Dianne’s tour started on Wednesday in Merseyside with a visit to the Florence Institute which is being restored and transformed into a local community centre thanks to HLF's award of £3.7million.

The project was conceived and led by the members of the community, who have worked tirelessly for over a decade to make their vision for ‘The Florrie’ a reality.

Their infectious enthusiasm helped capture support from local residents, politicians and those who attended the boys club in the past – including the musician Gerry Marsden of 60s Merseybeat band, Gerry & the Pacemakers, who sang ‘Ferry Cross The Mersey’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

Once completed in early 2012 ‘The Florrie’ will be a multi-purpose community centre and a focus for young people in the inner-city areas of Toxteth and neighbouring Dingle. It will be run by the Florence Institute Trust which has been campaigning to save the building for the last decade.

On Thursday 27 October, Dianne completed her tour of the North West with a visit to Manchester, where she met young people involved in the Wilbraham Estate Project, which was awarded £24,200 by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

This project has enabled young people from the Wilbraham Estate to learn about its social history, especially about the 1919 Addison Housing Act, which required the government to build this kind of housing for residents of the slums.

The project is run by REELmcr, a not-for-profit social enterprise company with six permanent staff members, which uses film-making as a way to give a voice to deprived and under-represented communities. The Wilbraham Estate Project was also featured as part of the Diverse Roots event held at Band on the Wall in Manchester, led by HLF’s young people's steering group.

Dianne said: “It has been fantastic to see the positive effects the National Lottery has had in the North West and to meet Good Causes beneficiaries in Manchester and Liverpool over the past two days. By seeing these lottery-funded projects in action, I’ve been able to learn so much more about the incredible work they do. This is all down to the money raised by National Lottery players and it reminds me why I’m so proud to work for Camelot.”

Since the National Lottery began more than £520million in Good Causes funding and 6,912 individual lottery grants have been awarded in Merseyside. Over £325million and 3,114 grants have been made in the City of Liverpool itself, while other local authority areas like the Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens, have benefitted from over £40million each.

A massive £1.3billion in top prizes has been paid out to residents in the North West to no less than 750 jackpot prize winners. With a staggering 272 National Lottery millionaires and multi-millionaires created in the region over the last 17 years, this means one in 17,520 of residents is now a lottery millionaire

Further information

HLF Press Office: Roland Smith, 020 7591 6047, email rolands@hlf.org.uk