Brought to you by The National Lottery
What a brilliant cause!
With all the bad news we’re seeing lately, there’s a lot to be said for a nice feel-good story.
You know that type of story we mean. Small acts of kindness, selfless deeds or everyday heroes – all of these little things that make the world a little bit lighter.
Recently, The National Lottery spotlighted these everyday heroes, creating four new art installations around the UK to celebrate “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
Each installation celebrated a different individual across the worlds of Arts, Heritage, Community and Sport, representing an inspiring story or achievement that has made the world a better place. With over £30 million raised for good causes each week, and The National Lottery hopes to inspire people from across the UK and encourage them to help those in need and bing together communities.
To help keep the positive vibes going, here’s a closer look at the stories behind each installation…
Arts
To celebrate those who make the arts more accessible, Lazerian Studio created a piece of artwork celebrating deaf British writer, producer and rapper, Kevin Walker, aka Signkid.
Winner of the National Lottery Awards 2022 Arts, Culture & Film category, SignKid has developed a unique style by integrating and adapting British Sign Language (BSL) signing into a visually based language for live hip-hop, rap and urban music performances. The artwork celebrates this distinct style by featuring two hand-shaped sculptures that form a ‘V’ shape, representing the BSL sign for ‘Visual.’
Earlier this month, Love Island’s first-ever deaf contestant, Tasha Ghouri, unveiled the artwork at The Roundhouse in London, to raise awareness of Signkid’s incredible achievements.
Community
To celebrate the amazing work being done to tackle the refugee crisis, the National Lottery teamed up with Ukrainian artist, Sergey Piskunov, to create a striking projection celebrating an individual who has done trojan work in this important area.
The stunning artwork celebrates the work of a Ukrainian Caseworker from the Welsh Refugee Council, Vladyslava Zhmuro. Arriving in the UK in March 2022 after fleeing Ukraine herself, Vladyslava and the Welsh Refugee Council help refugees find homes and education and support their integration into Welsh society.
Former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host, Chris Tarrant, who took a Ukrainian family into his home following the outbreak of the war, unveiled the artwork in Liverpool, recently announced as the host city for the Eurovision song contest 2023, on behalf of this year’s winners, Ukraine.
Heritage
A new piece of artwork in Cornwall celebrated the amazing achievements of environmental campaigner, Milly Revill Hayward, honouring her work tackling climate change.
Milly was part of the Flows to the Future project, which restored one of Europe’s largest expanses of bogland
in Caithness and Sutherland that had been damaged by forestry planting. The artwork, created by artist Jody Thomas, is a spray paint portrait of Milly, created from CO2-absorbing paint and reused materials, on a hexagonal canvas mirroring the Eden Project’s famous domes.
Environmentalist, presenter and author, Chris Packham, unveiled the striking artwork at the Eden Project in Cornwall this November, honouring everything Milly has done for the area’s local environment.
Sport
To celebrate those supporting women’s inclusion in sport, the final artwork depicts Helen Hardy, founder of Manchester Laces – the first inclusive women’s and non-binary football club in Manchester.
Helen set up Manchester Laces in March 2021, the city’s first inclusive women’s and non-binary football team. It now boasts 5 teams with more than 500 players and coaches. To celebrate this huge step forward for women in sports, artist Charlotte Archer created a mural celebrating Helen on the Spanish Steps of Wembley Stadium.
Given the huge achievements made by women in sports this year, it was only right that Leah Williamson, captain of the England Women’s football team, unveiled the striking artwork at Wembley Stadium earlier this month.
Whether it’s everyday heroes or important causes, the National Lottery is always championing important charities and communities across the UK.
Since the National Lottery began in 1994, it has made more than 6,600 millionaires – but its primary purpose is giving to good causes. Players raise more than £30 million every week for good causes, amounting to over £47 billion in total for crucial projects like these.
Through the National Lottery, over 670,000 grants have been awarded across the UK, the majority of which are for £10,000 or less, helping small projects make a big difference in their community.
For more information, please visit https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
Brought to you by The National Lottery
