Former NME Editor Mike Williams launches campaign to celebrate Flintshire and Wrexham’s National Lottery Lifechangers

The National Lottery is celebrating decades of changing lives through contributing millions of pounds to good causes across Wrexham and Flintshire by launching a campaign championing extraordinary people across the area.

Over the past quarter of a century, the National Lottery has contributed nearly £101m to more than 4,600 good causes in Flintshire and Wrexham

Charities, community groups, grassroots sports projects, arts and cultural organisations and projects, athletes, filmmakers, and heritage sites have all reaped the rewards from the funding.

Over the next two months, the National Lottery Lifechangers campaign will tell the story of how the money the National Lottery raises every week for good causes has positively changed the lives of ordinary people in Wrexham and Flintshire.

Wrexham-born Journalist and former Editor-in-chief of iconic music magazine NME,  launched the campaign today (Friday 1st February) with a short film where he visits old haunts and also learns how National Lottery funded projects are providing changes and opportunities in the area.

Visiting the state-of-the-art sports and community facilities at Coleg Cambria in Deeside, made possible by the £2.8 million awarded by National Lottery since 1994, the 39-year-old said: “When I was a kid growing up in Caia Park, I used to be down the local athletics club at least twice a week.

Having facilities like that on your doorstep can be totally life-changing for young people.  That’s why the investment from National Lottery into the indoor athletics arena at Coleg Cambria in Deeside is so important.”

The award-winning journalist who’s worked with stars like Sir Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue, said: “A lot of things have changed in Wrexham since I was growing up, but one thing that has stayed the same is Moonlight Records.

I used to go in there after school and spend all my pocket money on albums, and probably if it hadn’t been for that place, I wouldn’t have been as passionate about music or gone on to work at the NME. 

And now, thanks to nearly £2.5 million in National Lottery funding, Wrexham also has the amazing cultural hub of Tŷ Pawb – a performance and exhibition space in the town’s indoor market. 

Music was such a huge part of my life growing up and having somewhere like this where you can mix with like-minded people, see live music and get involved in the cultural scene is massively important to unlocking that kind of passion in today’s young people.”

Another big project in the area which resonates with Mike is underway at Brymbo Steel Works. To date, the National Lottery has awarded nearly £3.5 million as part of grand plans to transform the site into a community, heritage and leisure destination.

The former Ysgol Morgan Llwyd pupil, said: “My Dad was a Fire Marshall at Brymbo Steel Works. The whole place closed down in 1990, but the National Lottery is now investing millions in its regeneration. It’s brilliant to see that the place where he worked is on the way to becoming somewhere the whole community can enjoy.”

Oswyn Hughes, Head of Campaigns (Wales) for the National Lottery Good Causes, said: “The National Lottery isn’t just life-changing for the lucky ones who win every week. 

It also changes the lives of ordinary people across the country through the millions it raises in good causes.  However, many people in Wrexham and Flintshire who use well-known museums, art galleries, charities, leisure centres and parks will often do so completely unaware of the fact they are benefiting from National Lottery funding. 

It is no exaggeration to say that the very fabric of communities throughout Wrexham and Flintshire has been changed for the better by the National Lottery.”

He added: “The National Lottery Lifechangers campaign aims to raise awareness of how that investment has had a positive impact on communities in Wrexham and Flintshire and has provided people with amazing life-changing opportunities.”

Keep an eye in local media and on National Lottery Good Causes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and the hashtags #LotteryLovesWrexham #LotteryLovesFlintshire #Chwedlau’rLoteri over the next two months for stories of how National Lottery funding has helped changes people’s lives in Wrexham and Flintshire for the better.