Accrington Web - Lottery handouts

Yep, certainly seems like the dafter the idea the more chance it has of getting funding.

In its defense - and I have no idea why I feel obliged to defend it - but I feel I must - the money that they get will go in to the local community. People look at the (ridiculous?) amounts of money given to projects and don't realise who the real beneficiaries are.

I don't know enough about this project so am only guessing but would imagine that local people will earn money by working on the project i.e. writers, workshop tutors, printers, etc, might even be a local book binder who'll benefit from the project.

When organisations or groups get funding for these projects it isn't for that organisation or group to make a profit, it's for them to pay for the project to be run.

I'll illustrate it with a project that I do know about - International Women's Week events. Hyndburn Women's Forum applied for the money but they didn't keep any of it for profit they spent it on local suppliers or tutors. We had a budget of £9,500 - people who benefitted included - 6 manicurists who worked for a morning, 5 artists who worked for a full day, 6 workshop tutors who provided dance activities, local design company that produced the display panels, printers who produced the leaflets and literature, toy shops who we bought the games off, Lidl who we bought tea and coffee from, room hire at venues (providing staff employment), local caterer who provided lunch, etc etc

What I'm trying to say is that a lot of local people benefit from this type of money coming into an area.

Anyway, as for the tree project - yes it sounds daft but sometimes the dafter ideas are more likely to get funding because they're original, quirky and more likely to get press attention (case in point!).

Come up with an idea and I'll give it a go!