FIND A CAUSE // ARTS AND CULTURE

The aim of the Avon Valley Railway Heritage Trust is restore, preserve, and operate railway locomotives, carriages, wagons, vehicles and other artefacts of historical interest and the structures connected therewith for the benefit and education of the public; to conserve books, drawings, records, documents, sound and visual recordings, cinematography films and such photographs and other archives relating to such objects, their history and development.

All this shall be for public benefit, for educational and instructional purposes and to stimulate and encourage interest in all kinds of railway transport systems, vehicles and equipment and to foster and support railway preservation.

In pursuit of this object the aim is to relay and operate as much as possible of the former Midland Railway Mangotsfield to Bath branch railway, based upon Bitton Station. In doing so, to provide additional recreation, leisure and tourist amenities and to provide worthwhile spare time activities for a wide range of ages.

The Bluebell Railway was the first standard gauge heritage railway to carry passengers in the UK. It has operated on part of the former line between Lewes and East Grinstead in Sussex since 1960. It has a unique collection of steam locomotives and rolling stock operated by a 'not for profit' company.

By taking part in the unity Lottery as supporters of our funding for the Future campaign you will:

• Contribute to the restoration and maintenance of the locomotive and rolling stock
• Ensure the Railway continues to run steam hauled services between East Grinstead and Sheffield Park
• Maintain our railway heritage for the education and enjoyment of current and future generations
• Help to support the enhancement of our visitors' experience

Our web site is at www.bluebell-railway.co.uk for further details. Thank you for your support.

B&R has always been proud of being a financially independent organisation, raising its funds through its own endeavours with the help of its many volunteers. Unlike many if not most of the other organisations performing at the same level.

The band do not receive any sponsorship but perform publicly over 40 times a year to raise the funds required to maintain the band room, purchase, and maintain suitable musical equipment/instruments, purchase sheet music and pay performance licenses. As we well as the cost of performing at major competitions, such as National Championships at the Royal Albert Hall in London, European Championships, White Friday Marches, British Open Championship in Birmingham Symphony Hall, etc. We also need to cover general running costs to preserve and continue the heritage of the band.

Thank you once again for your support. It is important to us because without a regular source of income, our ability to produce high quality musical performances in aid of national and local charities is limited. The funding also means we can do more work in the community, such as helping special needs children in Staffordshire use music to describe The Potteries as part of National Heritage Week.

The Dorothy Clive Garden - a charitable garden trust - was set up by Colonel Harry Clive as a place of rest and continued horticultural education for the general public.

The garden, originally a disused gravel quarry, was transformed by Clive into a woodland garden for his wife Dorothy, who was suffering from Parkinson's Disease.

Located in glorious countryside on the North Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire borders, the garden is both formal and informal, hosting a network of paths that invite the visitor to explore and discover the intimacy and tranquility of the garden.

Highlights of the garden include an alpine scree, laburnham arch, woodland waterfall, rose walk, cottage garden, spectacular summer border and a wide selection of plants and unusual species.

There is also a tearoom selling delicious homemade food as well as a children's play area with rubber mulch flooring and gift shop.

There are various workshops and events taking place throughout the open season. Please visit for further information

The East Lancashire Railway past is inextricably linked to that of the area's industry. The railways provided industries with a vital link to the country's network of import, export, raw materials and, most importantly, workers. Now, the railway takes visitors on a 12 mile journey hauled by heritage steam and diesel locomotives.

Thank you for supporting the East Lancashire Railway, your support is extremely grateful as we continue to fundraise for our many projects to secure our Preservation for Generations.

The British & International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance & Speech (The Federation) has over 250 festivals in the UK and abroad. These festivals involve around 1 million amateur performers each year and reach an audience of more than 5 million. 80% of those performing are under the age of 18. The Federation is the largest UK organisation for participatory arts of music, dance and speech.

Some participants will go on to become professional performers and arts manager; some will become teachers; some technicians; some will work in the media. For the rest, who will do something completely unconnected with the arts, the skills will be put to use at job interviews, at work, in leisure activities and in relationships. ALL will become that educated audience who will keep the arts alive throughout the century.

Most festivals are registered charities that fundraise throughout the year to bring together a festival in their community. They are supported by the federation which is not funded by the Arts Council or other statutory organisations and is constantly in search of funds both to support its services and fund essential new initiatives.

We need your support to continue our work, bringing inspirational, engaging and entertaining arts and cultural activities to all. Please help us by joining this lottery scheme. You'll be helping a great cause as well as being in with a chance to win up to £25,000!

Thanks you in advance for your support. We really appreciate it.

Charity No. 213125

With the demise of HMS DOLPHIN, the original alma mater of the Submarine Service, in 1998, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum established at Haslar Jetty in the 1980s, has become the natural link with submarine history, stretching back to the beginning of the last century.

Featuring the first Royal Navy submarine Holland 1 and HMS Alliance of WWII vintage, the Museum provides a comprehensive record of the life and times of the Submarine Branch of the Royal Navy.

Well established as a major visitor attraction, the Museum also boasts a significant research facility, with some 50,000 documents, 120,000 photographs, 300 works of art and 800 medals and the collection continues to grow.

The Cost of preserving this important part of our heritage for the future always exceeds the available budget and this is where the Friends make such a vital contribution.

Founded with charitable status in 1995, The Society of Friends has attracted over 700 members and the support of the Hampshire County Council and Gosport Borough Council. With a sound financial base, the Society has an ongoing programme to finance the conservation of photographs and other archive material, enhancing display galleries, staff training and the purchase of submarine related artefacts.

Care is taken that the members' generosity is focused on specific projects to improve the Museum and its collection.

Internal Fire charts the development of the steam engine through to the most modern internal combustion engines. The continuous development that has shaped modern engine technology is demonstrated by working engines from 1850s steam engines through to modern computer controlled high speed diesels.

Engines run in the museum every day with a variety of sounds and smells that are eye opening to those who don't remember and evocative of a previous life to those who do.

At Lake District Foundation we inspire people to care for the Lake District. We fund conservation, environmental and cultural heritage projects.

We care for the spectacular landscapes, wildlife and cultural heritage of the Lake District. This beautiful place is fragile, we need your help to look after the Lake District today and for future generations. Working with local communities, your support to the Lake District Foundation makes a difference to projects, across the Lake District, from wildlife protection to footpath restoration

Our vision is that the Lake District will be an inspirational example of sustainable development in action, and a place where a prosperous economy, world-class visitor experiences and vibrant communities come together to sustain its spectacular landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage.

Our Community Programme allows us to employ poets to work with vulnerable groups in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

We work with the NHS, Women's Shelters, Probation Service, Youth Groups, Young Carers, Herefordshire Mind, residential care settings for the elderly, disabled and people with learning disabilities, and many other organisations to help vulnerable people express themselves through poetry. The School's programme enables us to put poets into schools to encourage the children to develop a love of poetry from an early age, and to make poetry fun and exciting so they continue that love of reading and writing throughout their lives.

We run ‘Festival in a Day' workshops to enable primary school children to write their own work and to perform in a showcase event at the end of the day. The July Festival puts on a number of free events and street events which allow families from all income brackets to get involved with events which otherwise would not be accessible to them. We also strive to keep our ticket process as low as possible to allow as many people as possible to be able to attend our diverse range of events. Our New Writers programme helps Emerging writers get established.

SWMAS works to support the Agricultural community and last year the Society provided support grants for young farmers across the County and now the Society are looking to increase this grant funding during the current financial crisis which is effecting the whole of the farming community.

We need your help to fulfil our ambitions. Our weekly lottery will help the Society to make more funds available to support our agricultural community and ensure that the Society continues to thrive.

The Shropshire County Agricultural Show has its roots in the late nineteenth century when it was launched as part of the co-operative venture - The Shropshire and West Midlands Agricultural Society.

Since the year of 1875, life and times of agriculture have undergone massive changes in farming techniques, machinery and technology. But, despite this, the West Mid has always kept abreast of every new trend - and still does.

The show has been going for an impressive century and a quarter and throughout this farmers and their employees, and in the recent years not only farmers but a wider range of people, have come together to enjoy themselves in the merry month of May.

The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Musueum tells the remarkable stories of the soldiers who served in the Gloucestershire Regiments since 1694. The museum houses artefacts from the Napoleonic, First and Second world wars, the Korean war, and conflicts right up to the current day. The museum is also a memorial to those who've served and sacrificed for their country.

By supporting the museum lottery you'll be helping us to:

• Educate the public, schools and groups on different aspects of military life.

• Continue to conserve the unique collections of the Gloucestershire Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, including the 28th and 61st Regement of the foot, the RGBW and the Rifles.

• Expand our online digitalised archive to aid researchers across the world including descendants of soldiers.

• Most inpotantly we will REMEMBER and do so for generations to come with your help.

• "When you go home and tell them of us and say; for your tomorrow, we gave our today."

Dowsing is a heritage skill, used by man since ancient times. You might have seen drawings of men, usually elderly and bearded, holding a forked stick and using it to find underground water. You may even have seen present day water engineers using L-shaped metal rods to help them find leaking pipes. Both of these are examples of dowsing for water.

But there is much more to dowsing than looking for water and it has many uses in modern life, in gardening, health and wellbeing, archaeology and planning holidays... to name but a few.

Take just a few minutes to learn the basic skills and you will be on your way to a fascinating hobby or possibly a new career.

The British Society of Dowsers was formed in 1933. We provide workshops, courses, events and outings, our journal, Dowsing Today, is published three times a year and we have a network of Affiliated Local Groups providing meetings, outings and a warm welcome for dowsers of all levels of skill.

Membership of our Society provides opportunities to explore the fascinating art of dowsing and to meet interesting, friendly people.

Learn more at www.britishdowsers.org

Based in the heart of the community in our grade 2 listed building on the banks of the river Tyne. The Customs House has been enriching lives with arts and culture since 1994.

We believe that arts and entertainment should be accessible for all and that it creates positive experiences. With your support, we can continue serving our community.

The UniBrass Foundation exists to support and nurture university brass bands, providing educational, musical and performance opportunities to existing university ensembles and to encourage the creation of new university bands. The foundation aims to provide a crucial link between youth banding and community banding movements, and ensure the future generation of brass musicians continue to play throughout their time at university.

The focal point of the Foundations activity is supporting the organisation of the annual UniBrass contest, in which university bands from across the UK come together to compete in two sections. In over a decade of existence, the entirely student run contest has grown to include 23 bands and has been hosted by the universities of Lancaster, Warwick, York Bangor and Sheffield. We move to Cardiff for 2025/26. Band Camp, the UniBrass summer school is another focus of the year, offering affordable, high-quality music education and performance experiences to university age participants on a six day residential jam packed with rehearsals, performances, activities, socials and a variety of creative workshops.

As well as the contest, the Foundation provides advice to university ensembles, supports carolling events, has hosted a student conductors course, organised summer music events, and is looking forward to future artistic development activities.

As a charity, the UniBrass Foundation relies on donations to carry out its projects, and by supporting this lottery you are enabling us to continue our work and safeguard the future of brass bands.

Thank you for your help.