Three Yorkshire tourist attractions shortlisted for National Lottery Awards

Each week, the National Lottery raises £28 million helping thousands of organisations large and small across the whole of the country put into action their plans – be it a new building, restoration of an old one, or providing a bit of financial backing for the capital costs for a project.

For the last eight years the National Lottery have been singling out the best lottery-funded projects across a range of categories (the arts, charities, education, the environment, health, heritage, and sport) and made a special “Best of” award in each category. Each winner will receive a £2,000 prize to spend on their project. But it’s not just the money that the winner gains – there’s a lot of publicity attached too as BBC1 will be screening the finals of the competition in November.

And the public can get involved too – by voting for the project in each category that they think is most deserving of an Award. At the moment, it’s the semi-final stages – and there are ten projects in each category competing for a place in the finals. Only the three projects with the most votes in each category will go through to the final.

See the links below to cast your votes for the semi-final – please note that voting for the semi-final closes on 20 June at midday. Voting for the final will be between 3 and 22 September 2011.

This year projects from two Yorkshire tourist attractions and one from the arts have reached the semi-finals and been shortlisted for awards.

The two Yorkshire tourism attractions are the Quilt Museum & Gallery in York and Wentworth Castle & Stainborough Park near Barnsley and they are seeking a place in the final of the Best Heritage Project Award category. The Northern Ballet & Phoenix Dance Theatre, based in Leeds, is vying for the Best Arts Project.

York’s Quilt Museum & Gallery has entered the Lottery Best Heritage Award for its “Unfolding the Quilts” volunteer programme, which has received £193,500 in funds from the National Lottery.

Volunteers at the Museum are involved in a variety of activities which not only help the Museum, but are also a huge benefit to the volunteers. Their primary activity is to act as stewards for the Museum’s visitors and another important function is to make “handling samples” – so that the Museum’s visitors have something which they can hold and feel, without degrading the exhibits – some of which have a particular historical value. But the volunteers also help prepare for exhibitions, and take down and clear up afterwards! They also carry out demonstrations for the public of quilting techniques, help out in the library and assist course leaders with children’s workshops. The volunteers gain self-confidence, learn to deal with the public and, not surprisingly, their sewing skills come on in leaps and bounds.

Find out more about Unfolding the Quilts and vote for it by clicking here.

And to go to the Quilt Museum & Gallery’s home page here.

Wentworth Castle & Stainborough Park

Wentworth Castle has received £10.5 million in funding from the National Lottery to help transform a remarkable piece of the UK’s Heritage from a state of severe dilapidation into a jewel in South Yorkshire’s crown. The Castle (an outstanding stately home) is the centrepiece of the former estate of the Earls of Strafford and was completed in 1764 but fell into disrepair and its once beautiful parkland and gardens became overgrown and unsightly. However, in 2002 a group of volunteers created a trust to help restore South Yorkshire’s only Grade I listed building and grounds to their former glory and in a short space of time have carried out many projects across the estate. It is now open to the public, though there is still work to be done. Altogether there are 26 listed buildings with the estate, 600 acres of parkland, and beautiful landscaped gardens.

You can find out more about Wentworth Castle & Stainborough Park and cast your vote here.

Wentworth Castle and Stainborough Park’s home page is here.

The Northern Ballet & Phoenix Dance Theatre

The City of Leeds is rightly known as something of a cultural focal point in Yorkshire, and as a result of funding to the tune of £3.5 million from the National Lottery, the Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre now has the largest dance facility of its kind in the whole of Europe.

Working in close association with Leeds City Council, after an extensive building programme, Northern Ballet is now home to seven dance studios, a 230-seat theatre, cafés, meeting rooms, a public exhibition space and the largest dance rehearsal space in the UK bar London. What’s more, the new building has been shortlisted for the Civic Building of the Year Award.

And the stunning new facilities aren’t reserved just for ballet and dance – they are also suitable for conferences and events, and available to hire. All-in-all they’re a tremendous resource for the region.

You can find out more about the Northern Ballet & Phoenix Dance Theatre and vote for it here.

Northern Ballet’s home page is here.

If you’re into the arts, you might be interested in York’s Festival of Ideas.