cause that has already been able to use money raised from the community lottery is Manor Park and Hempstead Fields Residents’ Association in Uckfield. The association serves the residents of two large housing developments as well as five nearby retirement housing complexes.  

Selling 34 tickets a week and raising £217.00 in just three months, the association now has sufficient funds to replace one of their large and colourful flower timber planters that decorate the estates. The association is on track to raising £884 for the year and is using the power of social media to increase ticket sales and as a result to increase funds raised for the organisation.  

Peter Griggs, Secretary of the Manor Park and Hempstead Fields Residents’ Association, said, “Future funding will also help us to finance initiatives such as our Big Picnic Lunch, an annual community event held each June which in 2024 will be themed on the 80th anniversary of the D Day landings.  

“It will also help to provide free transport to our Warm Welcome Café and support the funding of our Good Neighbour Scheme and other initiatives such as the Woodland Walks which are led by a local environmentalist.”      

Councillor Kelvin Williams, part of the Alliance for Wealden, Liberal Democrat councillor for Uckfield East and portfolio holder for Public Health and Asset Management, said, “The funds raised through the lottery is already making such a difference to communities, organisations and charities in Wealden.   

“It is brilliant to see that the number of local causes who have signed up is growing, and I’d like to thank everyone who has joined the lottery so far and would encourage others to join them. Manor Park and Hempstead Fields Resident’s Association is proof your support and involvement is helping.” 

To find out more about how Wealden’s Community Lottery can help your local organisation, go to: https://www.wealdencommunitylottery.co.uk/good-causes. Or to support a local good cause and play the lottery today go to: www.wealdencommunitylottery.co.uk