Children's Hospice thanks voters after securing £50k of Big Lottery funding

The Big Lottery Fund recently teamed up with ITV and The National Lottery to give the Northern Ireland public the chance to decide how £150,000 of funding could make a difference in their local area.

A total of five local projects were shortlisted for National Lottery funding to develop their work to improve the lives of people in their communities.

The projects – which all featured on UTV’s evening news programme – publicly campaigned for votes over a two week period. The three projects with the most votes have each been awarded a grant.

One of the winners is the new multisensory equipment project by Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice in Glengormley. The charity will receive £50,000 to make improvements to the multisensory room at Horizon House.

The project will better support children with life limiting conditions and their families from across Northern Ireland. It will provide new sensory equipment, such as LED bubble tubes, mirror balls and fibre optic sprays and interactive equipment to stimulate and calm the children. The project will increase children’s quality of life and allow whole families to spend quality time together.

Tina McCrossan, director of the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice, said: “We are all delighted to receive these vital funds. This money will make a huge difference to children and families who need our support. The new multisensory room will allow children with life limiting conditions to interact with their world and improve their quality of life.

“To have the opportunity to make a complete refurbishment of the multisensory room and bring us up to date with the technology required for it is simply priceless. We want to thank everyone who got behind our campaign and voted for us.”

The other winners are the Recipe for Success project by Foyle Down Syndrome Trust in Derry/Londonderry and the Our World project by MAC (NI) in Rostrevor, Co Down.

Films and more information about each of the projects are available online at www.thepeoplesprojects.org.uk

Since 2005 the Big Lottery Fund and ITV have given the public a say in awarding more than £33 million of National Lottery funding to 675 good causes across the UK.