Vote for your favourite project in The People’s £50m Lottery Giveaway
SUPPORTERS are being urged to vote for their favourite equestrian project in the Big Lottery Fund’s The People’s £50 million Lottery Giveaway.
Four projects — three of which have an equestrian element — have been chosen to go forward to a public TV vote to win the £50 million prize.
Last night ITV1 viewers saw a 15-minute presentation about the Eden Project which is vying for the prize.
Tonight at 11.05pm presenter Lorraine Kelly will put forward the argument as to why she feels the Sustrans Connect 2 project should win.
Sustrans Connect 2 comprises 79 practical projects from around the country and includes the Bridge the Gap project at Catterick in Yorkshire (H&H news 27 September).
“Catterick Bridge has heavy traffic and a blind bend,” said Frank Broughton of the Bridge the Gap project. “You would have to be very brave to attempt it on horseback.”
That’s why the group plans to renovate an old army bridge as a safe connection between bridle paths in the area.
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On Wednesday night, also at 11.05pm, actor Brian Blessed will extol the virtues of the Sherwood: the Living Legend project, which plans to create 95km of new routes for riders in the ancient forest.
And on Thursday it’s the turn of the Black Country as an Urban Park project, supported by singer and actress Toyah Wilcox.
A part of this ambitious plan for the West Midlands area is a new 12-mile cycle and bridle path, connecting Walsall and Sandwell town centres.
There will be a recap of all four projects on Friday and telephone and internet voting closes at noon on 10 December.
Log on to www.thepeoples50million.org.uk or tune in to ITV1 at 11.05pm each night.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.