The two-year project was one of three Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) supported projects to win an award.
 
The winners of this year's awards were announced at a special star-studded celebratory awards event, broadcast live on BBC One from London's Roundhouse.
 
The winners were chosen by a public vote which took place earlier this summer. The total number of public votes cast for all the competing projects was in excess of 192,000.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust, based at Stirling University was founded in 2006 was given an HLF award of £49,900 to raise awareness about the decline of bumblebees and the consequences for our countryside and food security. The Trust has grown rapidly in the last four years. It now has over 6,000 members and works with the public, farmers and land managers right across the UK to prevent further declines and to preserve bumblebee populations for future generations.

Accepting the award, Dr Ben Darvill, Director of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: “It is an absolute honour to have won this award and a real boost for everyone involved in the charity to receive national recognition for their hard work and dedication. Lottery funding was crucial in setting up the trust and allowing us to raise vital awareness of the importance of bumblebee conservation to our countryside and food security. The awards have given us a great opportunity to highlight this cause and how we’ve put our funding to good use. It’s great to be able to show anyone who has ever played the Lottery what a real difference their money can make.

“We have received fantastic support throughout all stages of the competition and I would like to thank everyone who has voted for us.”

Scottish heritage was further represented by six young fiddlers from the HLF funded project Feisean nan Gaidheal performed as part of the showstopping act that showcased some of the best lottery funded projects from across the country. Feisean nan Gaidheal received an HLF grant of £50,000 for a project working with six community based groups across Scotland enabling young people to collect, understand and present their local Gaelic oral heritage to their peers and wider communities.

Fèis is the Gaelic word for a festival or feast and over the past few years the word has become synonomous with the Fèis movement; a group of Gaelic arts tuition festivals, mainly for young people, which now take place throughout Scotland. At these Fèis individuals come together to develop skills in the Gaelic arts - song, dance, drama, and traditional music on a wide range of instruments.
 
Other HLF supported winning projects were:
Best Education Project - HMS Cavalier – HLF grant of £1,156,000

Best Heritage Project - Isle of Wight Railway Restoration – HLF grant of £489,000

The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK's favourite Lottery-funded projects. Lottery players raise £25 million a week for projects all across the UK. The Awards highlight how that funding has changed the UK for the better. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, over 340,000 Lottery grants have been awarded across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

Notes to editors

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, public parks and historic places to archaeology, species and skills, HLF invests in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK. 

Further information

Laura Bates, HLF Press Office on 020 7591 6027 or lbates@hlf.org.uk

Matthew Mansfield, The National Lottery Awards at matthew.mansfield@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk