This November the National Lottery is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Since 1994 over £23 billion - that’s £25million each week - has been raised by Lottery players for the arts, sport, heritage, environment, education, health, charity and voluntary sectors.

In that time, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has been transforming a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to learn from and enjoy. It has revitalised hundreds of museums, parks, historic buildings, landscapes and wildlife sites, but has also given new meaning to heritage itself.

People from every walk of life are now involved with the heritage that inspires them, making choices about what they want to keep and share from the past, for future generations.

Fiona Spiers, Head of the Yorkshire and the Humber region, explains the importance of funding our rich heritage, and how it makes a difference not only to protecting and conserving our past, present and future, but also to the lives of the people involved: "Reaching our 15th year is a great achievement for the Heritage Lottery Fund. In Yorkshire and the Humber alone we have invested a staggering £341 million to over 2,500 projects, which celebrate the fantastic diversity of this region's heritage. In addition to preserving our wonderful museums and ancient buildings, HLF is also conserving the natural world, by opening up and restoring our beautiful parks and landscapes.

We are also committed to improving access and learning, and working to protect the memories of past generations that otherwise may be lost. Our projects encourage people of all ages to gain new skills and to volunteer. These projects also energise local communities to get involved in and make decisions about their heritage."

Find out more from the people who make it all happen. Below are just a few examples of how lottery players' cash has made a difference to people's lives and the world around them.

Asian Voices
£49,800.00 awarded to University of Huddersfield
Asian Voices is a two year project aimed at collecting the memories of the first immigrant communities in Huddersfield.

Beverley Town Trail
£149,500 awarded to East Riding of Yorkshire Council
The main aim of the project is to install a fully accessible public walking heritage  trail  within  the medieval core of the historical market town of Beverley.

The Holocaust - the legacy and educating the educators
£49,800 awarded to Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association
The project aims to bring Holocaust survivors from across Europe now living in Yorkshire - personal testimonies to a wider audience and secure their legacy for future generations.

China in Yorkshire
£350,500 awarded to Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust
Yorkshire museums celebrated Chinese culture and identity with an exciting series of exhibitions, events and activities in 2008…11,000 people took part in a variety of community events and activities. Five exhibitions showcased the region’s stunning Chinese and Chinoiserie collections drew in over 500,000 visitors.

Leeds BiCentenary Transformation Project
£408,000 awarded to Leeds Rec
LBCTP commemorated the 200-year anniversary of the United Kingdom Act, which legally ended the kidnapping, capture and transportation of African people from their homeland, and gave us all the opportunity to revisit our shared history.

Lister Park, Bradford
£3.2million to Bradford Council
In September 1996 Bradford Council submitted a successful application for a grant of £3.2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards a £4.5 million project to restore Lister Park. Work started on site in summer 1997.

Enhanced Visitor Access to the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall York
£256,500 awarded to The Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York
This project was judged to be a complete success and has made this 653 year scheduled monument fully accessible for the enjoyment of all.

Middleton Park Community Archaeology Project
£46,400 awarded to Friends of Middleton Park
This project, carried out by volunteers from the local community demonstrated that Middleton Park is one of the most important historical coal mining landscapes in West Yorkshire.

Priors Pathways
£49,400 awarded to Friends of Monk Bretton Priory (Barnsley)
‘Monk Bretton Priory’ has been a ruin for four hundred years… Enthusiastic local amateurs have worked for three years to return Barnsley’s medieval economic focus to full status as a regional visitor attraction and local heritage treasure.

Towards the New Kelham
£50,000 awarded to Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust
Kelham Island Museum was completely devastated by flooding on 25th June 2007. The aims of this project were to assess the costs of the recovery process; ensure the conservation and public access of the collection, reinstate learning resources and provide additional opportunities to get volunteers and communities involved.

Under One Roof
£49,700 awarded to Skippo (Leeds)
Skippko worked with four older people’s groups and four primary schools to explore what their heritage is around the theme of ‘the way we used to live’. Using the social history collections at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre as a resource, each group made a large scale ‘Russian Doll’ which opens up to reveal the heritage treasures inside.

Wild About York
£49,300 awarded to Wildlink York
The biggest success of Wild about York was the vast number of children and young people that the project encouraged to access their local outdoor space. Over the 2 years more 1700 people benefited from the project whether through formal school visits or informal community sessions at weekends… learning about different subjects ranging the history of the site, to ecology and healthy living.

Women they left behind
£49,300 awarded to The Community Press Office Ltd (North East Lincolnshire)
The project aimed to conduct research and collect stories about the role of women within Grimsby’s fishing community. Volunteers and graduates… discovered stories of hardship, good times, love and heartbreak in a community that was held together by women and characterised by the absence of men at sea.