Yorkshire projects are among thousands of good causes throughout the UK to share in more than £1 billion awarded by the National Lottery during the last year to support people and projects cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the first anniversary of lockdown approaches, new figures revealed today show that over £1.2 billion of good causes funding has been awarded by The National Lottery in the UK during the last year, providing a much-needed boost for the arts, heritage, sport and community/charity sector.

The funding has helped protect the future for thousands of organisations across the UK during the last year.

Yorkshire Sport, based in Morley, use the power of sport and physical activity to change people’s lives across the county.

The organisation creates a vibrant, prosperous and healthy Yorkshire and throughout the pandemic, has continued to support the work of hundreds of projects through its Sport England funding.

Yorkshire Sport was a key distributor of the Sport England-funded Tackling Inequalities Fund, which helps to reduce the negative impact of coronavirus and the widening of inequalities in sport and physical activity.

The fund has kept projects around the county afloat and Kathryn Mudge, Development Manager at Yorkshire Sport, said: “The Tackling Inequalities Fund we’ve received from Sport England has helped us directly help organisations that have been badly affected by COVID.

“We’ve got involved in a lot of things we’ve not usually been involved in. We’ve spent the time to try and identity local groups who are able to support people, and to make sure that we’re reaching people that most need it. That’s what the Tackling Inequalities Fund has enabled us to do.

“The power that this funding has been able to give us has been an absolute lifeline for people. A large majority of people we’ve been able to support haven’t had any access to provision and have often been on their own or isolated. We work with lots of brilliant groups, but these funds have enabled us to reach out to new groups that we haven’t found before.”

Yorkshire Sport is one of thousands of projects nationwide to have benefited from, and help distribute, the £30 million raised by National Lottery players every week.

The £1.2 billion awarded by the National Lottery in the last year has gone towards thousands of initiatives and programmes designed to tackle loneliness and isolation, provide support for the elderly and vulnerable young people, and those promoting physical and mental health in the community.

Penarth Times: The much-needed injection of National Lottery funding has salvaged the futures for thousands of good causes around the UKThe much-needed injection of National Lottery funding has salvaged the futures for thousands of good causes around the UK

Projects Yorkshire Sport have supported include the Sheffield-based Brendan Ingle Foundation, Leeds’ People in Action as well as the charity YoungMinds – based in Rotherham.

Sport England backing helped them avoid the worst of the pandemic’s economic impact, with the money received – and distributed – from The National Lottery keeping projects that champion physical activity alive.

It wouldn’t have been possible without National Lottery players and Kathryn 35, added: “I’m hugely, hugely grateful for people buying National Lottery tickets.

“We’re funded by the National Lottery as an organisation in total, and without that funding we certainly wouldn’t exist.

“Without the support that we’re luckily able to give because of the National Lottery, people wouldn’t have been able to access things to enable them to improve their lives. It’s been a huge bonus for us during the pandemic.”

To find out more about how The National Lottery supports good causes throughout the UK, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk