More than 100 good causes try to get some West Berkshire Lottery love
West Berkshire Council runs a lottery – which has a 50-1 chance of winning a prize.
It has a £25,000 jackpot.
And there is an Easter super draw on April 26 – offering a weekend city break as a prize.
The West Berkshire Lottery is weekly and raises money for more than 100 good causes in West Berkshire, from Scout groups to community halls, and art groups to mental health support groups.
Even the Burghfield Santas are on there.
Players are able to choose which cause they would like to support.
One of the more successful local organisations on the lottery fund raiser page is Hedgehog Bottom – which takes in around 700 hedgehogs each year, from babies to adults, injured, sick, orphaned.
It has raised nearly £1,500 from the lottery.
“We are entirely volunteer-run,” explains Gill Prince. “No money comes out of the pot for anything that is not directly to do with the hedgehogs.
“There are no salaries, no vehicles, and no premises to pay for.
“We also take part in research and provide an advice service for hedgehog rescues in the UK, all across Europe, and New Zealand.
“Recent years have been particularly difficult due to the weather affecting mums and their babies.
“We need your help so we can continue to offer our service.
“Our little prickly guys are keeping their paws crossed.”
Each ticket has six numbers and each number is between 0 and 9. There is a draw every Saturday night when a six digit winning combination is picked.
Prizes are given to players with tickets that match the first or last two to six numbers from the winning combination. Match all six and you win the jackpot.
From every £1 ticket sold, 60p goes into the chosen cause, one of which is the West Berkshire Community Fund.
The community fund allows one-off grants to be made to the lottery causes in addition to their direct fundraising and will be awarded by a panel on behalf of West Berkshire Council.
The draw takes place every Saturday at 8pm and the lucky winners get notified by email. The email has a link to click to take you to your account to claim your winnings.
Another of the small organisations hoping for a bit of lottery love is Living Paintings based in Kingsclere.
Its purpose is to improve the quality of life for blind and partially-sighted people of all ages by working to end the social and educational isolation and exclusion.
“Our special books contain tactile images that are brought to life by entertaining, informative and immersive audio recordings,” they said. “We are the only charity, or organisation, to do this.
“In this way, we provide access to images that help children learn to read, support students in school and inspire interests that enable lifelong learning for adults.
“All our Touch to See books contain colour references encouraging interaction between blind people and the sighted people around them, breaking down the barriers that create social exclusion.”
The lottery is licensed by the Gambling Commission.
