Zion Centre: Lost on Wednesday but Still in the Game

Sadly the Zion Centre facebook group reveals that despite the happy smiling faces of the Youth Soul Choir and others, Granada TV land voted for a lick of paint on a Liverpool Cinema.

At the launch of this People's Millions initiative at Labour Party Conference in Manchester 2006 I relayed some hot off the press findings to Dick Caborn and the Lottery wallahs. I had just completed a survey with about 100 youngsters - to provide statistical back up for a £200,000 Big Lottery bid, which incidentally we won, or rather earnt.

The survey showed that while more than 80% of these High School students believed they were in households that played the lottery at least once a month only a handful could name even one single Lottery funded project in the local area, in Salford, in Greater Manchester or at all.

I suggested that in the area I lived less residents played but far more young people would not only know of a lottery funded activity but also take part.

While the lottery boss was in denial pointing at their own research - statistically suspect being based on shop locations not addresses, so including out of area trade - the Sports Minister and others accepted that this was indeed the case.

The People's Millions on ITV and Restoration on BBC can no doubt help raise awareness of lottery funding ... but it is nonetheless invidious to be having a community building X Factor and I do hope that the majority of the runners' up are also funded reasonably quickly.

The Zion Centre still has a chance of winning their £80,000 if garnering the most popular votes of the regional runners up. Fingers crossed.