THIS month the National Lottery celebrates its 30th Anniversary.Since the first Lottery draw in 1994 an amazing £49 billion has been raised for good causes across the UK.

That might all sound a bit distant from Crediton but, in fact, lottery money has made a huge difference to some local groups, including the Crediton Heart Project.

The Heart Project was formed in 2018 to enhance the lives of the people in Crediton and the surrounding area, to help maintain its vibrant communities and to develop facilities on the community wish list.

Rosemary Stephenson, Chair of Crediton Heart Project, said: “We are helping to ‘keep the heart in Crediton’ rather than risking it becoming a commuter satellite to nearby Exeter.

“In 2019 the National Lottery awarded us a generous grant to do a public consultation and feasibility study to establish whether the town needed a new community hub.

“Two conclusions were reached. Firstly that local groups needed more space for performances, arts events and other community activities. Secondly, that people wanted a community website for sharing information about local businesses, services and events.

“In response, the Heart Project turned again to the Lottery and early in 2020 we were granted enough funds to employ a professional designer to help us design and create a new website”.

Rosemary said it was difficult to set up the “Crediton in and around” website as Covid hit but added that it is informative and popular.

She added that the website is still developing and changing as needs change, but it is building on the strong foundations created thanks to the National Lottery.

Rosemary added that the Project’s ambition to develop new facilities in Crediton is also a work in progress but said that it is currently exploring a possible site for a new arts and community hub, in collaboration with other local organisations.“Watch this space…”, she added.

In the meantime the Heart Project has run three successful summer arts festivals, fulfilling its mission to widen opportunities for local residents.

This summer the National Lottery recognised the Project’s work by helping it to fund its most ambitious festival yet, including a series of creative workshops at the Arts Centre, an outreach workshop programme for community groups and a fabulous “Arts in the Park” event for families in Newcombes Meadow.

She concluded: “As many of you will know, it is a constant struggle for small organisations like ours, run entirely by volunteers, to find the money to keep our projects going. So we are hugely grateful to the National Lottery for enabling us to devise and deliver our ambitious plans and to continue working to keep the heart in Crediton.”